2019
Adornment Collective- Adornment Stories $15,000
Adornment Stories is a community grassroots facilitation and mental health training program using digital media and adornment as relevant tools for connecting with youth and building their capacity. We connect the intersections of arts, education, and wellness. This 24-week wellness space prioritizes Black women/femmes. We aim to build the capacities of a cohort of 7-10 participants by exploring digital arts, media, writing, mental health, wellness, facilitation and body adornment. Participants will capture their stories, edit content, host a digital seminar and exhibit, facilitate workshops for the community, eventually graduating the program with a tangible certificate of facilitation.
Art Ignite- Youth Ignite $10,000
Youth Ignite will develop the visual arts skills of 15 low income, racialized, newcomer youth (15-19) living in Flemingdon and Thorncliffe Park. Over 42 weekly, 3 hr sessions, professional youth artists Tasneem Dairywala, Akshata Naik and Shehrbano Akhtar will use visual arts-based tools and one-on-one demonstrations to build participants arts skills in various drawing and paint media. The program will also mentor youth participants in developing and implementing their own workshops post-program. The project will run out of Flemingdon Health Centre beginning October 1, 2019, and ending with an exhibition in July 2020.
BASHY Magazine- Uprising $5,000
BASHY Magazine's Uprising is a five-week program from September 28th to October 26th for Toronto creatives with Jamaican heritage who want to gain print and digital publishing experience. 12 chosen participants between the ages of 18-29 will have successfully pitched a story on their application that they will publish while in Uprising. Working individually and collaboratively, participant's contributions will produce our issue “Diaspora:Canada”. Participants not only leave with practical journalism skills, but ones that transcend Uprising, increasing digital and print literacy and allow them to gain insight into the publishing. Uprising will be capped with an issue launch party.
Beautiful Minds- IDEA (Inspire, Design, Explore, Apply) $9,920
Our project IDEA (inspire, design, explore, apply) will take place in Scarborough for the summer and Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe in the fall, and winter. The project will focus on a program for youth between the ages of 13-29 developing painting skills. We plan on using yoga and mindfulness, to provide a self-care piece after painting. We are aiming to have 10-15 youth/session complete the 8 week program. This also includes an art night in the community and creating an online zine at the end of all the sessions featuring the work created by the youth.
Bidhan Berma- Lost in Rotation $4,950
Lost in Rotation will be a weekly program that allows up and coming DJs and producers of all experience levels to have a space to learn and create amongst peers and mentors. The space will be inclusive and open to all styles of learning in order for talented youth and young artists to feel comfortable and safe showcasing and workshopping their work to create a project that they feel proud of.
Camille Gordon- Speakers U $14,786
Speakers U is a 10 week program designed to help 10 young black males ages 13-29 living in Ward 3 Etobicoke-Lakeshore learn the art of oration. Participants will use the art forms of creative writing, spoken word, poetry and monologues to create their own allegorical story. Workshops will have a personal direct impact on the black experience and will address racial profiling by police. Through weekly communication & public speaking training, personal development workshops & mentorship from alumni of the program, participants will speak before a live audience at our finale showcase event.
Chris Ambanza- Take Everything With It $10,000
The “Take Everything With It” Project is a 14 month media project which will engage 10 youth in learning skills in media production including research, storyboarding, shooting and post production editing. Youth from Alexandra Park, one of the most marginalized neighbourhoods in the downtown core, will work together to create multimedia pieces that will shift the way we look at the community and represent the best parts of the neighbourhood. Youth will design and shoot one video and engage in the post production work. A final screening will take place at the end of the 18 months program for community.
CUE- CUE Art Project Program 2020 $15,000
This grant would enable the creation of 25 - 35 individual art projects in multiple disciplines by new generation artists who live and work on the margins, and who face systemic barriers that preclude their artistic contributions to culture. CUE outreaches across the city to ensure artists can access the funding process. We conduct group info sessions, drop-in mentorship sessions, and individual grant-writing support to ensure the anticipated 60 art project proposals submitted are strong and viable. CUE provides a variety of supports for artists during their production process, and exhibits all work at their newly opened Margin of Eras Gallery.
Dynesti Williams- Tough Act to Follow $10,000
Tough Act To Follow is a live performance mastery program for music and spoken-word artists aged 18-29 who have limited access to professional live performance training. This intensive 12-week program will focus on what Dynesti calls the “three elements of live performance”: Self Care (knowing you, and taking care of you before you present yourself to others), Personal Presence (off-stage confidence through character building), and Stage Presence (transforming aspects of yourself into an authentic world class performance). This program will end with a showcase that will prove each participant to be a tough act to follow.”
Emmanuel Obuobi Jr- Community Film Project $5,000
The Community Film project will work with young people 16-18 over 12-workshop sessions to develop their skills in film productions. These films will focus on fundamental and quality productions. This project is about introducing participants to the aspects of film production such as creating a script, technical skills around shooting, lighting a scene, editing as well as learning about the various roles on set. Participant’s work will be showcased at a final film screening and will be made available on multiple online platforms or film festivals if they choose to go that route.
Enchanted- The Writer’s Room $10,000
The Writers Room is a 10 week writing program that teaches youth the fundamentals of screenwriting and story development. The purpose of this program is to give youth the real life experience of being a writer. Participants will learn from facilitators on how to write a script and a film treatment while having one on one support throughout the process. Participants will then work together on writing a group film project such as a pilot for a web series, short film or PSA. Participants will lead and work with a production team to shoot the project (pre-production to post production).
Faduma Gure- Not All Heroes Wear Capes $5,000
Faduma Gure will run Not All Heroes Wear Capes, a weekly comic book workshop series where black youth learn to create a comic book illustrating their experience on racism and microaggressions they face. The program will run from June 2019 to February 2020 at the Black Canary Espresso Bar in the Silver Snail comic book store.
Igho Diana- Stay Whole 2019 $10,000
A workshop series for Black/ Latina/ Indigenous women (18-29) to cultivate a personal writing practice as a form of artistic expression, self-care and creating community. This project will explore the use of oral and written storytelling, and other literary techniques: as tools for reflection, empowerment, and community building. Over 4 sessions, participants will develop skills through prompts, activities, and games; as well as practice the art of performance. The series will culminate with a weekend retreat; to pause, reflect and evaluate the ways in which we actively care for ourselves, and how that reflects on our respective communities.
Illumine Media Project- Illumine Media Lab $15,000
The Illumine Media Lab brings together a group of youth from the St. James Town neighbourhood to work with artists on both media analysis and creation work. Building on learning from last years’ Scarborough workshops, this iteration will give participants in our own neighbourhood the opportunity to both analyze themes in Illumine Media Projects’ web series, How We Grow, as well as to create and develop their own films. Illumine Media Project also will offer training as well as two paid positions to youth interested in working as part-time screening facilitators throughout the 2019-2020 school year.
Jessica De Vittoris- Melodies & Colour $5,000
Melodies & Colour is an interdisciplinary community art project based in Toronto. This project will bring together four emerging visual artists with four emerging musicians. Through a series of outdoor workshops, each pair (one musician and one visual artist) will explore a creative process in which they will work together to design an instrument (ukulele, guitar or bass) that reflects core interests and essentially tells a story. The provided instruments will be chosen by the musicians. The collaborative approach will explore art as a tool for empowerment and community-building for youth living on the margins.
Learning Is For Everyone Foundation- Artistic Rise Collaboration (ARC) Program $9,999
The ARC program is a new initiative designed to connect talented young black artists ages 14-18 living in low-income communities with professional working artist (mentors). Over the span of 4 months ARC participants work alongside mentors to learn media arts techniques in a safe environment with their peers. During these months youth attend weekly workshops where they work closely with mentors who help them create professional bodies of work. The workshops are designed to teach youth how to plan, create, and market their own video productions. Every youth will leave the class with a professional credit and a working portfolio.
Lolita Richards- Wee Bake 2019 $12,999
Wee Bake 2019 is a 9 week summer program serving youth in the West Hill area. The program allows 30 young aspiring bakers, ages 14-17 to learn basic baking and pastry art skills. Wee Bake will combine baking and basic financial education into fun activities. This program is constructed on a registration basis and will run from Monday to Wednesday 12-4pm. Youth that participate will receive $50.00 in baking supplies upon completion of the program. I will utilize the Scarborough East StoreFront community Centre, which offers a free commercial kitchen space in Scarborough.
LOVE (Leave Out Violence)- Louder Than a Bomb (LTAB) Cares $10,000
Louder Than A Bomb (LTAB) Cares is a spoken word program bringing together Toronto’s top performance poets with 6 groups of vulnerable youth ages 13-19 who experience exclusion and barriers to arts-participation. The artists and youth explore storytelling, the written word and performance. Artists mentor youth to write and perform poetry, form teams and perform/compete at Louder Than A Bomb. LTABCares focuses exclusively on youth who need extra support when excavating personal narratives, applying a trauma-informed, multi-disciplinary approach by incorporating the skills of our artists and youth/social workers. LTABCares works within a youth's plan of care, creating life-changing art.
Mandy Lam- Parkour Camp $15,000
Parkour Camp is a 10-week project for a group of female and non-binary identified youth in the Toronto Parkour community to become the best version of themselves through personal parkour mentorship and weekly group sessions for the improvement of their physical and mental well-being, guided by professionals. There will also be 5 beginner parkour meet-ups for marginalized groups facilitated by the core group.
Monica Fernandes- SOLEiloquy $5,000
SOLEiloquy is a 12 week program consisting of 12 workshops focused on character and skill development in young women ages 16-29. The goal is to encourage individuality through sneakers and krump by learning the foundation of the style that will then allow each dancer to create their own character. After identifying with their character, each individual will then customize their shoe to reflect their character and ultimately perform what they've learned in them.
Neetika Sharma- Katha-Ras Youth Dance Lab $5,000
Katha-Ras Youth Dance Lab is a dynamic youth empowering initiative that will bring together four Toronto based young female dancers of colour that practice a traditional dance form to work on a five day facilitated choreography lab with the intention of exploring lines, movements and grammar of Kathak dance under the context of personal experiences. The lab will culminate into a congruence of four different creative sensibilities into one dance narrative to be documented in the presence of a select audience.
Project 40 Collective- Diasporasian Futures $10,000
Diasporasian Futures is a month-long incubator interested in radical and speculative possibilities for the pan-Asian arts community. It features two streams: art-making (text, film, image, tactile) and space-making (arts management). Each stream will take 5 participants (10 total for the incubator) and offer breakout sessions, mentorship, designated studio time, and guest speakers. The incubator will culminate in an art exhibition, featuring the work of participants, allowing them to work tangibly toward an end goal over the duration of the incubator.
Samantha John- Reclaiming Herstory $5,000
Reclaiming Herstory gathers young women and femmes of diverse genders together to reclaim space through literary, performative and digital storytelling. This 10-week program will train 8-10 youth who identify as women or femmes of colour along the LGBTQ2SIA+ spectrum, in the art of storytelling through different literary techniques which they will then transfer to a digital space through the development of a podcast or personal journal. At the end of the workshops, the project will host a listening party where the community can gather to listen to participants stories either digitally or through live performance.
