The Change Room Project

The Change Room Project is a direct, activist and educational multi-venue exhibition placed in locker rooms and change rooms of athletics facilities at U of T during the 2015 Pan American Games.  People who are gender non-conforming or whose sexual orientation is lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or queer, face higher rates of violence, harassment, and exclusion in athletics spaces. Not often talked about, change rooms and locker rooms are the gateway to participating in physical fitness and recreation, which is an important part of our over all health: physical, social, and mental. The texts were excerpted from interviews with current students, and amplify the experiences of LGBTQ students in their own words.

This project was a unique collaboration between University staff, tenured faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, athletics facilities staff (managers to front line staff), campus equity offices, as well as community partners.

There were both curricular and co-curricular elements to the project, including graduate and undergraduate students engaged as subjects and researchers, community engaged learning students assisted in creating a robust suite of parallel programs that invited education and conversation around the issues explored in the exhibition. The Change Room Project engaged students, recreation and athletics facilities users, and the community in conversation and advocacy for safer, more inclusive spaces for all.

Collaborators:

Day Milman, Project Lead

Dr. Caroline Fusco, Professor Kinesiology and Physical Education

Amanda DeLisio, PhD research Assistant , Kinesiology and Physical Education

Anita Matusevics, Wonder Incorporated, Designer

Campus and Community Partners: Hart House, the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, 519 Community Centre, the Hart House Fitness Centre, Goldring Fitness Centre, U o of T Athletics Centre, UTSC & UTM Athletics Centres.