{"id":64612,"date":"2021-11-12T08:30:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T13:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=64612"},"modified":"2021-11-11T13:42:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T18:42:00","slug":"the-transformation-of-mabelle-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2021\/11\/12\/the-transformation-of-mabelle-park\/","title":{"rendered":"The transformation of Mabelle Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was first published in August in the Park People 10 Years Together in City Parks<\/a> series, and is republished here with permission. <\/em><\/p>\n

Tasmeen Syed was five years old, walking down Mabelle Avenue with her cousins, when she came across people painting in the park that sits between seven large residential towers in central Etobicoke.<\/p>\n

Previously just a neglected space with broken fences, an out-of-order water fountain and eroded slopes that people cut across to get to the Islington subway station, Mabelle Park is now a vibrant park whose lush art gardens, log seating, ice hut, wooden shed and colourful camper trailer bring together the residents within the surrounding Toronto Community Housing<\/a> buildings, many of them newcomers to Canada, low-income families, and seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to paint on rocks and spray paint canvases and wear a funny giant shirt that makes me look like a tiny mad scientist covered in paint, and I\u2019m doing all these fun things and they said, \u2018come back tomorrow, we\u2019re gonna do something even crazier\u2019,\u201d recalls Syed of that first encounter with MABELLEArts<\/a>, an initiative that aims to bring together the Mabelle Avenue community through the creative arts.<\/p>\n

She spent that entire summer with the MABELLEarts team and has spent every year since with them. She\u2019s currently wrapping up a role with them as a community mobilizer before she heads off to university.<\/p>\n

Her experience seems indicative of the way many of the residents of Mabelle Avenue, the 4,000 people who live in the towers belonging to Toronto Community Housing, have come to encounter MABELLEArts: an initial sense of curiosity that leads to committing many days and nights enjoying activities with the dedicated MABELLEarts team.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Credit: MABELLEarts, Iftar Nights. The photo was taken prior to March 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Creating a sense of place<\/h2>\n

Nicolette Felix, the director of community mobilization at MABELLEarts, says that the area is an underserved pocket that nobody really knew existed. It\u2019s a drop of density in the largely low-rise suburban west end of Toronto, and although tucked between fairly busy streets it only has walkable access to a small number of amenities, including a dollar store, a middle school, and a smattering of restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surprisingly small considering how much happens,\u201d says MABELLEarts Artistic Director Leah Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite hard to find, if you\u2019re driving by you may not even see it,\u201d adds Felix. But, she adds, MABELLEarts \u201creally put Mabelle on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

That attention, in turn, generated funding opportunities, which help to sustain the programming. The additional funding \u201callows us to serve more people in our community, and we\u2019ve been able to create employment, because, as our programs expand, we need more hands-on-deck,\u201d says Felix. \u201cThere are no better people to hire than folks who live on the block, who understand the needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The park itself is owned by Toronto Community Housing, and its support enabled the opportunity to work directly with the residents of Mabelle Avenue. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to co-imagine and make real the kind of park we want to have in a way that could be more challenging if it was a City of Toronto park,\u201d says Houston.<\/p>\n

Houston founded the organization in 2007, born out of working with Jumblies Theatre<\/a>, which brings theatre into urban neighbourhoods. Houston brought the spirit of Jumblies to Mabelle Avenue, with a focus on bringing art into places where it normally doesn\u2019t exist and bringing people together in public spaces.<\/p>\n

\"Iftar
Credit: MABELLEarts, Iftar Nights. The photo was taken prior to March 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Children and their families who are involved with the Arab Community Center of Toronto (ACCT)<\/a>, a non-profit that helps in the settlement of newcomers to Canada, are among those who have benefited greatly from participating in MABELLEarts events.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to newcomer families that we serve \u2013 and ours is not an area that is paid attention to for many reasons \u2013 where they come from, art is a luxury type of thing,\u201d says Dima Amad, the executive director of ACCT. \u201cChildren, youth and families don\u2019t get to really participate in art-based activities that will contribute to their mental health and well-being, that will bring them together in a space where they are learning new things, but also to know other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Credit: Tamara Romanchuk. The photo was taken prior to March 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the pandemic pause on many of the activities in the MABELLEarts calendar, you\u2019ll still find their stamp everywhere on the grounds, with colourful flags, engraved art, and gardens and planters filled with brightly coloured flowers and native species. Comfortable spots with benches and hand-carved wooden stools invite passers-by to sit. A signature fire pit with a MABELLEarts cover on it is dormant, waiting for the time when it can be fired up for cooking once again.<\/p>\n

