On July 11 get a snapshot with "Shift:" a free, guided bike tour of art installations along Toronto's new city-wide trail & legacy to the Pan Am Games, The Pan Am Path

TORONTO, July 6, 2015 /CNW/ - If you haven't had the opportunity to experience the Pan Am Path Art Relay this is your chance! Toronto's new 84-kilometre trail system, a first in Canada, brings together art and nature, and now you can get a brief snapshot of what the Path has to offer with a bike tour of "Shift."

Join East End Arts and Friends of the Pan Am Path on July 11 from 1-3 p.m. for a free bike tour of a highly curated portion of the Pan Am Path. The tour, entitled "Shift" features a variety of temporary and permanent art installations and murals created to celebrate arts in the east end of Toronto. It's a condensed look at the goals of the Friends of the Pan Am Path: to create a public, living art space along Toronto's trail system, allowing Torontonians and visitors to experience the best of what this city has to offer in one place: diversity, nature, arts and active outdoor living.

WHEN:	Saturday July 11, 2015, 1-3 p.m.
WHERE:	Taylor Creek parking lot (tour ends at the Eco Art Festival near Todmorden Mills.) Directions by car: Accessible off Don Mills Rd., south of Overlea Blvd (north of DVP entrance) Directions by Bike – take trail into valley from Cullen Bryant Park, 50 Barbara Crescent.
NOTES:	For more info, please visit: http://eastendarts.ca/shift-zone-9-of-the-pan-am-path/  Please bring your own bike and helmet, water and sunscreen Rain or shine.

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:

The artworks selected for this project playfully explore themes of diversity and emphasize the potency of a simple shift of perspective. Stops along the route will include a mural by the Z'otz* Collective, painted benches by the STEPS Initiative, an installation by Labspace Studio, and a mural by the Project Gallery Collective. The tour is the ninth stop along the Pan Am Path Art Relay. See panampath.org for more information.

Free ice cream will also be given away to the first 100 bike riders at Todmorden Mills courtesy of Toronto Pearson.

EAST END ARTS:

East End Arts is a local arts service organization that creates and promotes diverse, accessible activities that strengthen and unite communities in East Toronto.

BACKGROUND: About The Pan Am Path & Art Relay

The vision of the Pan Am Path is to combine the power of art and sport to create a living path across Toronto. From May 16 to August 15, 2015, the Pan Am Path will come alive with a city-wide Art Relay of installations and events. Each week, the festival travels across Toronto celebrating some of the city's greatest assets: diversity, nature, arts and active outdoor living.

The Pan Am Path was started by a group of Toronto artists and city-builders in collaboration with the City of Toronto. On July 18, 2013, Toronto City Council endorsed the Pan Am Path as a Host City Showcase Program of the Games. The Pan Am Path is an 80-kilometre continuous trail for walking, running, cycling and wheeling that connects the city from east to west. Legacy construction to improve and create new connections along the Pan Am Path will continue through 2017.

The Pan Am Path App is a wayfinding mobile app that matches your geographic location on the Path to music that is rooted within that community via 4 local music-streaming stations. Other Features include: a full map of the path, directions to nearby local businesses and a calendar of Pan Am Path Art Relay programming.

Friends of the Pan Am Path is the main organizer of the Pan Am Path Art Relay, motivated by the chance to celebrate the best of the region: art, nature and diversity -- while also creating a meaningful legacy of the 2015 Games for residents.

The Pan Am Path Art Relay is proudly supported by the City of Toronto, Toronto Foundation, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, Toronto Star, Toronto Arts Council, Trans Canada Trail, Canadian Heritage, Toronto Pearson, United Way Toronto, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Laidlaw Foundation, Lotus Leaf, & Westbury National.

For the full Pan Am Art Relay event calendar map, app and participating organizations, please visit: http://www.panampath.org.

NEXT-UP IN THE RELAY: July 17 - Corridor Connections - Centennial College's Ashtonbee Campus, Scarborough

Head northeast to visit a No.9 commissioned wall art installation. Toronto artist Sean Martindale mentored students to develop a mural that highlights the potential of the hydro corridor's sprawling grasslands as a local attraction. A No.9/Centennial College partnership in consultation with Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts. Rain or shine.

SOURCE Friends of the Pan Am Path

Media Contact: Andrea Chrysanthou, [phone], [email protected]; Julia Che, [phone], [email protected]