From 2007 to 2023 Leah worked with hundreds of artists and other professionals and thousands of to co-create festivals like Iftar Nights (Canada’s first intercultural Ramadan observance); A Light In Mid Winter parade; Welcome To This Place (a national project connecting settlement agencies and community arts organizations in five Canadian cities); unstructured outdoor play programs; cooking workshops; gardening design bees; collaborative performance creation opportunities and so much more. All of this activity became our unique approach to public space co-design. With each new activity we learned something about the emerging park and each other.
Repairing broken benches, painting a rusty water fountain and planting gardens were early projects that led to increased community trust. People could see the results of their contributions quickly - which led to strong commitment to continue working together.
We started with a cob oven but discovered baking wasn’t a skillset in the community. We took apart the oven and started making fires in the hole that remained, discovering that many women in the neighbourhood had high level outdoor cooking skills. This is Ruhela Syed working with Qadar Adim.
In the early days of Mabelle Arts, we created large-scale theatrical events exploring neigbhbourhood archetypes. This is Miriam Ahmed performing the
Inviting artists of national importance into our creative world brought innovation and exploration. This is composer Juliet Palmer leading her “Mabelle Orchestra of Glass” during on of our winter parades. Yes - there is a blizzard happening in the background!
A Light In Mid Winter was a series of parades designed to help Mabelle residents “take the main street” at a time when the broader community didn’t view Mabelle residents as “part of the neighbourhood”.
In March 2020 Leah and the team at Mabelle Arts worked closely with community leaders to stage a coordinated food security response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
By the first summer of the pandemic, Mabelle Arts was feeding over 100 families. The artistic team worked together with resident employees to develop a foodbank that felt more like a farmers market nestled in Mabelle Park.
Artists can bring so much beauty and joy to emergency services. In a time of profound fear and uncertainty, Mabelle Pantry knitted our community together. This would not have been possible without the strong relationships that had already been built in the community over many years of working, playing and discovering Mabelle Park.
Gardening and playing with kids in the park has always been a core activity.
From 2012 to the present, Leah and the team at Mabelle Arts have worked closely with the diverse Muslim community on Mabelle Avenue to bring Muslim and non-Muslim residents together to break the Ramadan fast each year.
Those observing the holy month of Ramadam work together with non-Muslims to create and serve a fast-breaking meal at sunset.
In 2017 and 18 Leah led a national project connecting community arts organizations with settlement agencies in five Canadian cities to create custom arts projects for newcomers to Canada.