Protected: Halloween at the BSM
Protected: Shoe Design 101
Protected: Indigenous Beading Workshop: Flat Stitch Ojibway Flower
Protected: Late Night At The BSM: Sketching
Protected: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Commemoration
Protected: Indigenous Beading Workshop: Orange Shirt Pin
PD Day at the BSM
Date: Friday, November 20, 2026
Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: B1 level, Bata Shoe Museum
Tickets: Included with General Admission
Spend your PD Day at the Bata Shoe Museum! Explore our current exhibitions, take a museum tour, and get creative at our craft stations.
SCHEDULE:
11:00 am – Guided Exhibition Tour
12:00 pm – Be a Shoe Designer Presentation
2:00 pm – Guided Exhibition Tour
3:00 pm – Be a Shoe Designer Presentation
Each program runs for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour. Activities are subject to change.
Please review our Terms and Conditions in advance and check in with Visitor Services upon arrival. Questions? Email us info@batashoemuseum.caanytime.
Late Night at the BSM: Collage Holiday Cards
Date: Friday, December 11, 2026
Time: 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Bata Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor St. W.
Tickets: Included with General Admission
This is our final Late Night of 2026! Every second Friday of the month we’ve remained open until 9 pm (we usually close at 5 pm!) for all to enjoy, with special free programming new each week plus access to all current exhibitions.
This week: Collage Holiday Cards
Design your own holiday cards inspired by the colours, textures, and stories on display at the museum. Whether you’re crafting heartfelt messages for loved ones or simply getting into the festive spirit, this relaxed drop-in program offers a perfect blend of creativity, reflection, and fun.
No experience needed, and all materials are provided. Drop in, have some fun, and take home your own design.
Please review our Terms and Conditions in advance and check in with Visitor Services upon arrival. Questions? Email us info@batashoemuseum.ca anytime.
Late Night at the BSM: Friendship Bracelet Making
Date: Friday, November 13, 2026
Time: 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Bata Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor St. W.
Tickets: Included with General Admission
NEW! Every second Friday of the month until the end of 2026, we will remain open until 9 pm (we usually close at 5 pm!) for all to enjoy with special free programming new each week plus access to all current exhibitions.
This week: Friendship Bracelet Making
Join us for an evening of crafting friendship bracelets inspired by the colours, patterns, and designs found throughout the museum. Whether you’re an experienced maker or picking up thread for the first time, this relaxed drop-in program offers a perfect blend of craft, creativity, and connection.
No experience needed, and all materials are provided. Drop in, have some fun, and take home your own design.
Please review our Terms and Conditions in advance and check in with Visitor Services upon arrival. Questions? Email us info@batashoemuseum.ca anytime.
Protected: Indigenous Beading Workshop: Poppy
Protected: Beaded Hoop Earrings
Protected: Linocut Workshop: André Perugia Themed Tote Bag
Doors Open 2026 Sunday
The world-renowned Bata Shoe Museum is North America’s only museum dedicated to exploring the history and cultural significance of footwear. Designed by Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama, this award-winning five-story structure features a flagship showcase called All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages, thematically changing exhibitions, a retail shop, and a private vault that protects the worlds most comprehensive collection of nearly 15,000 shoes and shoe-related artifacts. The shape of the museum was inspired by a shoebox, with the roof acting as a slightly ajar lid. Visitors can see several unique touches throughout the building, including a sole-shaped front desk, a majestic art-glass installation by Lutz Haufschild, and iconic bronze features by Canadian sculptor Dora de Pédery-Hunt.
Take a fascinating, self-guided journey through 4,500 years of shoes presented across four exhibitions. Current exhibitions include Unearthing Vindolanda: Footwear from the Edge of the Roman Empire Rough & Ready: A History of the Cowboy Boot, Exhibit A: Investigating Crime and Footwear, and All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages.
Learn more about the Bata Shoe Museum’s architecture here.
Admission for Doors Open is first-come, first-served; advanced tickets are not available. Please anticipate long wait times.
Doors Open 2026 Saturday
The world-renowned Bata Shoe Museum is North America’s only museum dedicated to exploring the history and cultural significance of footwear. Designed by Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama, this award-winning five-story structure features a flagship showcase called All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages, thematically changing exhibitions, a retail shop, and a private vault that protects the worlds most comprehensive collection of nearly 15,000 shoes and shoe-related artifacts. The shape of the museum was inspired by a shoebox, with the roof acting as a slightly ajar lid. Visitors can see several unique touches throughout the building, including a sole-shaped front desk, a majestic art-glass installation by Lutz Haufschild, and iconic bronze features by Canadian sculptor Dora de Pédery-Hunt.
Take a fascinating, self-guided journey through 4,500 years of shoes presented across four exhibitions. Current exhibitions include Unearthing Vindolanda: Footwear from the Edge of the Roman Empire Rough & Ready: A History of the Cowboy Boot, Exhibit A: Investigating Crime and Footwear, and All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages.
Learn more about the Bata Shoe Museum’s architecture here.
Admission for Doors Open is first-come, first-served; advanced tickets are not available. Please anticipate long wait times.
Guided Walk: Streets and Place Names
Date: Sunday, August 23, 2026
Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Location: Tour begins at the Bata Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor St. W.
Tickets: Pay What You Wish
What’s in a street name?
Recent conversations about street and place names — and who or what they commemorate — have highlighted how these everyday markers quietly shape our sense of identity, belonging, and exclusion. The names we pass by without a second thought can tell powerful stories about a neighbourhood’s past, its values, and whose histories are centred.
This guided walk, led by artist and scholar Andrew Lochhead, invites you to see the city differently. Thinking of street names as the most visible “texts” of a city, we’ll explore the streets surrounding the Bata Shoe Museum and uncover the meanings behind their names. Together, we’ll consider what these names reveal about the Annex neighbourhood, its histories, and its wider connections.
After the walk, we’ll gather back inside the museum for a collaborative discussion, sharing what we “read” along the way and reflecting on how public naming shapes the stories our city tells.
The walk will take up to two hours. Please wear comfortable shoes.
ABOUT ANDREW LOCHHEAD:
Andrew Lochhead, is an artist and scholar who uses walking as a form of creative practice and research to bring to life stories about the city in ways that orient audiences toward imagining justice-based futures. A lifelong museum and gallery professional, Andrew has been an outspoken advocate for understanding how monuments, place names, and other forms of commemoration shape people’s relationships to places and to each other. His work as part of the public history campaign around the name of Dundas Street has contributed to significant changes to Toronto’s toponymic landscape, the development of new commemorative policy, and ongoing conversations about who or what Canada’s largest city remembers. Andrew’s research and activism have been featured in a number of documentary films and programs, including the BAFTA Award-winning Scotland, Slavery, and Statues. His PhD dissertation explores the role of walking in interpreting urban heritage landscapes.
Please review our Terms and Conditions in advance and check in with Visitor Services upon arrival. Questions? Email us info@batashoemuseum.ca anytime.