The SOY CommUnity Mural project was facilitated by The People Project and brought together over 100 diverse Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transexual, Queer, Questioning, Two Spirit and Intersexed youth as well as many newcomers and youth of color from across the many groups at Supporting Our Youth, a program of The Sherbourne Health Center. Participants came together to discuss the significance and import of SOY as a safe space and community hub for LGBTTQQ2SIA youth of Toronto. We drew upon our discussions to sketch out and paint these ideas into a visual that integrates a multitude of voices and ideas. This mural acknowledges the challenges that queer and trans youth experience every day while celebrating our determination, creativity and brilliance.

Our Concept: The tree with outstretching branches surrounded by the rainbow represents the safe haven that SOY provides; a place for LGBTTQQ2SIA youth to meet, to connect, to nourish ourselves, and to take shelter, to get support, to learn, to build new skills, to have fun and to grow our chosen families. 
The birds represent and celebrate the gorgeously diverse and expressive LGBTTQQ2SIA youth who are drawn from far and wide to come together, share and learn from one another at SOY. We are the color of our community.
     The earth is made up of significant words for our community; elements of our individual and collective history & identities within which the SOY tree is firmly rooted. 
     The “birds of a feather” mural will be mounted in the SOY classroom at the Sherbourne Health Center where all SOY youth groups meet weekly.

Special thanks to Jordan, Belinda, Reed, George, Hiro, Dylan, Luka, Dainty, Brescia, Jocy and all of the amazing staff, volunteers and participants at SOY! This mural project was generously funded by The City of Toronto Arts Services and art supplies were subsidized by Woolfitts Art Store

The People Project facilitated a live community painting project in fall 2010 at “Recess” a fundraiser event organized for our community partner Schools Without Borders. We engaged more than 40 attendants over the course of the event to help co-create the mural using stencils and free hand painting. We got messy, had fun and produced a three-panel mural that explores intersections of identity and the things we do in our lives to survive, thrive and find happiness.

 - Mural images here -

The Fierce mural currently resides proudly in The People Project office and announces our politics and creativity to everyone who comes through.

Interested in showing the Fierce mural in your space, business or community center? Have an event that could use some fierce representation? Holler at us:

In November 2009 The People Project facilitated a series of community art making sessions with over 200 Queer & Trans youth and their allies from Gay Straight Alliances’ across Toronto at the annual Unity Conference (www.unityconference.ca).

Each session began with a collective brainstorm where we asked youth to consider questions around their lived experiences, negotiating homophobia & transphobia with family, friends and in school, as well as exploring the ways that we derive strength and empowerment as individuals and as a community.  Then each youth was given a 1’x1’ piece of fabric and a variety of arts materials & were asked to create a message of support and encouragement for other LGBT youth on their patch. What resulted was the creation of 120 glorious individual patches, each with it’s own creative message. These were then taped together to create a temporary quilt at the closing of the conference.

Nat’s mother and a women’s quilting group from South western Ontario, then took on the task of sewing together all of the patches. Three large 5 x 8 quilt panels were then produced displaying the color, texture and brilliance of expressions from this project. 

If you are interested in showing the Unity Quilts in your secondary school  or community center please contact us:

We can also provide presentations and programming to accompany the quilts that speaks about the import of LGBT youth arts, cultural visibility, acceptance and allyship among other things.