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Home / Toronto / News / Union Station will have a new art installation to mark Black History Month in Canada – Metrolinx announces

Union Station will have a new art installation to mark Black History Month in Canada – Metrolinx announces

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GO Transit bus wrap featuring legendary Toronto blues artist Salome Bay will also help celebrate Black History Month

Metrolinx is celebrating Black History Month in February with a number of initiatives, including a GO Transit bus wrap and a visual arts installation at Union Station’s Bay Concourse.

“Recognition of the late Salome Bey, Canada’s ‘First Lady of the Blues’, will be the most visible aspect in Metrolinx’s commemoration, as her image will be prominent on a GO bus making its way around the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region of Ontario,” reads a blog from Metrolinx.

Artist Mark Stoddard created this image that pays tribute to Toronto (songwriter Salome Bey (born 10 October 1933 in Newark, New Jersey; died 8 August 2020 in Toronto, ON). It will appear on a GO bus and a mural at Union Station. (Metrolinx image)

It’s all part of Metrolinx’s public celebrations during the month of February. The theme is ‘Black History’s Creative Journey’ and the project is led by the transit agency’s Black Employees Experience at Metrolinx (BEEAM) Employees Resource Group.

“There are a lot of opportunities for stories to be told about the Black experience and using creative arts is a very interesting and tangible way to do that,” said Trevor Anderson, BEEAM’s chair and program sponsor for Union Station. “Hopefully we will educate, inspire and challenge people to learn and do more.”

The artwork created by Mark Stoddard and featuring Salome Bey, an iconic Toronto singer-songwriter, composer, activist, actress and playwright, will be on display in Union Station and wrapped around a GO bus.

Salome Bey who created theatre opportunities for Black performers was also an Honourary Member of the Order of Ontario.

Wayne and Shuster September 19, 1971 Salome Bey Performances

Metrolinx is also marking Black History Month with internal speakers and gatherings, including a forum and panel discussion featuring Metrolinx Chief Inclusion Officer Karima Hashmani.

“It’s an amazing thing to show the growth and progression of what we’ve been involved with in the past few years,” Anderson said.

Trevor Anderson also said a video on the bus wrap will be shared, as “An opportunity to highlight and reflect on our Black employees who are in Bus Services – drivers, mechanics, bus supervisors, and others – and thank them for their efforts during the pandemic.”

SOURCE Metrolinx

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