A Digital Campaign Powered By PATTISON Outdoor: Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport

A Short Film On A Digital Campaign Powered By PATTISON Outdoor: Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Production Company: The Ark Media Group, Executive Producer: Ajani Charles, Producer: Ajani Charles, Director: Ajani Charles, Director of Photography: Ajani Charles, Editor: Keegan Tam

Since the first week of August 2024, a 15-second cut of the short film I directed and produced on my new solo Project T-Dot art exhibit at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport has frequently been streaming, sometimes every minute, 24 hours per day, seven days per week, at hundreds of locations throughout the Greater Toronto Area, including but not limited to all Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) stations, and most of the highrise elevators in the Greater Toronto Area, thanks to a recent partnership I formed with the good people at PATTISON Outdoor Advertising.

The campaign is ongoing until this Sunday, September 29, 2024, and the PATH, Commerce Court, Richmond Adelaide Centre, Royal Bank Plaza, Waterpark Place, Metro Centre, Telus Tower, 121 King Street West, Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Scotia Plaza, and Hullmark Centre are some other prominent locations wherein my short film has been streaming.

Surprisingly, some friends and colleagues have sent me footage of it streaming in residential building elevators; the short film has been streaming in many parts of the Greater Toronto Area I have never visited, and I receive messages about it daily.

Thank you to Ian Gadsby, Bridget Campbell, and the PATTISON Outdoor team.

I deeply appreciate PATTISON Outdoor’s unwavering support and trust in me, my production company, Project T-Dot, and Toronto’s hip-hop community.

I am also grateful to everyone involved in the production of the short film on my new exhibit’s digital campaign, especially Keegan Tam, son of Toronto hip-hop legend and Play De Record founder Eugene Tam:

Production Company: The Ark Media Group.

Executive Producer: Ajani Charles.

Producer: Ajani Charles.

Director: Ajani Charles.

Writer: Ajani Charles.

Director of Photography: Ajani Charles.

Talent: Ajani Charles.

Editor: Keegan Tam.

Camera Operators: Ajani Charles, Keegan Tam, Braeson Holland.

Unit Still Photographer: Ajani Charles.

Camera Gear: Canon Canada.

Executive Assistant: Maria Chua.

English To French Captions Translator: Asselin Charles.

A Screenshot From A Short Film On A Digital Campaign Powered By PATTISON Outdoor: Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Location: Dundas Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Production Company: The Ark Media Group, Executive Producer: Ajani Charles, Producer: Ajani Charles, Director: Ajani Charles, Writer: Ajani Charles, Director of Photography: Ajani Charles, Editor: Keegan Tam

Thank you to the fantastic stakeholders who have been instrumental in the success of my new exhibit at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, including, but not limited to, Nieuport Aviation, PortsToronto, the City of Toronto, Sony Music Entertainment Canada, Canon Canada, the CONTACT Photography Festival, ICON Digital Productions, and Dot2Dot Communications.

It was particularly surreal to see myself and my exhibit streaming through the previously mentioned short film at Empress Walk, the closest shopping centre to Earl Haig Secondary School, where I attended high school, and a shopping centre I have walked through hundreds if not thousands of times.

As a visual arts major, my time at the Claude Watson Arts program at Earl Haig Secondary School laid the foundation for my technical skills as a photographer and my confidence as a visual artist.

Knowing that, among millions around the Greater Toronto Area, many, if not most, current Earl Haig Secondary School students and staff have recently seen a promotion for my new exhibit has led me to reflect on how far I have come.

In addition to inspiring them to visit my new exhibit, if my new exhibit’s digital campaign inspired a single student from my high school (or anywhere else) to think bigger, express themselves more fully through art, document, or highlight a meaningful facet of the human experience or life on earth, it was all worth it.

The visibility of my new exhibit, its remarkable impact on Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, the fantastic leaders within various sectors that travelled to the airport specifically to view the exhibit, its extensive promotion through various media channels, and, most importantly, the support it has garnered from Toronto’s hip-hop community have far surpassed my expectations, validating years of multiple rejections and 18 years of dedication, sacrifice and relentless hard work on my part.

A Screenshot From A Short Film On A Digital Campaign Powered By PATTISON Outdoor: Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Location: Empress Walk, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Production Company: The Ark Media Group, Executive Producer: Ajani Charles, Producer: Ajani Charles, Director: Ajani Charles, Writer: Ajani Charles, Director of Photography: Ajani Charles, Editor: Keegan Tam

Many people may find it inconceivable that Project T-Dot received many rejections between its inception in December 2006 and mid-2020; before 2020, no organizations would fund any aspects of it.

Before 2020, when the City of Toronto decided to invest in the project and display it at Toronto’s City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square, making it the largest exhibit ever to be displayed on the exterior of Toronto City Hall to this day, it was only my faith in myself and my abilities, my faith in Toronto’s hip-hop community, and Toronto’s hip-hop community’s faith in me that led me to remain vigilant and continue producing Project T-Dot.

This Monday afternoon, I gave a tour of my new solo Project T-Dot art exhibit at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to Toronto’s Mayor Olivia Chow, a great experience I will be writing and speaking about soon.

That said, to go from Project T-Dot and myself facing constant rejections for nearly fifteen years to the Mayor of Canada’s largest city requesting that a permanent Project T-Dot art exhibit be installed somewhere in Toronto, the second such request I have received from a Toronto Mayor in two years, is about as surreal to me as seeing myself on a digital screen at Empress Walk.

As I have done daily since it was installed last January, I encourage all Torontonians and travellers to Toronto to visit my new exhibit.

It is free of charge and does not require a plane ticket to view; it is located past the airport’s underground tunnel, specifically in its passenger terminal’s atrium, every day between 5:00 AM EST and 11:59 PM EST until the end of January 2025.

A Screenshot From A Short Film On A Digital Campaign Powered By PATTISON Outdoor: Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Location: The PATH, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Production Company: The Ark Media Group, Executive Producer: Ajani Charles, Producer: Ajani Charles, Director: Ajani Charles, Writer: Ajani Charles, Director of Photography: Ajani Charles, Editor: Keegan Tam

The exhibit’s 60 large-scale vinyl prints feature over 80 Toronto hip-hop community members.

The exhibit’s 55-inch interactive touchscreen describes their careers, contributions to Toronto’s hip-hop culture and history, and positive impact on Toronto, Canada, and the world.

The user interface available through the screen is not static, and I will continue adding new subjects (and images) to the exhibit’s digital user interface.

I recently added Christina G. Cheng, Richie Sosa, 4KORNERS, and Jungle Flower this week.

Globally, my new exhibit’s digital user interface is the first comprehensive publicly available database featuring a major city’s hip-hop community, and it is currently only available at the airport.

More work is needed to tell the stories of Toronto’s hip-hop scene accurately; my current exhibit only scratches the surface of what Project T-Dot is and will be, and more elements of Project T-Dot are on the way.