Our renaissance is in full flower. Like 15th Century Florence, like Old Strathcona 31 years ago, a blossoming of creativity, art, theatre, music, and dance heralds the best urban renewals. Such is the case with our own Boyle Street community as we await the October 1 opening of our new facility in Boyle Renaissance Plaza.

The Community League Board and staff are hard at work in preparation – raising funds, marketing the space, developing programs, and coordinating the many activities that have coloured the summer and will continue through in the fall.

First up is programming courtesy of Melissa Milakovic – Program and Membership Administrator. Her anticipated slate includes Yoga, youth engagement through art, and the current painting of a fresh new mural on The House of Refuge Mission. This building has recently received new windows and stucco giving it a much needed lift. Brazilian muralist and spray paint artist Panmela Castro led a team of Edmonton painters in late August to create a work of art that reflects hope in the future, a call for human dignity, and the celebration of new beginnings.

Central to this undertaking is a youth engagement workshop that will see more art in the area. We know these images will provide a friendly greeting to the foot and automobile traffic as it enters our community.

We know these images will provide a friendly greeting to the foot and automobile traffic as it enters our community.

The extended Dirt City/Dream City transitory art exhibit closed at the end of August. This exciting endeavour saw the Quarters area of Boyle Street enlivened with interactive, thought-provoking public art inspired by the area. A community garden, radio station, music, performance, trees, and Aboriginal art all animated the empty blocks and parking spaces.

The Edmonton International Fringe Festival – in the guise of community resident Timothy J. Anderson – came to Boyle Street. For ten days, the play Tokyo 1965 filled the ARTery on Jasper Avenue with music and drama. This new play, written and performed by Anderson (one of Edmonton’s most respected theatre and music artists) generated significant pre-Fringe media attention and fans. Timothy says he chose to mount his play – which deals with Italian Baritone Ettore Bastianini’s decision to die rather than lose his larynx to laryngeal cancer – in Boyle Street because, “Apart from the fact it’s where I live, the play talks about voicelessness. In a way, Boyle Street has had its voice taken away over the past decades, and I want to be part of that voice coming back!”

Mother Teresa Park was anything but voiceless as thousands of children flocked to our Summer Green Shack run by students Treena and Aurora this summer. And even though we had sheets of rain on Canada Day, the Chinese Multicultural Centre welcomed hundreds to the Canada Day BBQ and party sponsored by the Boyle Street Community League and the Chinese Community.

What else lies in store? Look for information regarding Community League Day on September 15. We’ll light up with activities and fun for all as the city converges on Boyle, and then, two weeks later, we’ll showcase Boyle Street as a host venue for Alberta Culture Days.

. . . and then we open on October 1!