Billy Bishop Airport Celebrating Toronto Culture and Community

Credit: Nieuport Aviation

As CEO of Nieuport Aviation, a terminal partner at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ), I have the privilege to witness firsthand how this airport has become a destination for travelers and local visitors in the world. We offer our space as a canvas for stories, both first and now, which forms us.

Launching now, Canvas’s latest story has changed the outside of our passenger terminal by completing large-scale murals from partnerships with Jakarundi charts with the support of the Streettoronto and Portstoronto Toronto City and Portstoronto programs.

This mural includes an exterior wall facing north of our passenger terminal, a lively award for the original Toronto root, migration experience, and a unique seafood ecosystem that defines our geography.

Earlier this year, two community workshops were held that unites residents, artists, and stakeholders to help form mural designs, ensuring that it is part of a collective narrative that displays community votes around the airport.

Water, features that determine the geography of Toronto, very features in murals, representing connections, movements, and memory; Reflects the role of the airport as a connector of people. Does someone arrive, leave, or just pass, this mural invites them to stop and consider the story that forms this place.

Celebrate Toronto’s character and creativity

This mural is just one of the larger cultural commitments at Billy Bishop Airport. Over the past year, we have been fortunate to support and launch various community -based initiatives that celebrate Toronto’s character and creativity. This initiative is important because they form the experience of passengers at this only airport while strengthening the relationship we have with our community partners.

For example, during the month of pride, we install This light (greater than the amount of sun) By artist Joshua Vettivelu. This exhibition uses light to explore the theme of identity and ownership, inviting travelers to reflect their own relationship to place through the Toronto sea edge lens.

Credit: Nieuport Aviation

We also continue our popularity Music quickly Programs, partnerships with culture and Arthaus who brought local musicians to the terminal room. The show immediately welcomed passengers and invited them to enjoy the space when they experienced rich and diverse Toronto music talents. Recently, we host our first interactive performance featuring talented steel drum musicians, offering fast lessons for travelers and community members. We also welcome the ranks of new artists to help manage scenes for those who travel to the Toronto International Film Festival in September. This is a small, but strong way, to celebrate talent that is one step outside the airport door.

Other partnerships that have produced a lot of interest from travelers and the community T-DOT projectAn exhibition from Photographer Ajani Charles, who featured a large collection of large-scale photography panels and interactive screens that celebrated the diverse subculture and Toronto hip-hop community. T-DOT project is the biggest art exhibition in airport history. The launch also features a complete terminal celebration with partners, subjects, a DJ, dancer and more.

Like local programs

Credit: Nieuport Aviation

Outside of arts and culture, we have deepened our partnership with the Toronto Association of Business Improvements (Tabia) through our local love program. This collaboration has brought dozens of local business to the terminal, giving travelers to introduce the spirit of entrepreneurship of Toronto at the time of arrival. Whether it’s artisanal food, handicraft, or unique service, this local offer adds a layer of connection and other discoveries to visitors and employees.

Together, this initiative reflects our belief that the airport must be an extension of the lively Toronto social order.

When we look into the future, we remain committed to building this foundation. We want Billy Bishop Airport to be known not only as a gateway to the city, but as an integral part of the story – a place where people are connected, developing culture, and community members represented, all while increasing passenger experience.

Next time you are in Toronto or in that environment, I invite you to come to see our new mural, and indeed all community programming at the airport, directly. Whether you are a strange frequent flyer or local, exhibition and initiative is a good reminder that every brush sweep, every tone, and every story is part of what makes our city, and our airport, really special.

Credit: Nieuport Aviation

About the author

Credit: Nieuport Aviation

Jennifer Quinn is the CEO of Nieuport Aviation. He has been with the Nie East Aviation since 2021. As an accomplished executive, Jennifer brought the experience of the public and private sector in strategies, operations, commercial structuring and negotiations, infrastructure and real estate development, and stakeholder relations. Before joining Nieuport, Jennifer was a partner and government & the leader of the public service industry with Deloitte and also spent almost seven years in the senior role in the Ontario Infrastructure.

In 2024, he was awarded a report on the best executive award of business magazines from Globe and Mail and was named one of the 100 most powerful Canadians in the executive network of women. Jennifer has an accounting degree from Brock University, a master certificate in public management from York University and is a rental professional accountant.