Following a year-long pilot project on Bloor Street, on November 7 Toronto City Council voted 36 to 6 in favour of making the bike lanes permanent. Research, supported by Metcalf, found that ridership and business revenue were up along the route following implementation of the bike lanes. We also teamed up with Powerline Films to capture Bloor Street’s transformation.

In September, participants from the Foundation’s 2014 Creative Strategies Incubator gathered together to present their findings gleaned from three years of strategic experimentation and shared learning. Through individual initiatives, each of the companys explored how to engage with audiences and build communities.

We are delighted to announce the five companies selected to participate in the 2017 Creative Strategies Incubator (CrSI). Aluna Theatre, Canadian Opera Company, Toronto Fringe, Le Théâtre français de Toronto, and Young People’s Theatre will spend the next three years exploring strategies around engaging audiences and/or building communities. Performing Arts Director Michael Trent shares the Foundation’s hopes and vision for the new cohort.

In 2016, Metcalf launched the Toronto Sector Skills Academy (TSSA) in partnership with the Aspen Institute. The TSSA is a leadership development program focused on creating and sustaining workforce employment strategies for low-income people in the Greater Toronto Area. We’ve created a short film documenting the stories of the first participants.

Earlier this year, the Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development introduced the Sector Partnership Planning Grant (SPPG). We have been contracted to provide technical assistance.“Investing in partnership development and strategic planning is critical to advancing sector focused workforce development,” says Adriana Beemans, Metcalf Inclusive Local Economies Program Director.

Most Canadians don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the carbon footprint of freight. But we should and we must think about it, according to Bora Plumptre, Eli Angen, and Dianne Zimmerman, authors of The State of Freight: Understanding greenhouse gas emissions from goods movement in Canada. This comprehensive new research report was released in June by the Pembina Institute and made possible in part by Metcalf Foundation funding.

Mayor John Tory took a cargo bike out for a spin in a show of support for the announcement by UPS that they are launching a cargo bike delivery pilot project in Toronto. The announcement coincided nicely with the October release of Cyclelogistics: Opportunities for moving goods by bicycle in Toronto published by the Pembina Institute with support from the Foundation.

In its annual budget report released late September, the Green Budget Coalition of Canada advises that a substantial public investment in Canada’s ecosystems and species is required to protect and restore Canada’s land, inland waters, and oceans. “All ecosystem types in Canada are declining and the number of species at risk continues to grow,” the Green Budget Coalition states in its Recommendations for Budget 2018.

On June 30, 2017 Geoff Cape, a past Metcalf grantee and long-time friend of the Foundation, was named a member of the Order of Canada. A lifelong environmentalist and urbanist, in 1991, Geoff co-founded the non-profit Evergreen. Initially, Evergreen limited its focus on the greening of Toronto school playgrounds. The scope and ambition of the organization has grown, and Evergreen is now considered a global leader in the creation of green infrastructure particularly as it relates to the design of sustainable cities. We offer him our warmest congratulations.

An invaluable leader in Canada’s arts world and an esteemed Metcalf Fellow, Jane Marsland garnered a Silver Ticket Award at this year’s Dora Awards. The Silver Ticket Award is given to an individual in recognition of personal excellence combined with nurturing the development to Canadian theatre. For over 50 years, Jane has managed arts organizations and worked with over ninety organizations, including the Canada Council for the Arts, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Take a bow Jane!

Catherine Annau joined the Metcalf Foundation after a career as an award-winning documentary filmmaker, television and radio producer, published author, and communications and media strategist. Most recently, she has served as communications manager for a Toronto-based transit and urban affairs research group and as a manager of visual and performing arts at a community college. Her films have been broadcast on HBO, Channel 4, CBC, TVOntario, and the Sundance Channel, and have screened at festivals and cultural institutions in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Having graduated cum laude from Princeton University in June, Ali Houston started at the Metcalf Foundation in September 2017. Her writing on European history has been published in a number of academic journals, including the Chicago Journal of History. Ali was a programs intern for Behind the Book, a Harlem-based in-school non-profit bringing authors into public school classrooms to lead creative writing workshops. She also interned at the Municipal Arts Society of New York and was the editorial assistant for the Literary Review of Canada.