Mayor Olivia Chow's Visit To Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport

Mayor: Olivia Chow, Photographer, Director, Producer, Mental Health Advocate, Canon Canada Ambassador: Ajani Charles, Publicist, Entrepreneur: Randy Phipps, Location: Project T-Dot, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Photographer: Neil Donaldson Also Known As Logik

On Monday, September 23, 2024, during the afternoon, I had the honour of facilitating a personalized tour of my new solo Project T-Dot art exhibit at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport for Toronto’s 66th Mayor, Olivia Chow.

Toronto is beautiful in many ways, has world-class talent in many sectors, is a global leader in certain categories, and is the most multicultural city in the world.

Still, when Mayor Chow took office in July 2023 and became the political leader of Canada’s largest city and the fourth largest city in North America, she was immediately confronted with several urgent challenges that persist to this day, including but not limited to a budget deficit which exceeds $1.5 billion, a housing affordability crisis, a mental health crisis, countless public safety and transit issues, Toronto's aging infrastructure, the most congested vehicular traffic in North America, and the waning vitality and commercial viability of Toronto's arts and film sectors, so given her enormous responsibilities, I was and still am grateful that she took 20 minutes to learn about Toronto’s hip-hop culture, community, and history through one of my most successful art exhibits to date.

Moreover, because I attended the Mayor’s Arts Lunch this year with my new exhibit’s primary sponsor, Nieuport Aviation, one of my clients and partners, I know for a fact that Mayor Chow loves the arts and is deeply concerned about the challenges that Toronto’s arts sector faces.

Her tour of my exhibit was an important act of support for the arts in Toronto, Toronto’s hip-hop legacy, and many underserved communities. It was part of a more extensive Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport tour.

Given the demands of Mayor Chow’s schedule, her September 23rd visit to the airport was her first as Mayor, and I was told that it would also likely be her last official tour of the airport in 2024.

Mayor: Olivia Chow, Councillor: Michael Thompson, Location: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Photographer: Ajani Charles

After months of attempting to schedule a tour with the Mayor, I was told I would be given at least 72 hours’ notice before the tour was scheduled.

Instead, I was given approximately four hours' notice due to a confluence of variables that were outside my control.

I knew I had little choice but to have my assistant Maria adjust my schedule to accommodate Mayor Chow, and I am glad I could make it happen.

Before my hurried arrival at the airport, I informed my longtime friend and colleague and Stolen From Africa founder, Neil “Logik” Donaldson, who is featured in my new exhibit, as I knew he was interested in joining me for the tour.

I needed at least one skilled person like Neil to document me through photography and otherwise during my interactions with Mayor Chow, and thankfully, he made himself available.

During the early stages of my career, most of my documentation of Toronto’s hip-hop scene for Project T-Dot came about by learning about various events that fell within Project T-Dot’s mandates, usually with very short notice, hours or days.

President, CEO: Neil Pakey, President, CEO: RJ Steenstra, Organization: Nieuport Aviation, Organization: PortsToronto, Mayor: Olivia Chow, Location: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Photographer: Ajani Charles

Neil and I travelled to multiple locations around the Greater Toronto Area and other parts of Ontario to document our city’s hip-hop scene during the early 2000s.

So, Neil and I were used to showing up ready to enthusiastically engage with anyone we planned on documenting, usually with very little notice.

I also contacted my excellent publicist, Randy Phipps, who kindly joined us to provide additional documentation and any advice I may have needed from a communications perspective when engaging with Mayor Chow.

Given the short notice, I could not assemble a small production team as I did when facilitating a tour of my first solo Project T-Dot art exhibit at Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square for former Mayor John Tory in 2022. Therefore, producing a short film on Mayor Chow’s visit with a production value that met my standards was impossible.

Still, I made do with my available resources at the time and am grateful that Neil and Randy joined me. They are some of my most multitalented colleagues and greatest supporters.

When the Mayor arrived at the airport terminal’s atrium after visiting many other parts of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, all of the airport staff not implicated in crucial services were waiting in formation to greet her, representing the high level of organization I see at the airport weekly.

Mayor: Olivia Chow, Councillor: Michael Thompson, President, CEO: Neil Pakey, Organization: Nieuport Aviation, Organization: PortsToronto, Location: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Photographer: Ajani Charles

They loudly applauded and cheered when she reached the top of the atrium’s escalators with Councillor Michael Thompson, PortsToronto’s CEO and President RJ Steenstra, Nieuport Aviation’s CEO and President Neil Pakey, and others.

