Stairway of our History/Stairway to our Future
This collaboration between The 519 Building Power Youth Advocacy Program and the City of Toronto Archives highlights over 50 years of Toronto’s 2SLGBT2+ history that was previously inaccessible to the public.
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Stairway of our History/Stairway to our Future opening exhibition, August 31, 2023, 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History nominee. Image by Andrew Greaves and the City of Toronto Archives.
Collage from the Stairway of our History/Stairway to our Future exhibition, 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History nominee. Image by Andrew Greaves and the City of Toronto Archives.
New logo for The 519 on display at the Stairway of our History/Stairway to our Future opening exhibition, 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History nominee. Designed by a Building Power Youth Member. Image by Andrew Greaves and the City of Toronto Archives.
Project Lead: Andrew Greaves
Date of Release: August 31, 2023
The City of Toronto Archives holds the records of The 519 Church Street Community Centre; however, many of the files in the collection are closed to the public. This project uncovers and highlights over 50 years of Toronto’s 2SLGBT2+ history that was previously publicly inaccessible. New artwork was combined with copied archival materials to create an installation to document and tell the story of Toronto’s past and present queer history.
The project was a collaboration between the City of Toronto Archives and the Building Power Youth Advocacy Program, the brainchild of Andrew Greaves, Manager of Youth Advocacy Programs at The 519. The program serves 2SLGBTQ+, BIPOC youth and allies, ages 15-21, in the Greater Toronto Area who have a passion for social justice and an interest in grassroots advocacy. The program focuses on building hard and soft advocacy and organizing skills, social justice awareness, and broader skills development through workshops, networking and internships.
The collaboration uncovered 50 years of original newsletters, photos and flyers telling stories of queer advocacy back to the early 1970s. Weekly trips to The Arquives, Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives, strengthened the group’s research. Archives staff led hands-on sessions exploring the history of queer space in Toronto, as well as an in-depth look at the impact of the Bathhouse Raids. A session on archival records in contemporary art led the group to experiment with paper collage, and that’s where the final exhibition began to take shape.
From raw archival materials, Building Power youth crafted a beautiful, wildly creative exhibition for The 519 Community Centre’s central staircase. The show consists of hand-crafted collages blending copied archival originals and new artistic work. One member created a hand-drawn zine inspired by the story of ZAMI, the first black queer group to organize in Toronto. Another member studied 519 advertising through the years and designed a beautiful new logo for the community centre incorporating the colours of the Progress Pride flag. Youth members researched and wrote all accompanying exhibition text including a personalized land acknowledgement. Members also created a vibrant social media campaign for the Archives social media channels. The exhibition continues to enliven the central staircase for everyone visiting The 519 today.