The engagement process

The Stakeholder Working Group sessions were completed on August 12, 2021.

Public shared vision for an inclusive and accessible St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts

TO Live and CreateTO launched a public consultation process for the reimagining of St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Called STLC NEXT, the project is a City of Toronto initiative to engage the community in a vision for the future of the 50-year-old performing arts centre. As our city emerges from the pandemic, a new vision for STLC can become a motivating force for the community and cultural sector by bringing to life an inclusive and accessible community hub.

Residents and stakeholders were asked to share their dreams for how STLC could be reimagined to provide an accessible, flexible civic hub that will serve traditionally under-represented voices, the cultural sector, the neighbourhood, and the broader civic community.

The consultation process included an extensive series of meetings and specific engagement sessions with local arts, community, and neighbourhood groups. The consultation was specifically designed to prioritize an equity lens to place-making, access to equity-seeking groups, and the use of state-of-the-art technology to support the next generation of creative talent in Toronto.

 

The engagement process

The Stakeholder Working Group sessions were completed on August 12, 2021. The engagement process aimed to ensure the community was consulted in a respectful, open, and transparent process.

Stakeholder Working Group

As an advisory group, the Stakeholder Working Group (SWG) used a consensus-based approach, with members looking for general agreement before giving guidance and advice to the Project Team. The consensus-based approach let participants openly discuss ideas, perspectives, and viewpoints, and develop common ground to help make sure most of the group was in agreement.  The members of the SWG are listed below.

Mehrdad Ariannejad
Sarah Bay-Cheng
Bear Bergman
Wayne Hawes
Tanya Hayles
Brendan Healy
Barry Hughson
Sadie Marshall
Sharon McMillan
Dwayne Morgan
David Norsworthy
David Pell
Onika Powell
Aislinn Rose
Jennifer Taylor
Diana Weir
Russell Winkelaar
Mouhanad Youssef

Survey

The survey is now closed. Thank you for participating.

The initial public engagement included a survey that was shared with arts and cultural workers, the St. Lawrence Market Business Improvement Association, the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association, and community organizations, and specifically strived to engage traditionally marginalized constituents. A Stakeholder Working Group (SWG) was selected from the survey participants. The SWG engaged in a public consultation that included representation from arts disciplines (music, dance, theatre, visual arts); Black communities, Indigenous peoples, and people of colour; and neighbourhood and community groups who collaborated with the consultants. Members of the SWG were chosen to reflect the population of Toronto and be the face of the STLC redevelopment project during the engagement phase. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey, joined in the conversation, and gave us feedback as part of the project to reimagine the future of St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Your ideas helped us understand the current challenges facing the arts, culture, and civic spaces in Toronto. The responses were all incorporated into a plan and vision for STLC NEXT!