Layers of Rush Lane 2018

On August 5, Toronto joined us for the third annual party in the city’s famed #GraffitiAlley. Layers of Rush Lane 2018 was a free, pop-up street party in the laneway south of Queen St W, in between Portland and Augusta, complete with beer, wine, music, art, giant games, and more. The event was co-hosted with the Queen West BIA. 

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View more photos from the event.

2017 Laneway Crawl Series 

The 2017 Laneway Crawl Series included a number of local events and one big Laneway Bash (think music, beer, performances, food, graffiti, friends and laneway lovers from across Toronto)!  

Toronto Laneway Spring Clean-up

On April 22-23 we hosted the first ever Laneway Spring Clean-up.  We provided 7 communities with everything they needed to clean up their laneways, including paint and brushes, garbage and recycling bags, and even coffee.

 
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2016 Laneway Crawl Series 

In Summer 2016 The Laneway Project worked with local communities to bring the Laneway Crawl Series to five different Toronto neighbourhoods. 

  • September 25, 1pm to 5pm - Christie Crawlfest (Christie Pits), with the David Suzuki Foundation's Homegrown Park Crawl, the Friends of Christie Pits's Art Crawl and Bells on Bloor bike parade

  • August 28, 1pm to 5pm - Danforth East Laneway Crawl

  • July 16, 2pm to 6pm - Reggae Lane Crawl and Mural Unveiling (Little Jamaica), with an unveiling of the second Reggae Lane mural by artist Adrian Hayles

  • June 18, 3 to 9 pm - Summer Solstice Laneway Crawl (The Junction), with the Junction BIA's

  • June 11, 12 to 4 pm - Bloordale Laneway Crawl, with the Bloordale CIA's Community Garage Sale

the (lane)way forward

On November 30th, we held the third annual Laneway Summit and Exhibit will bring together designers, planners, artists, decision-makers and laneway lovers from across the city to imagine ways of unlocking the potential of these overlooked public spaces.

The Discussion was moderated by Annabel Vaughan, Project Manager at ERA Architects and principal of publicLAB, five panelists will discuss:

  • Opportunities and challenges to improving Toronto’s laneways

  • What needs to change to realize the potential of our laneways

  • Who and what we need to create a stronger laneway movement in Toronto

Panelists: 

  • Jake Tobin Garrett, Manager, Policy and Research, Park People

  • Jessica Myers, Executive Director, Junction BIA

  • Jonathan Morrice, Community Safety and Social Media Officer, 55 Division, Toronto Police Service

  • Mark van Elsberg, Project Manager, Pedestrian Projects, Public Realm Section, Transportation Services, City of Toronto

  • Monica Wickeler, Laneway Mural Artist

 

LANEWAY CONFESSIONS 2015

On November 26, 2015 we held our second annual Laneway Summit at the Church of the Holy Trinity. Five laneway leaders shared their experiences with laneway transformation. 

Thanks again to our sponsors and supporters: The Ontario Trillium Foundation, Murgatroid (food) and the Downtown Yonge BIA. 

View the Presentations: 

  • Christine Liber, Kenwood Laneway Art Initiative | Laneway street art in St Clair West

  • Roberto Garcia, Ecoquartier Rosemont-La Petite Patrie | Laneway greening in Montreal

  • Howard Tam, ThinkFresh Group | Micro-retail in the new Mirvish Village

  • Jo Flatt, Evergreen | Laneway Housing on UofT Campus

  • Al Smith & George Millbrandt, St Lawrence Market BIA | Expanding the Public Realm in St. Lawrence

 

THE BLOORDALE LANEWAY CRAWL 

On Sunday, September 27 2015, from 2-6 pm, The Laneway Project partnered with the Bloordale BIA, the Bloor Improvement Group and the Bloordale CIA to transform Bloordale’s laneways into positive, safe and fun spaces for the whole neighbourhood to enjoy!

See our Bloordale Laneway Crawl photo gallery.

The event featured three components:
1.    Fun, participative, pop-up activities on the properties beside the laneways (things like art workshops, music jams, pickup sports and more)
2.    A garage mural program, in partnership with the STEPS Initiative, that saw artists painting beautiful murals on local garage doors
3.    A laneway route that connected it all together

We were very excited to collaborate with Toronto School of Art and JR's Inside Out Project which happened simultaneously - just across the street.  JR, a world renowned street artist from Paris, wheat pasted his famous portraits onto the community tennis court. The event took place at the south-west corner of Bloor and Dufferin.  

 

EVENT ACTIVITIES

Click here for more photos. 

TORONTO’S FIRST SUMMIT ON LANEWAYS

On November 20th The Laneway Project hosted Toronto’s First Summit on Laneways. Moderated by CBC’s Mary Wiens, 5 speakers gave short presentations on the potential of our city’s laneways.  

More than 350 planners, designers, policy makers, artists, community organizers and laneway lovers from across the City attended the Summit to discuss:

  • Laneways as a shared street — a space where walkers, cyclists and cars all share the same space and work around each other.

  • Greening laneways and converting them into functioning landscapes

  • Transforming laneways into safe, vibrant, community spaces

  • Laneway housing and the potential for affordable low-rise residential development

  • The challenges and opportunities related to using laneways as thoroughfares and programmable spaces