Setting up a presence in that space was integral to building trust among MABELLEarts\u2019 community.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Trust] comes from being in the same place for so long and publicly visible because we\u2019re out in a park,\u201d says Houston. \u201cEven people who don\u2019t participate know us, and they see a kind of tangible outcome of our presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of temporary outbuildings include a trailer that serves as a mobile caf\u00e9, a woodshed, and a former ice fishing hut, all of which have been \u201cMabelle-ized,\u201d meaning artfully decorated with brightly coloured paints. The organization plans to open a permanent space in Mabelle Park through the Mabelle Arts Project (MAP), a community centre that will be a clubhouse for MABELLEarts programming and serve food via its community kitchen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy interest as an artist was really in land-based work, public space, working outdoors, fusing food and gardening and outdoor activity with art,\u201d says Houston. \u201cMore of ceremony, ritual, and events rather than a classic theatre piece with a script and actors.\u201d<\/p>\n

That philosophy has resulted in years of activating a space that would have otherwise been unused and encouraging the community of Mabelle Avenue residents to come together through performances, workshops, events, and activities like smashing watermelons to mark the end of the school year. For that event, the youngest or newest child in the community smashes the first watermelon on the ground, while a marauding chorus of trolls yells and shakes their fists in the direction of the local school.<\/p>\n

\"Watermelon
Credit: Mobile MABELLE. The photo was taken prior to March 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The focus on every age being engaged is a core part of what MABELLEarts does, including a range of youth and elder events. \u201cWorking intergenerationally was really important because it was an opportunity for whole families to do something together, which is often missing in our society,\u201d says Houston. \u201cYou sign up for a program for your son or your grandma,\u201d she adds, pointing out that not many full-family activities exist in the city.<\/p>\n

Adjusting to the pandemic<\/h2>\n

Just as many other organizations had to rethink how they could operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, MABELLEarts had to pivot as well, temporarily putting aside much of its in-person arts programming, which required gathering in large groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing there every day was something powerful about us as an organization,\u201d says Houston. \u201cWe\u2019re not there every day anymore, but in some ways, we\u2019re even more connected to people with wellness calls, and that initiative continues to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pandemic also brought out the launch of the MABELLEpantry, after the discovery that Mabelle Avenue was in a food desert. The program is dedicated to getting food to those who need it. It takes place every Wednesday in the park, which is set up to look and feel like a farmer\u2019s market, with bales of hay stacked near tables full of fresh produce.<\/p>\n

\"The
Credit: MABELLEarts, the MABELLEpantry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Houston began driving to the grocery store and buying food for 10 households, \u201choping that people didn\u2019t think I was a hoarder.\u201d Now the pantry assists 550 households, with volunteers bringing food to building lobbies for those who can\u2019t travel to the park.<\/p>\n

There are no plans to close up the pantry once the pandemic is over. \u201cNo matter what phase we were in, or what reopening, we realized that this was something that needed to continue,\u201d says Felix.<\/p>\n