Shafia Shaikh- Turbulence $9,997
The E.W.o.C. (Equity for Women of Colour) Project is facilitating Turbulence II, a mixed-media storytelling workshop series for emerging artists, who identify as Muslim women of colour. The 11 week (22 hours) series will guide 15 youth artists to create a collection of pieces through the interdisciplinary practice of: illustration, poetry, and painting, and will incorporate re-purposing materials (such as wood panels, cloth, plates, pottery). The series will conclude with a gallery exhibition, showcasing the stories of the diaspora experience and disrupting harmful narratives.
Sydanie Nichol- The MOCHA Project $10,000
Sydanie Nichol will run The MOCHA Project, a community-led healing arts program for black, brown and indigenous mothers and caregivers ages 16 and up, committed to fostering safer creative spaces and alternative healing and learning environments for mothers and their families.
The Broke Gallery- RE:Telling $10,000
A 12 week zine-making workshop series, offering collaboration and a publishing opportunity for young, emerging artists who live and work on various margins of existence. The zine will feature stories and artwork by the participants, based around themes related to mythology, folklore and sci-fi (including subgenres/ culturally informed artistic philosophies, such as Afrofuturism). Each week will be lead by a facilitator teaching a specific artistic medium, while leading socially aware discussion around that weeks creative idea/issue/process. Participants will learn artistic skills, discuss issues in media, and walk away with the final, printed collection of their works.
The Brown Girl Diary- Brown Girl Diaries $10,000
Brown Girl Diaries is a program designed to help young South Asian and Indo Caribbean women explore their identities through spoken word and creative writing in order to develop a voice for their community, and self love through understanding the stigmas and challenges they, as brown women, face.
The Cyborg Circus Project- Our Bodies, Our Voices $22,976
Our Bodies, Our Voices is a storytelling and zine-making workshop series for 10-12 trans disabled youth aged 16-30. These youth will be engaged in a series of 10 workshops where they will identify stories related to their experiences and their imaginings for the future. These stories will be developed into contributions to a zine which the participants will produce, as well as curate additional submissions from trans disabled youth across Canada. The project will end with a zine launch which will be planned by the youth and include artwork display, performance, and celebration of the project as determined by them.
The Next Edition- At Dem Songwriting/ Song Development Workshop Series $10,000
A culturally driven songwriting and song development 10 week, 2-hour workshop series, that occurs weekly, for 10 participants 13-18 years old. The workshop series is grounded in personal growth, self-expression and fun. The workshop series will, encourage, guide and provide a safe space for participants to be comfortable enough to expand and express their creativity. The curriculum includes songwriting, storytelling, creating melodies and flows, self expression exercises, introduction to pre and post production and basic music theory and rhythm. Throughout the workshop series participants will also gain knowledge on the music industry and how to become an independent artist.
Yessica Rostan- Creadores: Communications Media Mentorship Project $10,000
The Creadores Project is designed to foster youth engagement in art forms of writing, graphic media design, and communications project coordination. Self-identified Latinx, Afro-Latin-America, and Indigenous-to-Abya-Yala youth in Toronto, ages 13-29, will work collaboratively to create mixed-media and a magazine. The finished pieces will highlight the voices and experiences of the participants and youth in Toronto schools and communities, as well as provide information for our community about available educational resources and opportunities.
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2018
Art Fusion– Where I Stand $4,860
Art Fusion will run Where I Stand, a youth-lead photography project that culminates in a community exhibition in Scarborough. Where I Stand is a 3-day intensive participatory photography workshop for youth living in the Kingston-Galloway-Orton Park neighbourhood of Scarborough, running in Fall 2018. This project will be led by Art Fusion, the youth leadership group at Healthy Living For Arts (HLA), and supported by the founder of Project Kids & Cameras, who will mentor youth in PhotoVoice, a method which combines photography, dialogue, photo exhibits and social action to address community issues youth care about.
Conscious Minds Co-operative Inc.- Whole $10,000
Conscious Minds Cooperative Inc. is facilitating Whole, a multi-arts storytelling project led by young womxn of colour in Tkaronto, that creates healing spaces for people to come together to remember, re-imagine, and embody holistic ways of being. This project will inspire social action through the arts by questioning what it means to be whole during this time of global transformation. A one-week residency in June 2018 will provide leadership training to seven young womxn of colour artists from Tkaronto. Through skill-exchange and mentorship, these artists will co-design workshops and facilitate them for youth from underserved communities. Whole will culminate with a magazine connecting body, spirit, and Earth.
CUE– CUE Artist Grants $15,000
CUE is an award-winning arts initiative dedicated to providing high-access funding, support, mentorship, employment, and exhibition opportunities for new generation artists who live and work on the margins in Toronto. This project will run from August 1, 2018 to December 20, 2019 and will support the creation of 17-20 individual art projects in multiple disciplines by new generation artists who live and work on the margins, and who face systemic barriers that can preclude their artistic contributions to culture.
Dream House Collective– Build A Dream $10,000
Dream House Collective will lead Build A Dream, supporting the professional development of marginalized artists, ages 18 – 29, and the mentorship and training of youth, towards the creation and execution of DHC’s annual Music + Arts Festival. From February to July 2019, youth will undergo an intensive 24 week training program that focuses on In-Studio Music Production; including vocal training and songwriting proficiency. Youth will also be mentored in the various elements of Event Coordination; such as artist & venue bookings, contract writing, press-release writing, set design, stage management, marketing, and branding.
FYOU: The Forgiveness Project– Look Both Ways $10,000
FYOU: The Forgiveness Project will run Look Both Ways, a six episode podcast and quarterly publication for inmates and by inmates of Toronto South Detention Centre. TSDC houses over one thousand individuals, with the majority being marginalized young men under the age of 35. From June 2018 to July 2019, Look Both Ways will empower these young men to develop their artistic and leadership skills, and support their artistic expression through the creation of these podcasts and publications.
Majd Sayed– Harvest $5,000
Majd Sayed and Virginia Jahyu will facilitate Harvest, a youth-led interdisciplinary arts series offering strength-based creative cultivation to a group of 5-8 Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and youth of colour, communities across the GTA, prioritizing low-income and/or street-based youth. This project will offer access to an anti-violent art space and politically conscious creative exploration to a group of youth participants who are often systemically denied these services. During Summer 2018, youth will gain creative arts skills specifically in the performing arts and creative writing, as well as gain the opportunity to develop a strong supportive network, increasing their sense of belonging, well-being, and creative confidence.
Illumine Media Project– The Hideout Media Lab $10,000
Illumine Media Project will run The Hideout Media Lab, a community based arts initiative running from September to December 2018, which aims to bring a group of youth together from the Scarborough region to experience both media analysis and media creation. Building on a previous pilot project, this series of workshops will give participants the opportunity to analyze themes in Illumine Media Projects’ youth-created web series, How We Grow, in order to reflect on their own neighbourhoods and communities, as well as to create and develop their own artistic projects, through script writing, acting, filming and recording, which will be shared at a culminating showcase.
In Studio Collective– The Production Lab $10,000
In Studio Collective will lead The Production Lab, working with 10 youth from across Toronto to develop skills in production and audio engineering for music, podcasts and radio. Over the course of 16 sessions, running until April 2019, youth will be taught key skills in this art form, supported in building up portfolios and understanding the industry, as well as receiving networking opportunities to connect with lead industry decision makers. Youth will then be given an opportunity to test the skills learned as part of a internship with local youth led podcasts or artists, where they will support in the production of content or a demo.
Jena Alma Singh Herbert– Pretty Wings STAGES $15,000
Jena Alma Singh Herbert will facilitate The Pretty Wings: STAGES project, a program for marginalized young people who self-identify as facing mental health challenges, survivors of abuse, BIPOC, or LGBTQ+, and who are interested in pursuing dance as a creative outlet and/or career. From July 2018 to March 2019, youth in the GTA aged 18-29 will be mentored by established youth artists on a one-on-one basis to create authentic dance performance pieces reflective of an aspect of their own lived experience. The program will have an emphasis on storytelling and healing through the creation of performance-art. Participants will also participate in group sessions and the co-creation of a collective piece.
Jordan McTavish– City Shorts, New Arrivals $10,000
Jordan McTavish will lead City Shorts- New Arrivals, where recent high school graduates will design and facilitate free workshops on practical documentary production for under-served new-arrival youths from Parkdale. The workshop series will run bi-weekly for six weeks in July and August 2018, and participants will write, direct and feature in a short documentary about their life in Toronto, or about a quintessential Toronto experience. The documentaries will have a gala screening and will later be hosted online and promoted through social media.
JustOverMusic– Grassroots Music $9,909
JustOverMusic will lead Grassroots Music, a program that will engage youth 15-29 from York South-Weston through artist development and hip-hop music training. This program is comprised of 12-Weeks of workshops, from August 2018 to August 2019, where guest speakers and industry field trips will provide 30 youth with tailored artist development supports and technical training around producing, recording and sound engineering. Youth will be provided with the space to create empowering personal narratives through music, and have their voices heard. The program will culminate in an event where youth are able to perform their songs for family, friends and community members.
Kamalayan Konsciousness Kollective– Youth Midya Project $9,600
Kamalayan Konsciousness Kollective will run the Youth Midya Project, a media training program for youth of Philippine descent, empowering emerging artists with the skills to create new and original radio and television content. This project will be in the context of Filipino history and current events both in the Canadian diaspora and their relationship to the Philippines. Five participants who identify as Filipino will be engaged in meaningful workshops from June to September 2018, with the goal of participants writing, planning, and executing original episodes independently at the end of the program. The Youth Midya Project will prioritize newcomer and under-resourced Filipinos in this training, who otherwise would face barriers accessing this type of programming.
Kendra Yee- Speech Project $10,000
Kendra Yee is collaborating with the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood and Community Health Centre to run Speech Project: a Comic Book Program. The program will be working with 11 young women and gender non-conforming people (age 14-18). Starting in Fall 2018, Speech Project will be split into eight workshops focusing on identity exploration through the creation of comics; learning how to develop, illustrate and form visual narratives. The final launch party will be held in 2019, with the release of a physical and digital anthology containing comics made in the program. Hard copies will be produced, with copies going to participants, libraries, community health centers, and youth-based facilities.
Lance Constantine– Speakers U $9,963
Lance Constantine will facilitate Speakers U, a program designed to help 10 young black males 18-29 living in the Ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore area learn the art of storytelling. Participants will learn through the framework of public speaking training and communication techniques using the art forms of creative writing, spoken word, poetry and monologues. Workshops running from August to December 2018 will serve the creative expression of allegory and will have a direct, personal and emotional impact on participants self-identity. Through the experience of workshop activities and ongoing weekly training, participants will plan a showcase event to present their allegorical speeches to a live audience.
Leslie Van Every– The Dalli Collective $9,999
Leslie Van Every will lead The Dalli Collective, a group of 6-8 Indigenous youth between the ages of 18-29, who will come together to learn the traditional Indigenous art of beading. Bead work in the Indigenous community is a reflection on oneself, and is an art form that also teaches many life lessons.This project gives participants the opportunity to reclaim a part of their identities through storytelling and cultural workshops, running from July 2018 to January 2019, and gives the opportunity of meeting with elders in the community. Newly gained knowledge will be the inspiration for the beaded project (medallion) that will be showcased at an event at the end of the program.
