Our team name is The Artists, representing our aim to define the role of art in facilitating economic justice in Regent Park.
Connor is a fourth-year Urban Studies student at the University of Toronto. He believes that recorded history is just a small component of studying urban space, and this project will give him the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Regent Park. Connor’s objective for this project is to learn how to develop effective community engagement methods and how to apply them to his work as a planner. He hopes that the work that is done in this course can inspire other organizations, developers, and planners to take civic engagement beyond tokenism.
Syed H. Kabir arrived in Canada in 2018. He has worked as an equipment engineer and materialman in several countries, including Iraq, Qatar, Libya, Oman, and the U.A.E. From 2016-2018 he ran his own business managing a garments factory warehouse. In Canada, he has been focused on establishing his own renovation business as well as being involved in community services. Through his work with various community organizations across Toronto, he was awarded the Platinum Jubilee Award. He is passionate about giving back to the community, especially helping newcomers to Canada by introducing them to local support services and resources.
Sandesh is a new resident to Regent Park, having moved from St. Jamestown just a couple of months ago. He works at St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team as a Social Prescribing Link Worker where he supports community residents who are isolated by navigating resources that will give them an opportunity to increase their social engagement.
Gayathri is a fourth-year City Studies student at the University of Toronto. Gayathri was drawn to take this course due to its immersive nature, visiting Regent Park and getting to know the community first-hand rather than solely relying on academic literature to equip greater understanding. In this project, Gayathri hopes to contribute positively to the Regent Park community as well as her own understanding of it.
Neighbourhood Issue to be Addressed
Our group was created because of a shared interest in the creative component of community alongside the role creativity can play in an economy. Despite this shared interest, early discussions held by our group boxed ourselves into the theme of the economy and business too strictly. We first wanted to look at local trade and commerce, specifically profiling Regent Park’s small ethnic businesses, explaining how their operations facilitate economic justice in light of revitalization. However, we realized that our group was not deeply passionate about this topic. So, we retraced our steps in the course and studied the ways in which classmates defined economic justice, especially struck by the (rephrased) definition of “the creation of conditions that allow individuals to pursue self-expression and cultivate their passions, free from the constraints of financial limitations”. Thus, a new research idea was born; an investigation into the creative economy of Regent Park, dissecting the intersection between art and the economy within its borders.
Benny Bing Studio, 35 Tubman Ave Suite 103, Toronto, ON M5A 0T1
On March 3, our group decided to meet at Daniel’s Spectrum to workshop this new idea, which aligned with all of our passions. On the hunt for art exhibits and studios in the neighbourhood, our group took a walk around the neighbourhood and stumbled across the Benny Bing Studio located on Ratna Lane. We were able to meet with the owner, Benny, and talk about Regent Park, his work in the art space, and the role of art in the neighbourhood’s formal economy. Benny initially worked a corporate job, before leaving to pursue his art full-time and we were left in awe of his story. He spoke of the power that art plays in a community, as well as describing the program that has given the opportunity for him and three other artists to establish studio spaces in at-grade Regent Park storefronts. Before we left the studio, Benny made sure to tell us that it was by a gift of God that we wandered into his studio because he passionately believes the stories of the neighbourhood’s artists deserve to be told.
Through our conversation with Benny, we were able to focus our future research, specifically seeking to answer, how do programs offered to artists in Regent Park create a more economically just community and what is the role of artists in the local economy of Regent Park?
The Artists team members are Connor, Gayathri, Sandesh, and Kabir