Councillor Michael Thompson helped to bring my new exhibit to fruition.

Alongside Joe Sellors of the City of Toronto, it was his idea to have my new solo Project T-Dot art exhibit at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

I was, and still am, thankful that he ensured that Mayor Chow’s tour of my exhibit went smoothly and stayed on time.

Mayor Chow was fully present and engaged during her tour of my new exhibit.

She was enthusiastic throughout her time at the airport, and I did my best to tell her about the subjects of my new exhibit and Project T-Dot as a whole within a very tight timeframe; most of the private, personalized tours of my new exhibit last an hour, so three times as long as my time with Mayor Chow.

Photographer, Director, Producer, Mental Health Advocate, Canon Canada Ambassador: Ajani Charles, Mayor: Olivia Chow, President, CEO: Neil Pakey, President, CEO: RJ Steenstra, Organization: Nieuport Aviation, Organization: PortsToronto, Councillor: Michael Thompson, Location: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Photographer: Neil Donaldson Also Known As Logik

As we walked through the airport terminal’s atrium, I appreciated Mayor Chow as someone who seemed incredibly friendly and laidback but could be stern and direct when needed.

I was surprised when she told me that she is very familiar with my client, colleague, and Canadian icon Wes Williams, professionally known as Maestro Fresh Wes, as her late husband Jack Layton, who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011, hired Wes for several events throughout his political career.

Moreover, when I attempted to explain to Mayor Chow who Tara Muldoon was and the fantastic things she and her team have done for youth and adults within the Canadian justice system through her Forgiveness Project, Mayor Chow told me that she was very familiar with Tara and her work.

Despite City Hall’s proximity to it, Mayor Chow had no idea that Hong Shing Chinese Restaurant was essential to Toronto’s hip-hop culture, community, and history.

To this day, it is a meeting place for Toronto’s hip-hop scene and was a go-to location for late-night eats amongst Toronto’s hip-hop community when Toronto’s entertainment district existed, especially during the early 2000s.

Halfway through the tour, she told me she wanted to see a permanent Project T-Dot exhibit somewhere in Toronto, much like former Mayor John Tory did in 2022.

Mayor: Olivia Chow, Location: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Photographer: Ajani Charles

Mayor Chow was amazed by the depth, digital user interface, prints, and sheer volume of subjects in my new exhibit.

At the end of the tour, she was kind enough to take several photographs with Logik, me, and others in attendance.

She also accommodated my publicist Randy by shouting out Deborah Cox (via Randy’s phone), who graduated from the Claude Watson arts program like me, has a day in Toronto named after her, has an official key to the City of Toronto, and is Randy’s longtime client and friend.

The following week, on Tuesday, October 4, 2024, I sat across from Mayor Chow at Toronto City Hall on behalf of the airport and the institutions that oversee its operations and growth.

While addressing an executive committee that would decide the future of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, I mentioned my partnership with the City and my previous and current solo Project T-Dot art exhibits.

I clearly stated, without the help of a script, that Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is not only a transportation hub that has significant long-term economic benefits for the Greater Toronto Area and Canada as a whole, but based on my observations over the last year, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, PortsToronto, and Nieuport Aviation deeply care about, engage with, and support the communities surrounding the airport, the Greater Toronto Area as whole, the arts, and many marginalized groups in Toronto.

Photographer, Director, Producer, Mental Health Advocate, Canon Canada Ambassador: Ajani Charles, Mayor: Olivia Chow, President, CEO: Neil Pakey, Councillor: Michael Thompson, Location: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Photographer: Neil Donaldson Also Known As Logik

They have provided incredible spaces for Toronto-based artists like me during a period when such spaces and support are unfortunately scarce.

Toronto’s private and public sectors are not investing nearly enough capital and other resources into the arts, which are hugely important to Toronto’s health and vibrancy.

After all, most Torontonians rely on the output of artists when they are not working, and as Pablo Picasso once stated, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

With me as the catalyst, documentarian, artist, and executive producer, among other roles, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, PortsToronto, Nieuport Aviation, and other stakeholders (like the City of Toronto, Sony Music Entertainment Canada, and Canon Canada) have created the most innovative and publicized art exhibit on hip-hop culture in Canada today.

I trust that the City of Toronto will continue to support an institution that the Greater Toronto Area needs on several fronts. In the meantime, the City recently approved the extension of the runway at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, and Toronto City Council has granted the island airport a lease extension that will keep the hub open for at least another two decades.