Lolita Richards- Wee Bake 2018 $10,000
Lolita Richards will facilitate a second session of Wee Bake, a 9 week program serving youth in the West Hill area. This program allows 20 young aspiring bakers, ages 14-17 to learn basic baking and pastry art skills. Wee Bake will combine baking and basic financial education into fun activities. Youth that participate will receive baking supplies upon completion of the program. The project will run throughout Summer 2018 from the East Scarborough StoreFront Community Centre, a free commercial kitchen space in Scarborough.
National Youth Action Council– If You Ask Me $10,000
The National Youth Action Council, in partnership with Workman Arts, launched the pilot project “If You Ask Me” (IYAM) in 2017 as a part of the Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival (RWM). Young artists were invited to create short films inspired by their experience with mental illness. Building on the success of this pilot project, IYAM will again participate in the RWM Film Festival. This new program will offer professional training to the young artists and mentorship provided by experienced filmmakers through workshops running from July to December 2018.
PUSH Elite– Bright Lights in the Heights $10,000
PUSH Elite presents Bright Lights in the Heights, a music program that will engage emerging artist from the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood of Toronto. PUSH Elite provide artists with opportunities to grow their brand, build networks, and develop their crafts through workshops that focus on songwriting, performance training, studio etiquette, song structure, and understanding industry institutions like SOCAN. Bright Lights in the Heights will culminate in September 2018 with a final mix tape that is professionally recorded, mixed and mastered, as well as an intimate listening session for funders and community residents with artist performing their songs live.
Patrick Walters– Under the Banyan Tree, Phase Two $14,494
Patrick Walters’ Under The Banyan Tree is an 8 week course designed to immerse participants in Caribbean art and storytelling with a heavy focus on Caribbean literature. The program will also touch on other Caribbean art forms, using various themes such as sustainability, community, and identity. The project will culminate in September 2018 with an online platform where participants and the public can access course work, information and participant pieces. The community will also be encouraged and welcomed to submit their own pieces, information, and events after the course is completed in order to create a platform that is sustainable and helpful to the community.
Rice Roll Productions– Invisible Footprints Phase 2: Youth Guerrilla Archiving $15,000
Rice Roll Productions will follow up on the success of Invisible Footprints, a multi-generational art exhibition showcasing Toronto’s LGBTQ Asian community histories, Phase Two: Youth Guerrilla Archiving will engage Asian LGBTQ youth to further facilitate inter-generational dialogue through art and storytelling. From July 2018 to June 2019 the project team will create platforms, such as 4 bi-monthly art-based community forums, a knowledge transfer symposium, and a website, to engage the Asian LGBTQ communities in Toronto. Through community organizing and storytelling, the proposed project will foster a sense of belonging, strengthen community support networks, and improve art skills for youth leaders involved.
Ryan Dela Cruz- Toronto Krump and Hip Hop Dance Mentorship Program $15,000
Ryan Dela Cruz and the BUCC-N-FLVR team are a collective from Toronto who utilize dance to engage intergenerational dialogue and build the learning capacity of the next generation youth. The Toronto Krump and Hip Hop Dance Mentorship Program will create a space for youth to learn about and further Toronto dance culture for social change. An 18-month dance mentorship program from July 2018 to March 2020 will involve 25 youth participants from the Kennedy-Eglinton Scarborough community and focus on artist-to-artist development, mental and physical capacity building, local and provincial performances, film documentation and a final recital performance open to the public.
SoundCheck- Play Our Sound Too! $15,000
Soundcheck will run Play Our Sound Too!, a one-year musical instruction and mentorship program with a unique focus on music recording for racialized youth ages 15 – 29 years old in Weston Mount-Dennis. This program provides music recording and performance opportunities for youth musicians, equipping participants with the skills, resources and mentorship needed to excel as artists and leaders in their community. Through this series, running from July 2018 to June 2019, participants will have the opportunity to develop life-skills and leadership experience through weekly mentorship sessions led by experienced musicians.
Tanya Turton– Adornment: Stories of Transformation $10,000
Tanya Turton will lead Adornment: Stories of transformation, a space committed to connecting the intersections of art, beauty and wellness. This workshop series will run from July 2018 to March 2019, and will provide a space prioritizing the healing of Black women and femme identified black folks in the unique ways they relate to art, beauty and wellness. The program will explore storytelling in the forms of digital arts, media, writing, and body adornment for improved wellness, self-care and healing.
The BAR Institute- Summer School $4,991
BAR Institute presents: Summer School, a 12 week music program for youth aged 13-18 designed to create the opportunity to develop as independent artists, while maintaining accessibility through free programming. As educators, the BAR Institute will organize a clear path for youth in an easily manageable manner, focusing on slow, in-depth learning and artist development, promoting present and mindful engagement. The project will run from July to October 2018.
The Dirty B-Sides- The Dirty B-Sides: Gatherings $10,000
The Dirty B-Sides are one of Toronto’s leading hip-hop music collectives, creating an open door for youth to learn, join, and expand in their own ventures. Called Gathering, this community-based performance workshop series running until December 2018, will work to create a sustainable culture surrounding live hip-hop performance, teaching professional skills, starting with the quality and ethics of artists and musicians to improve relations with local venues as a community. The project will culminate in professionally recording live ensemble arrangements to book performances for six Toronto feature artists, and support ensemble-inclusive live music culture involving new collective participants.
The Rebellevations Project– The Rebellevations Project $7,730
Melisa Prieto and Valerie Chavez will lead the Rebellevations Project, a free, ten week art mentorship and youth leadership development course for youth 13-17 years of age, living in the Black Creek Community. From January to March 2019, youth will expand their technical skills in mixed media mural creation and develop workshop facilitation skills. The focus of the program will be for participants to gain a deeper understanding of their personal creative process through self reflection pieces, incorporate education principles to facilitate workshops to children and their peers, and collaboratively create a community mural. This peer- to-peer learning and multi-level mentorship process will strengthen leadership skills, creating a closer dialogue between children and youth within the community.
Wave Art Collective– Wave Runners Program $11,504
Wave Art Collective will run The Wave Runners Program (WRP), an arts entrepreneurship initiative for minority youth aged 15-24 in the Scarborough/ Malvern community. The aim of this project is to give young people exposure to both the digital media and entrepreneurial skills required to create social media content as a means to build confidence, express creativity, and gain the often neglected business skills that are relevant in today’s technology-driven society. The project will operate from September 2018 to May 2019, involving weekly sessions that feature entrepreneurial education, workshops from industry professionals, experiential film/photo/audio training, and internship opportunities.
Where Are You From? Collective– Where Are You From? Collective $6,950
The Where Are You From? Collective (WAYF) is an arts-based activism program for Asian-identified youth. WAYF offers arts-based educational workshops, community events, and an online platform for discussion. This project will run from July 2018 to May 2019 to empower Asian youth to develop critical art practices; challenge dominant culture by centering the voices and creative expression of Asian artists; and offer tools of engagement for Asian youth that allow them to expand their networks within the Asian community while also critically reflecting on their own identity in relation to other marginalized communities.
Yasin Osman– ShootForPeace $10,000
Yasin Osman will lead ShootForPeace, a unique learning opportunity for youth in Regent Park to photograph the rapidly changing neighborhood in a revitalization process. In the 9 month project, Yasin Osman will teach the fundamentals of building a photography brand to youth. The program will teach youth how to take photos, and culminate in a community photo album. It will be part a legacy project for Regent Park, and in 50 years, the ‘new’ community will be able to remember the families in photos that once lived in the neighborhood.
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2017
Aliyah-Suvannah Burey – Reading Black Canada $5,080
Reading Black Canada is a program designed for racialized high school youth of the Jane & Finch area to explore expressions of spoken word poetry, painting, and drawing. Workshops will be held at the TD Engagement Community Centre, and a culminating written/ visual arts book of the work produced by the youth will be published and launched. A youth committee will be put together before the program beings to partake in decision making positions of the program such as, interviewing the lead artists, and helping to organize the book and launch.
Anishinaabe Community Spirit Dancers – ACSD $10,000
Anishinaabe Community Spirit Dancers is a youth-led grassroots project providing Indigenous youth ages 13-29 opportunity to learn Traditional Powwow Ceremony, Powwow Style Dance, Regalia Making (traditional dance wear designed and created by members) allowing inclusion and healthy community relationship building while connecting with Cultural Roots. The program will run at Sketch Working Arts.
BABAE – BABAE $3,998
BABAE will serve as a safe space for young Filipino actors within the GTA to create and perform pieces that they can culturally identify with. BABAE is for young women between the ages of 13-24 who show a great interest in exploring theatre. The program will run at Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture and the Factory Theatre, and will culminate in a final performance at the 12th Annual Kultura Filipino Arts Festival.
BAM! Youth Slam – BAM! Mentorship Program $13,500
BAM! Youth Slam’s BAM! Mentorship Program is a spoken word artist development plan for youth throughout Toronto. This program will focus on building young spoken word artists’ talent and portfolios by providing access to workshops, teaching artists and performance opportunities. Workshops will focus on writing, performance and business strategies to prepare youth for a professional artist career. Youth who complete the BAM! Mentorship Program will have priority access to compete alongside the team at large youth competitions, receive a paid feature at a BAM! live show, and become a BAM! Mentorship Program Graduate.
Black Artists for Black Lives – Seventy-Two $4,720
Seventy-Two is a series of arts-based workshops that open up access to activism movement building through art and encourage social and political movement, provide direct-action insight and training, and develop community connections for Black queer and trans youth age 18 to 29. These workshops will be co-designed with participants and will encourage non-hierarchical, collaborative building. The structure of the workshops will be inspired by and will draw on the experiences that the collective has had as Black, queer, gender-variant, *disabled artists in the fight for Black lives and liberation. The project will run out of Sketch Working Arts and Children’s Peace Theatre.
Canadian Roots Exchange – Tkaronto: Stories of Home (Phase Two) $15,000
This project connects 140 Indigenous (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) and non-Indigenous (majority racialized, newcomer, refugee) youth aged 16 to 29 in an arts-based facilitation training program that increases skills in mural arts and creative writing. These two art forms are powerful tools to unify diverse youth and promote reconciliation in Toronto. Growing on Phase One’s success, the project increases youth employment opportunities and deepens the level of arts practice by focusing on mural arts and creative writing. The program will run at Canadian Roots Exchange and the University of Toronto.
CANVAS Arts Action Programs – Speak On It $10,000
Speak On It is a 12-week spoken word poetry and photography program at The 519 Church Community Centre for LGBTQ2S+ youth, allies, and young people with gender/sexual diversity in their families. Youth explore gender, sexuality, consent and body image, creating empowering personal narratives through the arts. The project is led by youth, for youth, and provides young people with vital mentorship and support from LGBTQ2S+ artists, familiarizes youth with a variety of affirming spaces, and inspires social action through the power of the arts. The program culminates with a poetry showcase and exhibition for family, friends and community members.
