Given its prime location at the corner of Bloor St. W. and University Ave., the Royal Ontario Museum wanted the area near its entrance to be a civic gathering spot — vital and relevant to people’s lives.

“We want to make that a space (where) everybody who visits the city says, ‘I need to go there and see what’s going on,’ ” ROM Director and CEO Josh Basseches said in an interview.

The museum took another step in that direction Wednesday when it announced that its Bloor St. plaza and terrace was open to the public, after more than a year of construction.

The terrace will feature live programming, music, dance and other events open to the public for as much of the year as possible, Basseches said.

In September, there will be programming from 12 to 3 p.m. on every weekend, he said.

The terrace is surrounded by greenery from Philosopher’s Walk. It will include seasonal, native plants to reflect the museum’s biodiversity mandate and bring some greenery and yearlong colour to the street.

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ROM to revamp Bloor St. entrance with greenery, outdoor performance venue

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The new additions are officially called the Helga and Mike Schmidt Performance Terrace and the Reed Family Plaza.

“The goal was to say, we don’t necessarily have a lot of space between our building and the street, but let’s turn that space into something that really serves the city and beyond,” Basseches said.

He said as Toronto’s population grows, so-called “pocket parks” can make a difference to a community, whether people come to sit before they enter the museum or just as they’re walking down Bloor St.

“The ROM sits at arguably the most important corner of the city between Queen’s Park, or University, and Bloor St.,” Basseches said.

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The plan for the project was announced in April 2018. It was the last part of the museum’s Welcome Project, which included reopening the heritage Weston Entrance on Queen’s Park in December 2017, and complimentary access to the Daphne Cockwell Gallery dedicated to Indigenous art and culture in April 2018.

Basseches said the ROM is looking at other opportunities, which at this point are just ideas, like a street level restaurant, renovating the auditorium or theatre for indoor programming and other event spaces along Philosopher’s Walk.

“It’s part of our thinking about all the different ways that we can open the ROM up and really be a 21st century museum in the way that we engage the public.”