Author Archives: Helena

2014 AGM – November 15, 2014

KMAC (Kensington Market Action Committee) is your general-purpose neighbourhood association looking out for the interests of both residents and businesses in Kensington Market

Some of what we’ve worked with & supported in 2014

– Friends of Kensington who successfully kept Walmart from moving into Kensington Market this year
– the 25th Annual Kensington Market Winter Solstice Parade on December 21st
– Sonya’s Park Community Gardens
– new artist murals in the neighbourhood

– St. Stephens out of the cold program
– Canopy of Kensington – planting new trees in both front and back yards throughout the market
We also
– act as liaison for visiting film crews in Kensington
– negotiate with city officials in all matters that relate to our neighbourhood.

Is there anything you think we could be supporting?
Do you have an interest in volunteering for our board?

Please join us ….
refreshments will be served.

KMAC Board Update

Dominique Russell has resigned from the KMAC Board and the position has been offered to Martin Zimmerman, who has accepted.

AGM 2013

KMAC held a its Annual General Meeting at 10am on Saturday, 23 November 2013 in the amenities space of the Kensington Market Lofts, 21 Nassau.

Following a breakfast donated by merchants from the community, the meeting was called to order and worked its way through the agenda, culminating in the election of a new board consisting of:

Su Alexanian
Shamez Almani
Yvonne Bambrick
Venetia Butler
Gabi Caruso
Helena Frei
Dominique Russell

KMAC would like to thank Big Fat Burrito, Cafe Pamenar, iDeal Coffee, My Market Bakery, Nu Bugel. Sanagan’s Meat Locker, Wanda’s Pie in the Sky and Zimmerman’s Freshmart for their donation of a delicious and generous breakfast.

No Loblaws NO

Wallpeople 2012 in Kensington Market on of 30 cities around the world lived the Wallpeople experience.

Toronto participated in the global art project Wallpeople. Artists, neighbours and passersby got involved in creating a momentary open-air art museum on June 9th, 2012.

With the guiding theme, ‘Express yourself’, Wallpeople encouraged people to express their ideas and share them in a public arena. The grey wall of the washroom in Bellevue Square transformed when nearly seventy people contributed their art.

Painting, knitting, collage, poetry, and photography changed the face of the wall in this improvised open-air museum. Children and people of all ages were playing with art supplies.

Wallpeople is a collaborative art project originally conceived of in Barcelona that leads people to create, and be part of a special moment in an urban space, by setting up a unique street work done by all. Wallpeople is truly a chance to inhabit our urbanity together through a collective creativity. Wallpeople is art by and for the people and found a comfortable fit in the eclectic neighbourhood of Kensington Market.

Wallpeople Toronto’s Team included Javiera Rossel, Felipe Hidalgo, Esma Yakut, Lido
Pimienta, Javier Lovera, Simón Rojas and Su Alexanian.

Wallpeople in Toronto was supported by KMAC and the Kensington Market BIA.
See more at Wallpeople Toronto Video

To tag or not to tag?

TORONTO – With a coffee house threatened with a fine for leaving a couple of tags on their wall, graffiti has managed to spray itself across the headlines once again.

Often considered the most deviant art form, you can’t miss street art if you tried: it’s on the walls of warehouses as you pass through Scarborough on the RT, it’s in alleyways in Kensington Market, it’s even on TTC buses and subways in the form of illegible tags, which are normally an artist’s signature, scrawled with black markers.

The question is: what is considered vandalism and what is art? And why do artists, whether experienced or just starting out, feel the need to tag walls?

To read the rest of this Global Toronto article click here

Cousins wage a cold war in Kensington Market

Outside Zimmerman’s Discount is an aging sign that advises customers: “Zimmermans Fresh Mart, across the street has no association with our store.”

At Zimmerman’s Freshmart, two signs are posted in response.

“We at Freshmart believe customer loyalty is earned by offering quality and service not the name on the store.”

To read more of this Totonto Star article click here