Cecília Garcia – Next Stages $5,000
Next Stages is a series of free theater-focused workshops that will work with 10 newcomer youth participants that have basic and intermediate English communication skills. This program will target youth that would like to become more comfortable in speaking the second language in front of people and hopes to hone stronger interpersonal and communication skills. For six weeks, youth will be mentored by performing arts professionals to work through personal challenges related to the acquisition of a new language and the adaptation to the new culture.
Hanan Hazime – Poetry ReRooted: Decolonzing Our Tongues $5,000
Poetry ReRooted is a series of workshops aimed at young Muslim women whose familial roots originate from non-English speaking countries. The workshop will give these young women a chance to explore their roots, and express themselves beyond the limits of Standard English by encouraging them to use their mother tongues to create meaningful poetry. Beginning in early September there will be six three hour workshops (one per week). The workshops will culminate with a launch of the chapbook and poetry performances to showcase the poets’ polished work to the public.
Ismailova Theatre of Dance – Leaders In Arts $15,000
Leaders In Arts will engage 15 to 18 newcomer youth and youth with financial need for a series of skill building workshops in all aspects of independent show production (creation, technical aspects, design, booking venues, planning and implementing of the outreach). Leaders In Arts will culminate in the final showcase created and produced by participants. This project will contribute to the integration of newcomer youth into the new city and give them art and leadership skills to create their own art pieces and art projects.
JAYU – iAM 2017 $14,000
The iAM project explores the vital relationship between arts mentorship and the creation of safe spaces essential to sharing our personal stories. JAYU will facilitate leadership training to empower professional artists and youth participants from previous years to become arts educators for youth from communities facing barriers. As artistic skills will begin to develop, so will trust in one another, creating an environment where participants will feel comfortable sharing their own personal stories. The project will culminate in a rotating exhibition where the participants’ stories and photography will be displayed with profits going back to the youth. The program will culminate in a final event at JAYU’s 6th Annual Human Rights Film Festival.
Let the Silenced Be Heard – Let The Silenced Be Heard Program $9,219
Let the Silenced Be Heard is an 8 week intensive workshop series for 15 youth from marginalized communities, where participants will learn to express their experiences artistically through storytelling, music and poetry. This series is aimed at positively influencing the development of self, and helping youth understand the impacts of using their voices to implement change. Participants will create their own works, learn effective performance techniques, and will show their work In a final showcase.
Limitless Designs – Aesthetics Program $10,000
Limitless Design’s Aesthetics program offers youth ages 13- 18 a concrete platform to start their exploration in the world of aesthetics. This program will give youth the opportunity to explore and develop technique and skills in henna and nail designs. Limitless Designs’ mission is to create a program that will provide opportunities to explore new skills and improve upon current skills. The Limitless Design team of skilled artists will be working one-on-one with youth, to guide them through each workshop. Many opportunities will be open for those who would like to turn their artistic skills into a part time job or service.
Lolita Richards – Wee Bake $5,000
Wee Bake will be an eight week summer program serving youth in the West Hill area. The program will allow ten young aspiring bakers, ages 13-16 to learn basic baking and pastry art skills. Wee Bake will combine baking and basic financial education into fun activities. The program run at the East Scarborough StoreFront. Youth that participate will receive free baking supplies upon completion of the program.
Mashed Collective – The Living Room Residency $13,500
The Mashed Collective and The Torontonians, two powerhouse youth collectives, are collaborating for The Living Room Residency, a site-specific youth residency initiative. Youth will work together in teams to create the seven day Living Room Festival, hosted out of seven of their parents living rooms. Over 6 months youth will create projects to present at the festival- youth will start from project ideas and develop them through peer skill sharing sessions into full fledged multi-disciplinary creations. Youth will bring their parents into this process, to show them why art is important while expanding Toronto’s definition of where art can be made and who can see it.
Moonlight – By Moonlight $9,835
Moonlight is an arts-based program for youth 29 and under who trade or have traded sex services for work and/or survival. Moonlight focuses on storytelling through the arts. Throughout the program, Moonlight participants will create zines, podcasts and explore a number of additional arts mediums. In addition to arts programming, Moonlight also has guest speakers on legal rights, health and wellness, taxes and healthy relationships. Moonlight strives to be anonymous, non-judgemental and trauma-informed; all-gender and 2SLGBTQIA+ positive; anti-oppressive and anti-racist; anti-violence); and follow a harm reduction approach. The program will run through Sketch.
Patrick Walters – Under the Banyan Tree $9,145
Under The Banyan Tree is a 6 week writing and performance workshop series that will explore the history of poetry and storytelling in the Caribbean and help youth connect with their Caribbean identity and heritage through poetry and stories that have been orally passed down through generations, and literature that has lasted throughout our history. It is a celebration of youth newly connecting with a part of their identity that is imperative for their growth not only as Caribbean people, but as people in general.
Plate It Up Collective – Plate It Up $10,000
Plate It Up is a 10 month mentorship program serving youth, ages 14 to 19 years in the Scarborough East community. The project fuses culinary and ceramics arts together towards a culminating exhibition. Youth will increase their food literacy and skills in order to formulate constructive dialogue on food related issues affecting their community and using ceramics production as their artistic medium to respond to these challenges. The project will run at the East Scarborough StoreFront.
Rice Roll Productions – Invisible Footprints $10,000
Invisible Footprints is a multi-generational art exhibition that aims to showcase the impact and limitation of Toronto’s LGBTQ Asian movement in the 80s and 90s by engaging youth artists who identify as Asian LGBTQ to experience the process of historical and artistic research, art curation and creation, and inter-generational mentorship. Through facilitating meaningful dialogues among different generations of Asian LGBTQ artists and activists, this project will also provide valuable opportunities for youth to develop a sense of belonging by learning about their own history, which is often misrepresented or erased in the mainstream community dialogues.
Rinchen Lama – Made in Exile $10,000
Made in Exile is a theatre program for Tibetan youth to explore the stories of living in exile and navigating through our lives in diaspora. The program will consist of 6-12 Tibetan youth who will come together for three months of programming in Parkdale. Participants will get the opportunity to gain knowledge and exposure to theatre, work towards creating their own performance piece and at the end of the program will get the chance to share their work with their family and friends.
San Romanoway Revitalization Association – Can-Caribbean Dance Tour $5,000
Can-Caribbean Dance Tour will help guide youth-led, culturally appropriate, arts-based leadership programs for years to come. Thirty participants will be led through socially conscious performing arts workshops that culminate in a community performance and wellness event. Wrap-around supports will ensure healthy engagement through the arts. Wellness events will increase community capacity in accessing health and education systems in Toronto. Youth will co-design activities based on their interests and talents. The program will run in 2018 in the Jane and Finch neighbourhood.
Sounding Out! – Sounding Out! $8,095
Sounding Out! is working with women, gender non-conforming, and 2SLGBTQ+ youth to produce a science fiction radio play, resisting the narrative that radio has been succeeded by visual communications, and is now ‘dead’. The project will begin by teaching participants how to use equipment, encourage creative experimentation with writing and sound, and collectively produce a piece of radio/sound art. Influenced by speculative/science fiction, this project aims to provide a platform from which youth can creatively navigate the complexities of their lives and re-envision social political change through creation, imagination, and storytelling.
Street Voices – Workshop Series and Magazine $15,000
Street Voices unites underground communities of artists and leaders to create new media networks shining light and giving voice to those who wouldn’t otherwise have an outlet. Street Voices aims to be the unifying source that connects the shelter system and youth services that exists in the City of Toronto all under one platform. The project will use writing, poetry and performance for homeless youth to feel comfortable to operate in an open learning environment. This round of the project will include a workshop series as well as the production of four issues of Street Voices Magazine.
Tasneem Dairywala – Bring to Light $5,000
Bring to Light is a stencil light painting workshop for 8 Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute students. During 12 weeks of workshops, the participants will design stencils inspired by images that they feel close cultural connections to. These stencils will be used to create light paintings in Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park, the neighbourhoods that they reside in. The neighbourhoods will be lit with the students’ stencils. This will both integrate the concept of the students’ place in the city and in the artistic expression of the city.
The Heard – Boom Bap $11,500
The Heard (formerly Spoke N Heard) serves young artists of color from throughout the GTA. The Heard will be hosting a program called Boom Bap, which offers weekly arts and entrepreneurship workshops, live jam sessions and monthly artist showcases to develop and serve Toronto’s underground music scene. In addition to holding accessible public workshops and events, The Heard, in partnership with the TDSB, delivers alternative in school art-based mental health programming. Their in-school workshops are aimed at re-engaging at-risk youth with academia and empowering them with tools to encourage leadership through community engagement.
The PATCH Project – PATCHwork Portfolio Development Program $13,500
The PATCH Project and their community partners are offering unique learning opportunities for young artists along the Eglinton Corridor – from Mount Dennis; Oakwood Village; Lawrence Heights; Thorncliffe/ Flemingdon Park; to Kennedy. “PATCHwork” is a more accessible expansion of their Portfolio Development Program that draws inspiration from the rich textile history of these diverse communities while speaking to connections that the future Eglinton LRT will weave amongst them. The program offers unique skill development, exhibition, cultural entrepreneurship and civic leadership opportunities for youth living in areas in transition or touched by gentrification, resulting in cultural landmarks that will be celebrated by all.
The Truth & Dare Project – The Truth & Dare Project- 35MM $13,500
The Truth & Dare Project provides free visual arts workshops for young Muslim women in the GTA. The workshops aim to strengthen identity through exploration and engagement of the visual arts, build confidence, and create a sense of belonging amongst excluded youth. During this workshop series, participants will learn to shoot and process 35mm black and white film as well as create prints in a wet darkroom, with the intention of creating a conceptually developed final body of work. Youth leadership team members will gain experience in coordination, lesson planning, facilitation, curation, artwork installation.
Tianna Boswell – I Am My Sister’s Keeper $5,000
I Am My Sister’s Keeper is an empowerment residency that will use poetry, painting and makeup artistry as a gateway to confidence and emotional wellness for girls ages 16-18, residing within the Malvern community. Over eight weeks, youth will explore programming centered in an art space to include: painting as a form of self-exploration, self-care through poetry sessions, healing through music ministry and an artistic makeup tutorial workshop that will help to cultivate self-love and leadership.
Timaj Garad – Stellar (R)EvolutioN $5,000
Timaj Garad will lead youth through a workshop series focusing on an exploration of self-awareness, belonging and identity through spoken word poetry and monodrama play writing and performance. Participants will examine how spoken word poetry can help unearth and process lived experiences that shape identity. Monodrama play writing will be integrated into the series, allowing participants to design a more cohesive and multi-layered story using both theatrical and literary arts mediums. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to publish their work in an anthology and perform their pieces at a series end community production celebrating participants’ achievements.
Varna Media Management – Film Project $5,688
Varna Media Management strives to provide underserved youth with a hands-on environment covering a number of departments involved in making a short film and exposing them to basic components of filmmaking and video editing. The project will cover the basics of using cameras, proper lighting, sound and digital editing. The project will culminate in a community film screening of the students work.
Visions of Science Network for Learning – The STEM Makers Project $8,900
Visions of Science Network for Learning’s STEM Makers Project focuses on STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) communication through mixed/new media, film and photography. Our project will serve youth living in within Toronto Community Housing communities. Meaningful engagement in STEM is important to the economic, social, and academic development of youth, yet youth from low-income communities are often faced with both structural and sociological/ psychological barriers to engagement. This project hopes to break these barriers.
