In 2021, Reset hosted over 50 pop-up playgrounds in parks and public spaces in Toronto and for a handful of organizations that were looking for creative ways to reconnect their teams.

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The playground was an in-person, outdoor, physically distanced, guided audio experience intended to contribute towards attendees social recovery from the pandemic.

Total Number of Playgrounds: 62

Total Number of People: 511 

Orgs that we collaborated with: City of Toronto, Mothers of Peace Regent Park, Centre for Social Innovation, Artscape, Toronto Foundation, TAS, The Bentway 

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Playground Locations: Regent Park, Christie Pits Park, Geary Parkettes, an alleyway in Chinatown (CSI Spadina's alleyway), a parking lot in Parkdale (Stay Gold's Parking Lot), an old streetcar maintenance facility (Wychwood Barns), the courtyard of a community centre (The Corner @240), under a bridge (Canoe Landing Park), in front of a legislature (Queen's Park Park), on a boardwalk (The Beach), in a old auto shop (The Body Shop on Geary), on an island (Toronto Islands) and in an old farmhouse (in Alliston, Ontario). 

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More Press:​

• How a Toronto-based organization is helping people get back to social interaction through guided play | CBC’s Fresh Air 

• Pop-up Playgrounds | CTV News National

• Pop-up Playgrounds | Global News

• Toronto getting pop playgrounds all around city and they're adults only | BlogTO

    What Worked Well​

• We achieved our goal of 50 public playgrounds!

• 163 free tickets were claimed from individuals by Black and Indigenous communities (32% of our total pool).

• The vast majority of those who attended had not attended a Reset event before. 

• Our values and attention to access and inclusion were consistently identified as something people appreciated in the feedback.

    What Did Not ​

• We struggled to explain what we were offering. 

• We had hoped that we would serve at least 2x the people we did.  

• Some felt the headphones were isolating because they didn't get to talk with others.

• Some mentioned that the experience could have gone deeper / pushed comfort levels more.

Alina, Amanda Blair Roberson, Amanda Brueggeman, Andrés Aquino, Andrew Peek, Antonio Carito, Arati Sharma, Artscape, Carrie Vermillion, Cassandra, Chidiogo Akunyili, Clarke Nolan, ColinResponse, Danny Madden, Darius Bashar, Dance n' Culture, Dylan Coombs, Dylan Rudder, Emma Brooks, Faramarz Hashemi, Farid Jhalil, Frank Rocchio, Janice Liu, Jeremy O'Krafka, Jeremy Mather, Jessica Francis, Joshua Fernandes, Joy McClure, Karen Lewellen, Karim Rizkallah, Kelly Rintoul, Lorrainne Lam, Luke Anderson, Majid Hashemi, Mandy Sherman, Mathura Mahendren, Matt DelCiampo, Mike Brcic, Mitchell Stern, Misha Pokras, Mx. Ana Ceréna Sierra, Nadir Ebrahim, Natasha Singh, Negin Sairafi, Polina Buchak, Quamina Belgrave, Quincy, Remy, Rhea Mehta, Rob Mackenzie, Robert Wakulat, Romana Kassam, Sabrina Bowman, Salina Abji, Sarah Masiyiwa, Scott Girshek, Seema Jethalal, Tachand Dubuisson, Tanya Hayles, Tara Hadler, Tesfai Mengesha, Vanessa Okafo, Yusra Khan