Make Me An Alleycat
A step-by-step guide to make your own adventure.
Created by Keshia Palm with wheels from Claren Grosz. Funded by the National Theatre School of Canada via #ArtApart. Cover image by Samuel Willis.
What is an alleycat?
A one-of-a-kind bike route for you and your friends. They pick the locations, you go for the ride. Each stop has a story behind it, and on this alleycat, you get to listen in.
Alleycat races are unsanctioned bicycle races. This project keeps most elements of the alleycat, throws in storytelling, and scraps the race part. Keep scrolling for step-by-step instructions, FAQs, and alleycats we’ve received so far.
Ready to Roll?
Try the email template. Explore our manifests. Get the audio. Go.
Make Me An Alleycat in 4 Easy Steps:
Email 10 (ish) friends using our email template
Create a manifest (alleycat lingo for a list of checkpoints) based on your friends’ locations and voice memos
Send the manifest and voice memos to your friends
Go for a bike ride!
Ways to amplify your experience:
Share your adventure on social media using the hashtags #MakeMeAnAlleycat #ArtApart
Submit your manifest and voice memos to makemeanalleycat@gmail.com and we’ll add your alleycat to our collection of little journeys into secret worlds!
Not a cyclist?
That's a-okay! Make Me An Alleycat works with all methods of transportation — whether on feet or on wheels — and you can even use Google Maps Street View to take your adventure totally digital.
Don’t have 10 friends?
Me neither! You can email our template to 100 people or just 2. It’s up to you. This is your alleycat to make as grand or as intimate as you choose.
Not sure how to share your manifest with friends?
No need to get fancy! For locations, we recommend a bullet point list or creating a map on Google Maps. For audio-files, we recommend email, a Google Drive folder, or a file-sharing platform like WeTransfer. You can also email makemeanalleycat@gmail.com and we’ll set up a Google Map and downloadable playlist on Soundcloud for you to share!
What to bring?
A smartphone, headphones, and maybe a external battery pack if you have one. Hand sanitizer, a mask, helmet, water and if you’re going for a long one — snacks.
Feeling adventurous?
Scroll down to choose from our list of alleycat submissions and go for a ride.
Don’t feel like sharing?
That’s okay too. This project is about you and your friends creating something special together. You are absolutely welcome to use the template without sharing the end result. (But we do ask that you mention our project in your email.)
About the Project
Make Me an Alleycat is a digital community arts project inviting people to connect over stories and destinations during this time of social distancing. Alleycat races are unsanctioned bicycle races. This project keeps most elements of the alleycat, throws in storytelling, and scraps the race part.
Make Me an Alleycat is an instruction manual for individuals to make their own adventure. It's a way to be together while staying apart. To have meaningful contact without touch. And of course, to "go for a bike ride" with your friends!
This project was created by Keshia Palm in Toronto with wheels from Claren Grosz and received financial support from the National Theatre School of Canada via the #ArtApart Program.
Love the Idea?
Feeling Adventurous?
Explore some alleycats:
Toronto West End Startercat
City: Toronto // Parameters: College, Queen, Lansdowne, Dovercourt
Get the Google Map Route/Street View
West End YMCA (Dovercourt & College)
The Loveless Cafe & Bar
Intersection at Brock & Dundas W
Intersection at Lansdowne & Dundas W
24 Noble St
The Drake Hotel
Featuring stories from the following artists: Michaela Steven, Keshia Palm, Michael Orlando, Robin Luckwaldt, Kaitlyn Riordan and Jesse LaVercombe.
Toronto West End Alleycat
City: Toronto // Parameters: Dupont, Queen W, Lansdowne, Kensington
Get the Google Map Route/Street View
The 3 Speed
Dovercourt Park Baseball Diamond
Faema Caffe
The Piston
Intersection at Harbord St & Clinton St
Essence of Life Organics
West End YMCA (Dovercourt & College)
Intersection at Lansdowne Ave & Dundas W St
Intersection at Stickland Ave & Noble St
The Drake Hotel
Featuring stories from the following artists: Sydney Herauf, Marina Moreira, Áine Donnelly, Keshia Palm, Miquelon Rodriguez, Merlin Simard, Michaela Steven, Robin Luckwaldt, Kaitlyn Riordan and Jesse LaVercombe.
Toronto East End Alleycat
City: Toronto // Parameters: Bloor/Danforth, Queen, Yonge, Coxwell
Get the Google Map Route/Street View
30 Hayden St
St. Lukes United Church
Riverdale Park West
The Bridge North of Pape & Gerrard
Jonathan Ashbridge Park
358 Logan Ave
The Opera House
315 Queen St E
Featuring stories from the following artists: Elizabeth Staples. Colin Doyle, Luke Reece, Aaron Jan, Rachel Penny, Andrea Donaldson, & JY.
Dawn’s Birthday Alleycat
City: Edmonton // Parameters: SE of the North Sask River, N of Ritchie, W of 83rd
Get the Google Map Route/Street View
Strathcona Farmer’s Market
Keillor Road - Equestrian Centre
Hawrelak Park
Saint Stephen’s College (U of A)
Food in the Nud Bakery
Campus Saint-Jean
Keshia’s Birthday Alleycat
City: Toronto // Parameters: Barton, Lakeshore, Roncesvalles, Sherbourne
Get the Google Map Route/Street View
The Rhino
512 Queens St W
Jack Layton Ferry Terminal
160 Gerrard St E (Allan Gardens)
Bickford Park
Barton & Crawford (Christie Pitts)
Revue Cinema
1717 Dundas St W (St Clarens Parkette)
McCormick Park (Brock & Middleton)
Photo by Katherine Wong
Ben’s Vancouver Alleycat
City: Vancouver // Parameters: Stanley Park, 10th Street, UBC, Main Street
Get the Google Map Route/Street View
Robson & Cardero
Cafe Crepe
Commodore Ballroom
Steamworks
Lost & Found Cafe
Carrall & Pender
The Pier at Olympic Village
3195 Heather Street
West Point
Yaletown by the River
Dani’s Birthday Alleycat
City: Toronto // Parameters: Harbord, Front, Bathurst, Parliament
Get the Google Map Route/Street View
92 King St E
35 Wellington St E
47 Front St E
248 King St E
240 King St E
399 Church St
100 Harbord St
27 Wellesley St. E
Ready to make your own?
Acknowledgements
Thank you thank you thank you to Claren Grosz, who makes all my ideas better, and this one is no exception. Thanks for turning a birthday bike ride into an art project. A big thank you to Annie Clarke for making this site look so good, to Samuel Willis for the authentic cycling lifestyle shots (see more of his stuff here), and all of the folks who helped put together the pilot project: Renee Killough, Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes, Chelsea Graham, Merlin Simard, Ximena Huizi, Linnea Currie-Roberts, Emma Westray, and of course, Annie and Claren. Thank you to Sydney Herauf, Marina Moreira, Áine Donnelly, Miquelon Rodriguez, Michaela Steven, Michael Orlando, Robin Luckwaldt, Kaitlyn Riordan and Jesse LaVercombe for your help in making a love letter to the Toronto West End, and Elizabeth Staples. Colin Doyle, Luke Reece, Aaron Jan, Rachel Penny, Andrea Donaldson, & JY for an East End Alleycat to rival it. A huge thank you to NTS and the #ArtApart team for your support.
— Keshia