Young Diplomats – The Ililta Project $9,970
The Ililta Project is a vocal training initiative for Ethiopian-Canadian youth living in the Greater Toronto Area. Youth in our community have huge amounts of potential but often come from low-income families that do not value the arts. As a result, most have no opportunities to engage in formal musical training. The Ililta Project fills this gap with a program that consists of weekly vocal technique and songwriting lessons, a series of community performances to showcase and practice skills as they grow, and studio sessions to gain some exposure to music production.
Youth Action Network – Mobilize Through Art $5,850
The Mobilize Through Art project draws on artistic expression to empower youth as artists and foster their community engagement through 3 phases: youth empowerment through music and poetry training, thinking critically through visual arts, and learning to mobilize through art. The project will serve youth ages 17-25 who face social and economic barriers and will run through The Spot in the Jane and Finch community.
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2016
2Spirit SkillShare – Two-Spirit Stories & Lands $9,965
Two-Spirit Stories & Lands is a youth led, intergenerational, arts and Indigenous culture based workshop series in Tkaronto. Events will incorporate skills based learning, story sharing and the creation of new art works, by and for Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Native people and our families. This work builds off what we are already doing to restore our cultures, communities and Nations through collective and collaborative art process.
BAM! Toronto Youth Slam– BAM! Mentorship Program $5,000
The BAM! Mentorship Program is an artist development strategy plan for youth throughout Toronto. This program will focus on building young spoken word artist’s talent and portfolios by providing access to workshops, teaching artists and performance opportunities. Workshops will focus on writing, performance and business strategies to prepare youth for a professional artist career. Youth who complete the BAM! Mentorship Program will have priority access to compete alongside the team at large youth competitions such as Brave New Voices, receive a paid feature at BAM! live show and become a BAM! Mentorship Program Graduate!
Beautiful Minds– Beautiful Minds $5,000
Beautiful Minds is a peer support group for youth in Scarborough around mental wellness. The group uses art and other forms of self-care to teach techniques to youth for their mental wellness. This project will help youths that are on the wait list have access to peer support and learn how to help themselves and others when it comes to mental wellness. The project is for youths to share their narratives, provide support and ideas that work for them, learn new self care techniques, and express themselves creatively. This program is also for youth with mental health concerns that may be clinically diagnosed or not.
BiaSHEara – BiaSHEara Documentary and Network $5,000
In the Swahili language, Biashara means “business” but we have put our spin on it to emphasize women. “BiaSHEara” will follow the journeys and tell the stories of young women entrepreneurs of East African Canadian Heritage (i.e Eritrean, Somali, Kenyan, Tanzanian, Ugandan, Ethiopian) who are working in the creative fields in the City of Toronto through a documentary film. BiaSHEara aims to train young East African Canadian women on film production techniques. BiaSHEara hopes to setup a website that will ultimately be an online network/ resource centre for the community.
Black Lives Matter Toronto – Freedom School $10,000
#BlackLivesMatter Freedom School is a 3 week summer program created and facilitated by black youth 20-29. Participants will learn to see themselves as radical intellectuals as they learn to articulate a political analysis on issues such as state violence, oppression and Black Liberation through their own lived experiences. Students will learn how to analyze and create media through innovative art programming that will enable them to question the ways in which they are represented in the media in a negative way or as less than because of their Blackness and they will have the power to create their own media and artwork. The youth leaders of this program will develop and share their knowledge and build a community of learning, love and resistance.
Carefree Black Boy Project – The CBB Project Film Series $5,000
The Carefree Black Boy Film series is a four-week intensive introductory program to filmmaking, where seven participants will learn the fundamentals of experimental filmmaking while documenting their experiences. The workshops will be taught by community artists and all participants will be mentored by “Six” a Toronto based filmmaker, using experimental film to explore the various notions and expressions of black masculinity.
Dorothy Anne Manuel – Islands & Aswangs $5,000
“Islands & Aswangs” is a free, illustrated fantasy book about Filipino folklore and mythology presented in a fictional encyclopedia format. The book will be used as a guide on how to incorporate informed Filipino folklore into tabletop role-playing games, enabling players to create stories that evolve over time, as well as reclaim and explore the heart of their culture: the heroes, monsters, and legends passed through the generations. Bursting at the seams with untold stories are the diverse, young artists and writers from the community who will collaborate to interpret the tales that are the foundation of our Filipino heritage.
Emerging Young Artists – Toronto Chinese Indie Voices $10,000
A collaborative 10-week music program that will work with 15 marginalized youth artists between the ages 18-29, with a focus given to immigrant Chinese youth in the Trinity and Spadina neighborhood. Participants will receive instrumental and music composition training from a renowned instructor and work collaboratively with professional musicians. The project will culminate with recordings of newly finished songs, a short video documentary and a final performance: Canadian-Chinese Indie Music Concert, which will take place in downtown Toronto in June 2017.
Eva’s Phoenix – START $5,112
START (Success Through Artistic Resource Training) is a youth led project aimed at delivering quality education and recreation through art, accessible to the youth residing at Eva’s Phoenix. This pilot project would run over the course of a year and would consist of bi-weekly art workshops. Volunteer artists would donate their time teaching the youth different art mediums and skill sets that will foster further education or employment goals and aspirations. START will also give the youth an opportunity to express themselves and their experiences through art. The aim is to give a voice through art to a marginalized community.
Film Stars Project – Because People Change $10,000
Through pictures and video, our participants will tell a story that will show the different stereotypes that they face within and outside of their community. Youth will also host an exhibit that will show the art they created and educate the public on how stereotypes can have an impact on a young person life.
Fiona Clarke – Intergeneracial $15,000
Intergeneracial is a multi-phase community-engaged oral history theatre creation project in partnership with Jumblies involving 8 Black youth attending 30 workshops on race, oral history and theatre creation. Youth will learn theatre skills, oral history practice and interview a community elder. Building on the interviews conducted during the first phase of the project and the resulting verbatim script, in phase 2, youth will work with a director, stage manager, and dramaturge to develop a workshop production of “From Their Lips.”
Frontlines – Guitar Hero $10,000
Youth 13 to 15 years old, engaged through music, theory, technique development, are given a chance to develop their passion for music while interacting with caring and committed mentors (older youth). Guitar Hero is a program that celebrates the richness of the cultures that make up the Weston neighbourhood, empowers youth by building skills and engages their voices will create change that will positively impact both their individual lives and the community as a whole and the learnings will be captured to share and hopefully impact the non-profit/artistic world as a whole.
Gyalcast – Gyalcast $7,500
This project will be a 6 week skill and self care workshop series that will give 5 young black women living in priority areas that identify as creative/ entrepreneurs, an opportunity to develop artistic an professional skills as well as obtain ongoing support for their individual needs. Additionally, youth will have access to mentorship with relevant industry professionals be featured on the weekly black women led podcast GYALCAST.
JAYU – iAM (#WhatIsHome) $15,000
In working with a population who has been forced to flee their homes, JAYU will collaborate and provide training to Toronto-based photographers and storytellers to provide a safe space where Syrian refugee youth can explore the idea of “home.” What does home mean to all of us? Is there a universal definition? The project will culminate in rotating galleries across the city where 100% of the profits will go back to the participants. In addition, the youth will have the opportunity to work on a short documentary that will air at the 5th annual Human Rights Film Festival in December.
Jena Alma Singh – Pretty Wings: Dance Mentorship Project $10,000
The Pretty Wings: Dance Mentorship Project is a program for marginalized young women who identify as POC, LGBTQ+, having faced mental health challenges or as survivors of abuse, who are interested in pursuing dance as a creative outlet and/or career. 10 youth in the GTA aged 13-29 will be coached and mentored on a one-on-one basis over a 5-month period to create their own authentic dance performance pieces reflective of an aspect of their lived experience. Each participant will retain ownership of their piece which may be used for purposes including; demo reels, auditions, competitions, showcases, and further development etc.
Keep Rockin You – Toronto B-Girl Movement $15,000
KeepRockinYou (KRY) is a community-based artists collective that inspires females through Hip Hop culture, generating new avenues for them to grow, become empowered and be true to themselves. Our mandate is to empower and strengthen confidence in young women through urban art. The Toronto B-Girl Movement is a program designed to influence young women to step out of their comfort zone and try something new, uncomfortable but liberating through breaking.
Kutxsew – Kutxsew $10,000
The purpose of our project Kut x Sew is to establish an inclusive and diverse learning environment that combines the social, ethnic, cultural and business art aspects involved in the fashion industry. We use the City of Toronto as a case study to explore how diversity allows for cultures to share, and be recognized, amongst all socioeconomic classes. It is essential for young entrepreneurs and designers to obtain this information, as understanding all components of the fashion industry is crucial to future success.
LGBT Youthline – For All the Feels $9,997
For all the Feels aims to be a series of 8 community building workshops for LGBT+ youth based in different geographical areas of Toronto. These workshops will employ young LGBT+ identified Toronto-based artists to skill share with queer youth (particularly those with marginalized identities), and also provide active-listening training for LGBT+ youth. In addition to being fun and informative, these workshops will also support the development of resiliency skills: giving youth opportunities to employ anti-oppression in their lives and relationships with others.
Limitless Designs – Aesthetics Program $4,976
Limitless Design’s Aesthetics program offers youth, ages 13-17, a concrete platform to start their exploration in the world of aesthetics. More specifically, we want to give youth the opportunity to explore various techniques in henna designs, nail designs, and hair styling. Cosmetics is a form of art that many don’t appreciate, but little do they know that it can open up doors to new possibilities. Our mission is to create a program that will provide opportunities to explore new skills and improve upon current skills. Our team of skilled mentors will be working one- on- one with youth, to guide them through each workshop. Many opportunities will be open for those that have new ideas, which we will work to incorporate within our lessons.
Nicole Bazuin – Climate Change Therapy $10,000
Climate Change Therapy is a video series of child-led conversations in which youth ages 8-12 interview adults on their fears, failings, and hopes, in the face of the younger generation’s eventual inheritance of a post-2-degree world. The project positions the children not as victims of climate change, but rather as experts offering comfort and advice. The interviews will be featured on a project website with audience engagement encouraged through social media. Climate Change Therapy is a youth-led project with its creators, participants and the creative team under the age of 30. Approximately 20-25 youth are involved in this project.
PEACH – Beats 2 Bars $5,000
Through our leadership we have the opportunity to assist aspiring young song writers and artists from lower socio-economic situations to develop their talent and ultimately own their music. The project provides community youth artists from Jane and Finch with the tools to compose their own instrumentals. This will empower the artists who will then own 100% of their music and as a result have the option to establish their own music production business.
Piece of Mine – Living Black Genius $15,000
Living Black Genius (LBG) is a bi-weekly program developed by the PIECE OF MINE Festival (POMF) to highlight and connect prominent Black Canadian Leaders with youth and the larger community. The program is in partnership with Rathburn Area Youth Project (RAY) in Etobicoke. Weekly guest mentors include artists, journalists/ content creators, entrepreneurs, and more. Our participants nominate, research and interview mentors, and the footage is edited and uploaded to YouTube as educational public content. Youth also receive facilitated workshops; trips to shows; and a public showcase at POMF featuring performances and film.