A core mission of MABELLEarts is infusing all activities with art, theatre and design, and Houston admits that finding a way to incorporate that into food security was hard. They decided to have two therapeutic clowns play with people in line at the pantry, while at the same time ensuring everyone stayed safe and six feet apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the one hand, it encourages and actually enforces people to social distance, but it\u2019s also like bringing a kind of black humour into what is a very serious situation,\u201d says Houston. \u201cI\u2019ve loved watching them play with people in the pantry, and defuse anger and conflict with their silliness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"the
Credit: the MABELLEpantry by Jake Tobin Garrett.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Houston participates as well, as the emcee, in an eye-catching outfit. \u201cI try to be really funny, silly, and warm with people,\u201d she says. \u201cThe premise is that we\u2019re playing with the pantry as if it\u2019s a party or rock and roll. But what it is, is a food bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people in the food bank business care a lot about human dignity and privacy, and they want people to leave feeling good, but not a lot of food banks are concerned with humour and beauty. And we really are,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Focusing on food security during the pandemic has also brought in more participants than usual, in particularly isolated seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who might not have necessarily been comfortable coming out to sit and listen to some music if they didn\u2019t know people, or just that it was too much work with their walker, those people are all coming down now,\u201d says Claudine Crangle, MABELLEarts fundraising lead. \u201cThere\u2019s a broader group of people who, I\u2019m positive, will be even more involved in the arts and culture pieces as they\u2019re starting to really ramp back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making connections<\/h2>\n

\u201cWhat people tell us over and over again is, you are my family. I\u2019m here from another place, I don\u2019t know a lot of people and I see you as my family,\u201d says Houston, recalling a common refrain she hears at the pantry. \u201cBetween us as a staff, I would say we know everyone unless someone is new \u2026. We can greet them almost all by name between us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For senior Bernadette Shulman, participating in MABELLEarts has eased her loneliness and introduced her to new things, like drawing, sewing, beadwork, and even some dances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes life more enjoyable,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I walk down Mabelle Avenue, people are calling my name and sometimes I don\u2019t even know them. But I smile because they have to know me from MABELLEarts because it\u2019s only MABELLEarts in this community where everyone actually knows each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking to the future<\/h2>\n

The future of Mabelle Park is all about doubling down and creating permanent infrastructure that will enable the organization to invest even more time with the residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in the neighbourhood for so long, and because our work was so deeply collaborative, we built a profound amount of trust and eagerness to do things,\u201d says Houston. \u201cImagine 100 households who are just really keen to do stuff with us, and we realized that that was a really unusual opportunity, so we started to think about what we might be able to do with that level of trust and willingness to collaborate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"the
Credit: MABELLEarts, the MABELLEpantry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That brought them to create MAP, the multi-year strategy to really solidify MABELLEarts\u2019 position in the community with a permanent clubhouse, a more official role as an intermediary between TCH and the tenants, and a plan to work together for more community improvements.<\/p>\n

MAP is moving forward, and Houston says they\u2019re busy working on the final design for the permanent community centre and securing funding.<\/p>\n

Felix says that having a permanent space dedicated to MABELLEarts will allow for the expansion of arts programming, provide a community kitchen, and enable the seeding of micro-businesses that would be run by community members.<\/p>\n

The social enterprise projects are in the planning phase, and Felix says there are many untapped potential business ideas waiting for an opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of folks who live on Mabelle that have prior experience in the food industry and we\u2019re seeing people coming into the pantry and telling us about things that they\u2019ve done in the past, and all their hidden talents, and we\u2019re hoping that we can harness that and develop some programming that trains people how to run their own business and then cycle it through the MABELLEpantry and sell back to the community while keeping many of our other initiatives going,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

For the moment, the team of youth summer staff is working on beautifying the park, with a lot of gardening and planting, for the community that\u2019s slowly emerging from their towers. The MABELLEarts team is putting down seeds for what they hope will be more beautiful community engagement for years to come.<\/p>\n

The people behind this community arts organization are passionate about the work they do, and it\u2019s that commitment that truly unifies the Mabelle Avenue residents in unexpected ways, from smashing watermelons together to intercultural Iftar nights, with food, ceremony and arts that activate the park during the month-long Ramadan observance. It\u2019s a bright, joyful spot in a pocket of Etobicoke that could have remained dark and unused.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never even heard of anything else like this,\u201d says Syed. \u201cIt surprises me that other people don\u2019t have a weird organization in their park.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top illustration by Jake Tobin Garrett<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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