Labour of Love Community Projects
Together When We're Apart
May 2020 we were all feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Economically, socially and even spiritually. The shutdown turned vibrant and diverse communities and business districts into ghost towns, with many of our favourite restaurants, bars, cafes and local shops having to shutter their windows and doors.
In an effort to bring back life to our communities, we partnered with Partial Gallery and a generous sponsorship from Grassroots Advertising Inc., Labour of Love launched an art initiative called Together Even When We’re Apart in the spring of 2020.
This initiative helped save communities and business districts by sparking joy and giving people another reason to visit. We believed this could support local artists, and be a way to use art to bring hope and comfort to all of us. Our first series featured 11 Toronto artists and had the theme of nature and resilience.
Artworks were featured in 4’ x 6’ posters throughout the downtown core, from the East End to the West End, on the windows of empty shops and boarded up buildings in the spring of 2020. The art posters were also available for sale as smaller prints exclusively at Labour of Love. All proceeds, less printing costs, went directly back to the artist.
Say thanks to frontline workers movement
Doctors, nurses, EMTs, hospital workers, police officers, food handlers, postal carriers - and more - working on the front lines around the clock to save lives every day while we were self isolating and practicing physical distancing. We knew that many people wanted to thank them for all they do, and we wanted to help show our collective appreciation.
A simple formula – Customers could purchase their choice of card, let us know what they wanted to say, and where they wanted to address it. We would write it out and mail it.