Pilot Light – Pilot Light $5,000
PILOT LIGHT is an eleven week, production-focused filmmaking program where ten aspiring minority filmmakers work alongside young established film professionals as they produce a broadcast-ready pilot. All participants – apprentices and professionals – will be under 29, a minimum 75% will be visible minorities and a minimum of 50% will be women. PILOT LIGHT will allow emerging filmmakers to meet and learn from their more advanced peers, with the aim to broaden the network of young minority filmmakers in Toronto and increase the diversity of professional, commercial media content the film industry produces.
Rania El Muggamar – Womxn’s Work: BIWOC Artists of Toronto $10,000
The project is a media and artists development incubator of BIWOC artists living in Toronto. A webseries, podcasts and workshops on media/artist development will take place in order to increase the media literacy capacities of artists, provide them with media training in order to amplify their voices and crafts and to tell stories that are important to them through their arts discipline. The project provides BIWOC artists with mentoring, networks and skills to work closely with established professionals in their sector.
Sydanie Nichol – blkMOHA Project $4,705
The blkMOHA project is a progressive art therapy circle dedicated to building the resilience of single parent families through art healing, exploration and promoting of self awareness, self care, self healing, and sacred community engagement. Open to single Black mothering artists between the ages of 16-24 across the city of Toronto, the sessions will be facilitated in a baby friendly, mother accessible location in West Toronto.
Victoria Bacnis – The Hard Drive $5,000
The Hard Drive is a multimedia platform that explores the creative intersection of healthcare, art, recreation, and design. With contributions from artists, educators and other creative practitioners, The Hard Drive presents its first pilot project as Hard Drive: A (HDA) – A for Accessibility. HDA is a year-long pilot effort to create a resource book that will highlight, challenge and support artists, educators, and leaders* in the arts and disability communities. The project aims to do so by collecting tools and resources and highlighting networks that are driving new approaches to accessibility.
Victoria Henriquez – Community Crossover $10,245
A community theatre project that explores community issues from the perspective of immigrant and indigenous youth, especially from the Jane & Finch, Lawrence Heights and Six Nations communities. This will be done through performance, which will culminate in a showcase created and presented by the participants.
Y+ Contemporary – Exhibitions+ at Y+ Contemporary $10,000
Y+ contemporary will present a series of five solo exhibitions featuring emerging artists at our artist-run space in Scarborough, selected through an open call process. In addition to the exhibition, each featured artist (with the support of the Y+ team) will lead a workshop reflective of their work and practice. The workshops will be offered for free to members of the community, encouraging skill and knowledge sharing between the artists and local youth. The artists will be paid an honorarium for the exhibition as well as a facilitator fee for leading the workshops.
YOU for YOUTH – YOU $10,000
YOU is an arts entrepreneurship initiative for minority youth (West Indian, South Asian, East Asian and Afro-Canadian) aged 15-24 in the Scarborough/ Malvern community. The aim is to give young people exposure to both the digital media and entrepreneurial skills required to create YouTube/Instagram content as a means to build confidence, express creativity, and gain the often neglected business skills that are relevant in today’s technology-driven society. Specifically, the project will operate for 16 weeks from November to March, involving two-hour sessions twice a week that feature entrepreneurial education, workshops from industry professionals, experiential film/photo training, and internship opportunities.
Zahra Komeylian – Project ArtPowerment $10,000
Project ArtPowerment is a grassroots project focusing on building emotional resiliency, empowerment, and self-awareness for a cohort of mainly female, at-risk minority youth, ages 14-18, located in the North Etobicoke area. This project will combine art making and mindfulness-meditation skill building workshops featuring various artistic mediums to support youth in mastery of creative expression techniques, and cultivating the confidence to voice themselves in constructive ways. Culminating art pieces will be displayed in a community Black History Month event as well as an End-of-Year show. This will be done through a series of 15 workshops conducted at the Microskills Youth Services location.
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2015
Asian Community AIDS Services – Telling Our Own Story $7,900
Sharing stories builds up oneself and communities. “Writing Our Own Story” is a 10-months project that will engage 10 East and Southeast LGBTQ+ Asian youth (Age 18-29) in Toronto in creative writing process through the mentorship of LGBTQ+ Asian writers.
Baby Steps Parenting – Turn the Page $13,000
Turn the Page is a youth-led initiative that supports young marginalized parents living in priority neighbourhoods by providing them with the tools on they can become more actively involved and creatively promoted their child’s healthy development. The participants create a storybook with their child to publish into a collective children’s book of stories. Participants will showcase their books, host an intimate book reading event with family and friends, and launch our collective book at the Word on the Street Toronto event.
Broken Heals – The B.E.L.L.A.S. Program $5,000
This 10-month leadership expressive arts development program will include up to 10 participants and take place in the YMCA and Daniel’s Spectrum. They will receive artistic mentorship from visual artist Just Georgia, Spoke ‘N Heard and vocalist Coco Larain and present their work in a final showcase and citywide tour.
Bucc N Flvr – UBUNTU Krump and Hip Hop Dance Program $10,000
An 18-month collaborative dance program with Toronto’s Krump and Hip-Hop dance professionals. 14 marginalized youth from the Kennedy and Eglinton community will undergo dance and leadership training, to perform at community events and host a night of performances. Documentary films will articulate the intergenerational experience between teacher, student and community.
Canadian Roots Exchange – Tkaronto: Stories of Home $10,000
A reconciliation-based project for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous (mostly newcomer and racialized) youth aged 13 to 29 years old to express their understanding of land, culture, history, and healing through creative art forms. Participants will receive training in traditional arts and craft forms; videography and video editing; and performing arts.
CANVAS Arts Action Programs – Speak On It $5,000
Speak On It is an 8-week spoken word poetry program for youth ages 12-18 in the Antibes Community. The 20 participants will explore gender, sexuality, consent and body image, sharing their ideas through spoken word. The program culminates with a community showcase where youth will perform their original poetry.
Demal Graham – New Track $5,000
This project will engage youth from the Malvern community to be positive leaders. It will teach youth ways to express their feelings and emotions using music. Youth will develop teamwork and leadership skills. Youth will also learn ways practice self care and healing. Awareness of mental health, the impacts of violence and positive mentoring will also be part of the project.
Emerging Young Artists – Toronto Chinese Indie Voices $10,000
Toronto Chinese Indie Voices is a 6-week intensive workshop series that will work with 12 recent immigrant Chinese youths in the Trinity-Spadina district to develop music composition and instrumental skills. Participants will engage collaboratively to create original pieces and perform at the final production: A World Away: A Cross-Cultural Concert.
F-YOU: The Forgiveness Project – SAD CITY $5,000
SAD CITY is an arts-based project that will create exhibits and art installations, including photo projection, as well as random acts of art-based art projects all to align for making our SAD CITY a brighter place. Activities included will be described below.
FCJ Youth Network – Shadowed Stories $10,000
The Shadowed Stories Project aims to raise the visibility of the experiences of precarious migrant and non-status youth living in Toronto. Youth will be engaged in different artistic processes to share their unique and diverse stories, and ultimately create a publication for widespread distribution, and ignite positive change.
Fiona Clarke – Intergeneracial $5,000
“Intergeneracial” is a community-engaged oral history theatre creation project in partnership with Jumblies involving 10 Black youth attending 27 weekly workshops on post-racialism. Youth will learn theatre creation, create interview questions, train to interview a community leader, decision-maker, or elder and create a verbatim script for performance.
Hopeton Latouche – The Fifth Wheel $5,000
The 5th Wheel is a F(ilm). A(rchitecture). M(usic). I(ndustry). L(earning). forY(outh) docudrama concert series pilot, covering an entertainment design, production, & performance trailer and its inventor’s troubling but triumphant evolution. It provides 9 Toronto Neighbourhood Improvement Area’s youth with employment training and arts experience.
I-Insight – Critical Conversation Through Art $5,000
Our critical conversation through the arts project is meant to strengthen and amplify the voices of young creatives in the margins, with a focus given to African diasporic youth in the Scarborough area. This project is intended to support the sharpening of their artistic voice by engaging them in critical socio-political literacy conversations.
Ismailova Theatre of Dance – Stories $15,000
Stories will engage 15 newcomer youth and youth with financial need. It will provide a series of skill building workshops through the creation and composition of dance theatre pieces, culminating in the final showcase choreographed by participants. This project will contribute to the integration of newcomer youth into the new city.
IVI Magazine – The IVI League $5,000
IVI MAGAZINE presents the IVI LEAGUE. A 3-month creative incubation program that will give 5 creative young women living in priority neighbourhoods an opportunity to not only develop their individual creative skills in writing, graphic design, photography and/or videography, but also to work as part of an empowered and professional team to publish their work in a fresh, new and high quality online publication.
Lost Lyrics – Artistic Development Project $10,000
Lost Lyrics adapting the Artistic Development Program to the need of young girls and women of colour. This program introduces students to various artistic channels, through which they can creatively express their stories, struggles and fears. We are looking to include new curriculum materials regarding Rape and Consent.
Mandy Lam – Parkour Camp $10,000
Parkour Camp builds self-leadership and skills in young women facing barriers, in and surrounding the Rockcliffe-Symthe neighbourhood through the art of parkour. This five day camp will be held at a parkour facility to facilitate workshops and discussions on overcoming barriers young women face in society.
Muslimah Making Media – Muslimah Making Media $10,000
Muslimahs Making Media is a digital content creation project that will provide access skill training for young Muslim women. The project hopes to create a safer space for young Muslim women to learn how to utilize digital tools to tell our own unique stories.
My Body Is My Canvas – My Body is My Canvas $10,000
My Body is My Canvas is a self -discovery/actualization project for young black women exploring the connection between our bodies as art forms and using our bodies to create art. Reconnecting with our roots, culture and heritage to create jewelry, natural hair care and makeup art.
Newcomer Girls Action Committee – ReShaped and ReImagined $9,200
The ReShaped & ReImagined project is for newcomer and racialized young women (12 – 19) who wish to express their creativity, develop, and refine their skills through fashion entrepreneurship. Fifty newcomer and/or racialized girls will engage in intensive group work and practical skills based training to modify vintage clothing.
Patrick de Belen – Poetry is Our Second Language (PSL) $10,000
PSL is a 5-week youth-led Workshop Program that fosters poetry writing and Spoken Word performance among young Filipino Canadians. The workshop sets out to establish a Spoken Word/Poetry Scene in Toronto’s Filipino Community and build bridges toward the broader art community in the city.
Piece of Mine Festival – Living Black Genius $10,000
Living Black Genius is a youth-based project that incorporates storytelling, mentorship, multimedia, and field trips for young people of colour, with a focus on black youth 14-18. The 8-week program will coincide with Black History Month, delivering contemporary content and reframing present leadership within a Canadian context.
R.I.S.E. Edutainment – Reach 1 Teach 1 (R1T1) $10,000
We will be coordinating and facilitating 10 peer to peer artist development workshops for 10 registered emerging youth artists from the RISE/ Malvern/ East Scarborough community. We are looking to empower these emerging artists to develop professional skills and connect them to mentors and new opportunities in spoken word and music.
