Cities are at the centre of the pandemic recovery, and main streets are the glue of our communities. Canada’s main streets have struggled as they adapt to meet the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are facing decreased foot traffic, vacant and underutilized storefronts, changed public space use, new guidelines for business delivery and increased vandalism. Meanwhile, many of the street festivals organized by local BIAs that activate these commercial districts, attract walk-in customers, employ creatives and enliven our communities will be cancelled or scaled back in 2020.

Through I heART Main Street, STEPS aims to provide Toronto area Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) with the supports they need to develop creative activations along their main streets, whether that is to hire artists to help realize their visions, (safely) engage their communities, showcase local business success stories and/ or build their staff capacity to realize longer-term placemaking initiatives over the pandemic recovery period.

I heART Main Street aims to:

• activate Toronto’s main streets in collaboration with local artists
• attract new customers to local businesses through creative street animations
• strengthen relationships between BIAs through citywide Art Challenge activities
• create new public art and activations that reflect local communities
• inspire a sense of belonging and resiliency at a time of physical distancing
• support local residents in feeling safe while engaging with their community in public spaces

PARTICIPATING BIAs WILL RECEIVE:

Pro-Bono Creative Placemaking & Public Art Services

The STEPS team will provide free tailored coaching (up to 5 hours) to help BIAs generate ideas, support logistics planning, connect with artists and other resources to realize their creative visions. The focus of this coaching will be on quick DIY oriented creative placemaking methods that will help foster trust and a sense of community among local businesses, residents and artists as part of main street recovery.

This is your chance to experiment! Some of the things we can support you in doing include:

• vacant storefront wraps
• sidewalk decals
• window installations
• creative distancing markers
• hoarding exhibits
• movable banner installations
• greenscaping
• projection or sound installation

They can also help provide the extra support to ensure planned 2020 cultural projects, like community murals, street banners and mixed media installations move forward in this challenging time!