The Summit, Murals, Skateboard Parks and Activism “The Summit” is a grassroots cause started by local urban arts curator Ken Galloway, which has resulted in 62 public murals in London’s east end, over $300,000 raised for youth empowerment programming – and the recent London Winter Skatepark Pilot. “Four years ago, we committed to using the Urban Arts and Action Sports to help make things better,” said Galloway. “We needed to demonstrate how ‘vibrancy murals’ should be byproducts of a vibrant art eco-systems; instead of serving as wallpaper,” explains Galloway, who has also curated for many of Canada’s top mural festivals in his professional career. 30 murals later, the young art movement secured investment in a youth empowerment festival (called The Summit) at the 2024 Western Fair. The purpose of this festival was to inspire, support and celebrate those using the things they love (ie. The urban arts and action sports), to make the world a better place. The ten-day celebration brought an additional 32 new murals to the OEV neighbourhood (bringing their total up to 62), a 200’ photo installation, an art-train, ten days of empowerment programming, a team of global ambassadors, and a world- class indoor skatepark. With change-making in the air at The Summit event, and countless resources on hand, a local group of young skateboarders decided to step forward with a petition for an indoor winter skatepark pilot. “We told them that if they can get up to 1000 signatures, that we would back them up wholeheartedly – because that’s why our movement exists in the first place,” explains Galloway. “Of course, we never expected them to get there in less than a week!”
Six months of advocacy later, the Winter Skatepark Pilot opened its doors to London’s young athlete-activists at Silverwoods Arena. “We couldn’t have done this without exceptional people and companies stepping forward to support us,” explains Galloway. “Mayor Josh Morgan and his chief of staff Nathan Smith helped us cut through a ton of red tape. And none of this could have happened if Handy Bros. Home Comfort didn’t step up to help us cover the astronomical insurance fees that the city was asking of us.” The Summit team tells me they’re already working to get London’s action-sports insurance requirements “way down” for next year. As for what’s next for London’s youngsters; with local skate- boarders Cordano Russell and Richie Bullbrook currently sit- ting tops in their respective Olympic-qualifying categories, it appears the sky’s the limit.
All skateboard photos courtesy Corey Sunshine
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Old East Villager May-June 2025 • Page 5
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