Rinchen Lama – Made in Exile $5,000
Made in Exile is a theatre based project that will work with 5-8 Tibetan youth in Toronto, largely working within the Parkdale neighbourhood, give access and create a an arts space to explore their identities and stories of being born and living in exile.
Speak Sudan – Kandake, of Sword and Pen $10,000
KOSAP is a multidisciplinary artist exploration of black women’s art as resistance and documentation of our lives. The project encompasses mentoring, facilitation/learning and exhibiting/performance in a safe space which draws on the lived experiences of black women in the GTA, particularly in priority neighborhoods with high concentrations of young black women.
Spoke N Heard – The KNOWN Project $10,000
The K.N.O.W.N. Project is a co-ed creative arts and life-skills program that provides training for youth ages 14–25. Participants share their experiences artistically, shedding light on youth culture, and confronting issues like homelessness, mental health and poverty. We empower our participants to be Knowledgeable, Noble, Opportunistic, Wise and Next-Up!
Street Voices – Street Voices Magazine $15,000
Street Voices is a media platform that seeks to increase the visibility of street-involved youth through the publication of these youth’s stories, narratives and artworks. This project will create 12 new writing and media skills-building workshops in which 180 street-involved youth, from Toronto’s downtown core, will participate in.
The Mashed Collective – Youth Comedy Program $10,000
A youth training program in improvisational comedy free of cost to participants. Youth participants will take part in weekly classes with their peers, classes will be led by professional comedians. Additionally youth will be paired with a mentor and work closely with their mentor to create a comedy set that they will perform on stage as the finale for the program.
Visions of Science Network for Learning – The STEM Project $5,000
The STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Design Project is an 8-month digital/cyber arts project to engage and train 8 youth from 4 different TCH communities within our science club programs. Youth will design video games to be showcased on a community event at the end of the workshop series.
VOID Incubator – VOID Percolator $10,000
Void is a youth led arts incubator program for 16-20 at-risk youth artists ages 16-29. By providing work space for visual arts and writing, in West Queen West, workshops on entrepreneurship, and peer-to-peer mentorship, Void artists will create diverse revenue generating streams and share opportunities to support each others work.
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2014
Act Out Youth Theatre – Triple Threat Intensive Program $9,900
This 5-week artistic development program will be offering drama, vocal and dance training to 30 youth in communities across Scarborough. The project offers 3 days of programming a week and includes a trip to a professional theatre production. Participants work with a team of young mentors from the community for the development and presentation of a final showcase.
Alyssa Fearon – Young Creatives Program: Scarborough $3,650
The Young Creatives Program- Scarborough is a 4-week intensive workshop series that will work with Afrikan, Indigenous, and first generation youth in the Kingston-Galloway area to develop exhibition curating skills. The program will set a foundation for youth to cultivate their own creative practices based on a series of themes that confront systemic discrimination. Themes will include social justice, community building, food sustainability and other areas underrepresented in the mainstream education system.
Baby Steps Parenting – Turn the Page $10,000
Turn The Page is a 15-week set of interactive storytelling workshops for young mothers and their children in the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood. Participants will create a storybook for their child that will be published in a collective of short children’s stories. Participants will read their section of the book at an intimate event for friends and family.
Bay Mills Youth Council – Access Art $9,600
Access Art is a media arts program for youth from the Chester Le, Malvern, Galloway/ Danzig and Bay Mills Blvd areas. Youth participants will attend knowledge and skill building opportunities together at a series of workshops, and will then work independently with the support of mentors to direct short films highlighting artists and positive stories from their communities, to be screened at a final event.
Blossom – Blossom $8,500
Blossom is a 25-week long, free holistic fashion program for 20-25 young Muslim women in the Mount Dennis and Dixon areas of Toronto. The program includes courses in fashion illustration, sewing, pattern drafting, jewellery-making, marketing, branding, mentorship and fashion photography over a five month period. The culmination of the program will be a photo shoot and a fashion show for their community.
Creative Spirits – Plate It Up $9,970
‘Plate It Up’ is an eight-month program that fuses ceramics and culinary arts for 12 youth (ages 13-18) in Kingston/Galloway-Orton Park. This program will provide participants with a meaningful art-based experience in clay while cultivating opportunities for creative expression and collaboration, culminating in a community exhibition where participants will serve dishes they made on the ceramic wares they created.
Dream House Collective – Dream House Arts Event Planning $10,000
The Dream House Arts Event Planning project will curate 4 events that involve music, art and fashion, and use them as training opportunities for youth to develop skills in arts event production and management. Mentors provide training in curation, stage setup and design, prop design, live sound setup, and more depending on the interests of the groups. The program gives increasingly more responsibility to participants with each consecutive event.
Encontrarte Youth Arts Initiative – Encontrarte $10,000
Encontrarte is a Latin American youth arts and dance project that promotes Hispanic culture in our community through dance and theatre. Over the course of 8 months, Hispanic youth (aged 13-24) will receive lessons in a variety of Latino dance forms, choreograph their own 16-count sequences which will all be performed at 6 performances at community events Toronto, at the International Youth Theatre Festival, and in a final showcase.
Eritrean Youth Collective – The World of Work Project $10,000
The WoW project will explore an intergenerational ‘world of work’ of Eritrean parents and youth. This program will be offered to 5 participants in the Photo Stream and 5 participants in the storytelling stream. Youth will be offered skill development in their chosen art forms and create pieces that share the struggles, reality, hopes and perspectives of employment of their parents through their eyes, while simultaneously depicting their own personal dreams and aspirations. A multi-media website will showcase the final works.
Fright Film School – Fright Film School $9,900
Fright Film School will give 25 Hispanic youth in the West end of Toronto (Dufferin – Kipling) the chance to make a series of short horror films. Over the course of 4 months, participants will build skills in the areas of film, Super 8 film, digital video, writing, drawing (storyboards), sound and music and produce films to be screened at the Revue Cinema.
GirlX – Redefining Leadership $4,600
GirlX is a 6-week pilot project that will provide young women aged 13-18 with skill-building and self-expression opportunities in the areas of creative writing/poetry and photography. Youth mentors will facilitate 2-3 hour workshops in spoken word, narrative writing and collective creation with a focus on enhancing participants’ life skills and knowledge of politics, media and themselves. The group will produce a magnum opus to be presented at a community event.
JAYU – The Hashtag Street Photography Project $10,000
The Hashtag Street Photography Project is collaboration between JAYU, Community Story Strategies, six Toronto-based photographers and the homeless population at Horizons for Youth, a youth shelter in Toronto. This 8-week project will empower youth to share their stories through the photography skills they will acquire from this project.
Joel Zola – Street Voices $10,000
Street Voices is a collective of youth artists that live in the shelter system. Street Voices is offering weekly workshops in creative writing, graphic design and videography training to youth, to support them to develop skills and transfer their experiences into creative outputs. The group will publish 3 magazines, each launched with their own event.
Justin Anderson – Champions $14,460
Champions is an after school martial arts program developed to help 16 young men and women that are facing frequent suspensions at school in the Malvern community, due to fighting and violence. Our aim is to create leaders with these youth and teach integrity, courage, and self-control while promoting anti-violence through Tae-Kwon-Do. Participants will demonstrate the sequences and skills developed in a final showcase.
Mandy Lam – Fly Free $8,150
Fly Free is a ONE week long camp teaching the art of Parkour TO 10 young women in the Rockcliffe-Symthe (Weston Mt. Dennis) neighbourhood. Held in a Parkour facility, workshops and discussions are added to technical development and choreography to build self-confidence and skills. The project will end in a final demonstration.
Mehdia & Maryam Hassan – Serendipity Visual Arts $5,000
This project is a series of visual arts workshops, which follows a successful summer pilot program. In partnership with St. James Town Community Corner (SJCC), community artists Mehdia and Mayam will offer workshops in print and ceramics to 12 youth, ages 13 and up. Activities include workshops, art lessons, field trips and working sessions for each participant to create a completed work.
Mel G. Campbell – Not Lost: A Grief Writing Project $10,000
Not Lost is a peer-led creative writing workshop for 10 youth aged 16-29 who have lost a loved one. Providing creative and empathetic support to those living with loss, it will prioritize folks facing intersectional barriers INCLUDING Black, Indigenous, and people of colour, queer and trans spectrum and sick/disabled youth.
Newcomer Girls Action Committee – ReShaped and ReImagined $10,000
The ReShaped & ReImagined project is a 16-week program for newcomer and racialized young women (12 – 19) who wish to express their creativity and skills through fashion entrepreneurship. 25 newcomer and/or racialized girls will be provided with group work and practical skills based training to modify vintage clothing, discuss issues at the intersection of fashion and politics and publicize their creations and thoughts via a fashion blog.
The Passion – The Passion $10,000
The Passion is a 3-month long youth-led urban arts program that aims to engage 20 youth (13-29) in York South-Weston through Spoken Word. Following a series of workshops, program participants and leaders will complete a 12-track CD of original spoken word material. Participants will also have the chance to write artists bios and get professional photos for their portfolios. The album will be launched with an event.
Patrick de Belen – PSL Poetry is Our Second Language $10,000
Poetry Is Our Second Language (P.S.L.) is a 5-week workshop series that offers a critical curriculum and training in poetry writing and spoken word performance to young Filipino Canadians. The workshop will run twice for 5 youth in each session and will produce a published chapbook (a small poetry publication) and blog for the program.
Power To Girls Foundation – Untold Stories: Through My Lens $10,000
The Untold Stories-Through My Lens program is a 12-week creative self-expression program for girls between the ages of 14-20. Using photography and storytelling, the program will provide girls in the Rexdale community with a supportive space to develop balance, resilience and purpose, expressing these themes through their photos, which will be displayed in a public exhibition.
R.I.S.E. Edutainment – The Excel Program $15,000
The Excel Program will work with 8 youth from across the GTA to develop skills in live vocal performance, artistic development, and arts focused professional business practice through mentorship and supported participation in R.IS.E. This project will also invest in R.I.S.E’s organizational capacity through the training of 3 professional artists in workshop facilitation training from the NIA Centre. RISE staff will be also be mentored on project coordination from City of Toronto Staff and evaluation from a professional evaluator.
Ryan Dela Cruz – UBUNTU Dance Program $5,000
UBUNTU is a 6-month dance program for 9 Scarborough Youth facilitated by Krump and Hip Hop group Bucc N Flvr. The program will be documented in a film addressing the process and life experiences of youth participants, AND the project will culminate in a series of community performances.
Say Word Media – Say Word Magazine Issue 5 $10,000
This project would bring together 5 alumni of the Say Word program, to facilitate media arts workshops/programming to other youth interested in journalism, creative writing, photography and graphic design in Scarborough’s under served neighbourhoods. The group will work together to create another issue of the Say Word Magazine, to be distributed as Scarborough’s only for-youth, by-youth magazine for the community.
SoundCheck – Play Our Sound $10,000
The “Play our Sound” project is a ONE-year beginner-intermediate level musical instruction and mentorship program for racialized youth ages 15-24 in the Weston Mount Dennis community. The program uses music to teach youth new skills (on one of four instruments) and provides meaningful leadership opportunities to youth within the community. Unique focus is placed on developing bands and providing meaningful performance opportunities.
