Leah’s role in the Mabelle Park redesign included reimagining a community consultation process that could leverage Mabelle Park user’s higher-than-average comfort level with creative processes. Leah worked closely with architectural partners LGA to leverage this co-creative competency as well as the general level of engagement and leadership within the community to ensure a high level of engagement and buy-in.
To introduce the proposed park transformation to the community and especially to test the idea of creating a multi-purpose building in the park, MABELLEartists and LGA created a lantern-making activity that invited residents to draw their ideas for a new MABELLEpark and building. Completed lanterns then formed a community parade to mark sundown just before the Call to Prayer.
By taking time to participate in Iftar Nights, LGA started a process of building their own community relationships. It was critical that their first engagement be low-stakes, fun and ultimately useful to the neighbourhood. Perhaps the most important word here is participate – by participating in such an important and well-loved community event, LGA messaged to the community that they were committed to understanding their cultural practices, concerns and desires.
In order to deepen the dialogue between park users, MABELLEarts staff and contributing artists, Leah devised a facilitated mapping activity called This Must Be The Place. Based on mapping processes first shared by Jumblies Theatre Artistic Director Ruth Howard, This Must Be The Place was designed to introduce key stakeholders to Ray Oldenburg’s notion of the third place. The third place refers to public or semi-public spaces where we gather, connect and make friends. The exercise invited participants to remember somewhere in their own life that served as a memorable and important third place. Together participants (a mix of project professionals and community members) were guided to map and then share a personally important third place with the broader group.
Leah worked with LGA to create a community activity that invited residents of all ages to construct miniature 3D renderings of the proposed buildings. Participants were prompted to reflect on what they gave and received in Mabelle Park in order to decorate the mini buildings.
Leah invited Toronto’s Shadowland Theatre to create a giant puppet of the proposed building to give residents a strong idea of what the building would look like, while creating an opportunity of celebrating the milestone of having a final building design.