Choice Properties Brings Lots of Play Arts Series Back to GTA Parking Lots This July

Choice Properties is bringing Lots of Play Arts Series back to the Greater Toronto Area this July. The free arts program turns parking lots and sidewalks into public spaces for music, workshops, performances, and hands-on art.

The month-long series runs across four communities. It is presented with program partner VIBE Arts. Through artist-led activities, families, neighbours, and visitors can take part in arts programming close to home.

This year’s series includes stops in Bradford, Leslieville, Golden Mile, and The Annex. Each location offers a different mix of workshops, performances, and participatory art sessions.

Parking Lots Become Public Art Spaces

Lots of Play is built around a simple idea. Everyday neighbourhood spaces can serve a larger purpose.

Instead of placing arts programming only inside galleries or formal venues, the series brings it into open community areas. Parking lots, sidewalks, and retail plazas become places for music, art-making, movement, and local interaction.

Programming includes West African and Colombian drumming, steelpan performances, ukulele workshops, and Moko Jumbie stilt-walking. In addition, guests can take part in puppet-making, cyanotype photography, printmaking, flower pounding, embroidery, stencil making, and community trading card creation.

Each activity invites guests to join in directly. As a result, visitors do more than watch from the side.

Leslieville Event Set for July 11

A key stop in the series takes place in Leslieville on Saturday, July 11. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 17 Leslie Street.

The Leslieville event will include live music, artist-led workshops, collaborative art-making, games, prizes, and giveaways. In addition, guests can enjoy free ice cream and popcorn.

Complimentary Lots of Play swag will also be available for the first 150 visitors while supplies last.

The wider Leslieville program runs from July 10 to July 12. It includes puppet-making, storytelling, ukulele, flower pounding, embroidery, drumming, cyanotype printing, steelpan workshops, and street-art stencil making.

Arts Programming Designed for Broad Community Access

Choice Properties developed Lots of Play as part of its placemaking work, which focuses on using its properties as sites for public connection and neighbourhood activity.

The partnership with VIBE Arts also brings an arts education focus to the series. VIBE Arts works with young people, artists, and communities through accessible arts programming, mentorship, workshops, and community-based projects.

For Lots of Play, that approach appears through drop-in activities, artist-led instruction, and programming designed for different ages and ability levels.

2026 Lots of Play Schedule

• The Annex: July 24 to 26 at 650 Dupont Street
  The series closes with another weekend of artist-led workshops, live performances, and hands-on arts programming for residents and visitors.
• Bradford: July 5 at 500 Holland Street West
  The series begins with a one-day program featuring African drumming workshops, live performances, t-shirt decorating, and Moko Jumbie stilt-walking activities connected to Afro-Caribbean cultural practice.
• Leslieville: July 10 to 12 at 17 Leslie Street
  This three-day stop includes puppet-making, ukulele, flower pounding, embroidery, drumming, cyanotype printing, steelpan workshops, and street-art stencil making. On July 11, guests can also enjoy free ice cream, popcorn, prizes, giveaways, and Lots of Play swag for the first 150 visitors.
• Golden Mile: July 17 to 19 at 1880 Eglinton Avenue East
  The Golden Mile weekend focuses on rhythm, storytelling, and neighbourhood art-making, with drumming, steelpan, stilt-walking, printmaking, and collaborative community art.

Free Events Across the GTA

All Lots of Play programming is free to attend. Registration is encouraged for select sessions where space may be limited.

Guests can learn more and register through the Choice Properties Lots of Play event page.

About Choice Properties

Choice Properties is a Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust that owns, operates, and develops commercial and residential real estate. The company uses placemaking, sustainability, and community-focused programming as part of its broader work across its property network.

About VIBE Arts

VIBE Arts is a Toronto-based charitable arts organization focused on arts education, artist mentorship, and community programming. Its work supports access to the arts through workshops, mentorship, and projects created with young people, artists, and local partners.