SPEAKout Poetry & Ink Veins – the Poetry Collage $9,600
SPEAKout will provide 5 months of spoken word performance and writing workshop series for young women of diverse backgrounds, with a focus on creative writing, presentations skills, leadership development and confidence building. Participants will have the opportunity to put what they learn into practice at 3 bi-monthly open mic events.
SpeakSudan – Young African Men Theatre Program $15,000
YAMTAP is a pilot project that will provide an opportunity for Black Identifying (African, Afrodiasporic, Black Canadian, Caribbean, Latino) young men aged 16-25 to participate in a 16-week theatre program during which youth to write, create, produce and stage a theatre production under the guidance of artist mentors from the community. Gaining valuable skills in play-writing, stage management, set design, event planning, performance, acting, lighting, graphic design, and more. The program will culminate in a performance of the original material developed. The program presents a platform for telling black stories told by black bodies.
Spoke N’ Heard – The K.N.O.W.N. Program $10,000
“The K.N.O.W.N. Project” is a Toronto based creative arts and life-skills program that provides intensive training to youth ages 14–25. Participants will develop skills through 20 workshops in spoken word, emceeing and acting, lead by mentors from the Spoke N’ Heard network. Participants will be supported to audition for community arts showcases, events, open mics and tours. The program will be documented and turned into a mini-documentary.
Stolen From Africa – Saving OurSelves (SOS) $10,000
Saving Our Selves (SOS) is a series of multimedia and cross-cultural arts development retreats for 45 youth marginalized by mainstream education. Emerging youth artists will collaborate with professional youth artists to produce mixed media productions.
Stud Magazine – The Stud Magazine $15,000
The Stud Magazine is a dynamic and comprehensive look into the topics, issues and the lifestyles of non-gender conforming females. This magazine will shift thoughts and cause individuals to see gender differently. This project will provide writing workshops for youth, publish 2 online issues of the magazine and offer panel discussions to raise awareness of the initiative and issues it addresses.
Toronto Emerging ARTivists – Enviro ARTivism Installations $10,000
The Toronto Emerging ARTivists WILL increase the membership of the group by 10 young people and working together, will install 3 eco-art installations within Thorncliffe/Flemingdon Park. The project will include a series of pop-bottle planter and stenciled moss art installations as well as an environmentally themed mural.
Nasma Ahmed – Unravel $10,000
Unravel is a free film intensive program for 8-10 young women of colour, black women and indigenous women residing in East Scarborough. The project will include intensive media literacy training, introduction to film production/roles, screenwriting and creative storytelling. This project will be executed in a 7-month period and the final product will be a small film showcase including parents and friends.
Zahra Agjee – The Truth and Dare Project $10,000
This project provides a series of photo-based, mixed media workshops for young Muslim women. The workshops are an opportunity to explore identity, strengthen confidence, and build skills in photo based mixed media.Participants are mentored by experienced arts educators and their work will be exhibited during the Contact Photography Festival of Toronto. The workshop series will be offered in a number of locations in the Greater Toronto Area including Lawrence Heights, Malvern and Thorncliff Park.
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2013
4 REASONZ – Do What You Love (DWYL) $10,000
Do What You Love (DWYL) is an intensive film and media-training project for ten youth in the Jane and Finch/Sheppard community. Throughout the process of a collaborative production, participants will undergo technical skill development workshops in script-writing, audio, electronic field production and/or studio production. The project will culminate in a media screening of the groups work.
Be Scene Magazine – Be Scene Magazine $9,500
Working in the Flemington, Northcliffe Park and O’Connor, Be Scene Magazine will offer skill building workshops to 10 youth in graphic design, journalism, social media & publishing. Be Scene will publish 4 magazines, each launched with an event showcasing writing and art that depicts positive stories and features artists from the community.
Blackness Between Us – Blackness Between Us Zine $10,000
Blackness Between Us is an arts project that will work with a group of Black youth from under served communities to create a zine of writing and illustrations that explore the different expression of black love.
Breaking the Cycle – The Cycle of Cinemateque $10,000
This is a film project for five past graduates of BTC Scarborough, an employment and gang exit strategy project. Over seven weeks, participants will develop skills in camera, script writing, editing, photo and graphic design. Each participant will develop their own skit, two of which will be chosen by the group for production. Additionally, they will create public service announcements (PSAs) about gang violence that will be aired in schools, community centers and youth groups.
Canadian Roots Exchange – Digital Stories, Stories of Reconciliation $10,000
This is a storytelling and video project that will work with about 15 youth from Indigenous and newcomer (refugees and immigrant) communities, and communities of colour. The project will use oral traditions to explore themes of diaspora, identity, and community building and draw parallels between under served communities featuring a range of diversity.
Darrel Gamotin – Navigation (NAV) $10,000
NAV is a six-month, arts-intensive, cultural immersion project for young Filipino men between the ages of 17 to 24. This multi arts project creates the space for participants to start a dialogue with each other, receive mentorship from professional artists within the community, have access to professional tools to hone their creativity, define their identity, explore their community, and tell their stories on their own terms.
F-YOU: The Forgiveness Project – Grief $10,000
This writing project will be led by five youth who will publish a book of youth-written memoirs around the theme of grief. The 30 youth whose works are selected will participate in six workshops to develop their skills in storytelling, writing and spoken performance. Outreach will target youth in the downtown core, Regent Park, Jane and Finch and Rexdale who are coping with the impacts of loss and grief.
FCJ Youth Network – The Art Between Us $10,000
This project will involve professional mentors providing 12 workshops in each of the following arts forms: painting and drawing, theatre, and dance. The project will be led by a youth network housed at the FCJ Refugee Centre, and offered to up to 60 newcomer and refugee youth. Participants will develop pieces to be presented to the larger community at an in-house event.
Fitzroy Facey – The Anti-Violence Anthem Project $10,000
This project will be a twelve-week creative experience for 16-22 year old artists living in two under served communities in Toronto. Youth from two communities (representing the east and west sides of the city) will work together to develop a message of pro-peace and anti-violence. The group will then work alongside industry professionals to write and produce a collaborative song. An accompanying short film will be created, directed by young emerging filmmakers.
Friends in Trouble – Project Screw Face $10,000
This initiative will provide 20 racialized youth, ages 16-29, with artistic development opportunities in videography and filmmaking. Participants will create a documentary examining the hostility in first time encounters among racialized males, commonly known as “the screw face”. The film will be screened throughout priority neighbourhoods where the group will host panel discussions around the topic.
Gashanti Unity – Portrait of a Lady: Courage $13,500
In the Portrait of a Lady project, ten female Somali youth will broaden their exposure to culturally specific art history from East Africa, and around the world, and then use this inspiration to create their own works. During the six-month project, participants will have access to arts professionals and culturally relevant role models to explore the arts and develop technical skills in photography and film. Participants will share their stories in an exhibit and screening event.
ILL NANA – Right to Dance $15,000
Right To Dance (2MI) is an eight-week youth-led, dance intensive training project, accompanied by a 16-week series of drop in classes. The classes will culminate in a public showcase of ten LGBTTIQQ2S* youth participants’ solo, self-choreographed works.
It Gets Fatter-
It Gets Fatter Project $10,000
The It Gets Fatter Project will provide a series of photography, writing and digital storytelling workshops for 8-10 self-identifying fat people of color across the GTA. The art produced will be showcased with a public launch, and participants will also attend a retreat where they get to celebrate their bodies and build community.
Jasmine Ali – The Battlefield Project $10,000
The Battlefield Project is a spoken word and hip-hop dance project started by Jasmine Ali, who is a young person living in Regent Park. This project will provide learning and leadership opportunities, as well as furthering a sense of community for young people between the ages of 13-19 living in Regent Park.
Justin Anderson – Champions $9,500
Champions is an after school project teaching the art of Taekwondo to ten young men and women that are facing issues due to violence in the Malvern community. The project will offer training and workshops (in partnership with Breaking the Cycle) in integrity, courage, and self-control while promoting anti-violence. The project will culminate in a showcase.
Keep Rockin You – The Toronto B-Girl Movement $10,000
Toronto B-Girl Movement is a skill building, empowerment and confidence strengthening project for young women. Sessions are two days per week and facilitate breaking classes, and discussions surrounding women in hip-hop. The group will also be supported to attend and participant in public dance events.
LGBT Asian Youth Films – The LGBT Asian Youth Films Project $10,000
LGBTQ Asian Youth Films will provide ten to fifteen LGBTQ+ participants from East and Southeast Asian communities a safe space to share their stories and passions, and challenge their barriers through film. Participants will attend workshops in writing, script development, production and editing. Youth will create pieces that will be shared at a screening and an online launch.
Mad Arts Collective – Making Scenes, A Play On Madness $10,000
The Making Scenes project was developed in response to mainstream depictions of madness, and to arts production opportunities that are inaccessible to artists of various abilities and needs. The project will be a space to critique, commiserate, and create “mad media and art” on the group’s own terms. Participants will be engaged through conversations, trips to galleries, and events that explore the theme of madness. The project will culminate in the creation of a play and accompanying “docu-mental-ry”.
Malvern Family Resource Centre – Through My Eyes $5,000
The “Through My Eyes” project will bring together ten youth with high functioning disabilities in Malvern. With the support of artists acting as mentors, participants will work as a collective to tell their stories through the art of photography, visual arts and drumming. The group will present and perform their works at three local events following the workshops.
Ismailova Theatre of Dance – Open The Door $10,000
Open The Door will provide a space for 10 youth to develop skills in dance and theatre arts, culminating in a final showcase. Outreach will target newcomer youth, and youth with financial need from the Russian speaking, as well as Latina, South Asian and East Asian communities.
Oswaldo Quiroz – S.L.A.T.E $10,000
Supporting Latino Artists Through Education (S.L.A.T.E.) is a film-training project for Hispanic males ages 16-24 that are interested in filmmaking, writing, acting, and music production. Outreach will target youth who dropped out of school or in probation in the GTA. In 12 workshops eight participants will work together on two experimental short films that explore Hispanic culture. SLATE will also provide entry-level training for working on film set and with the goal of linking participants to employment in the film industry.
Outburst! – Homebound $9,500
Storytellers project will provide leadership, poetry writing and supportive counseling opportunities for 25 female Muslim youth. In partnership with SpeakSudan, Youth Renaissance & Gashanti Unity they will run four, four week poetry workshops as well as host a poetry and self-love retreat. This group will work with participants to publish a poetry book, launched with an internationally known Muslim woman poet.
PATCH Project – The Portfolio Development Project $10,000
The PATCH Portfolio Development Project (PDP) is a youth-led, capacity-building project for young newcomer artists residing in Toronto’s under served communities. PDP will support participants to develop their artistic skills by transforming the walls around construction sites into canvases that showcase their work to the public.
Patrick de Belen – Poetry is our Second Language (PSL) $6,000
Poetry Is Our Second Language (PSL) is a five-week, youth-led workshop series that bridges the gap between traditional Filipino poetry and contemporary storytelling. As you set up camp on the coast of Mindoro Islands, 900 AD, 22 year old National Champion Spoken Word Artist Patrick de Belen will trace the roots of Filipino poetry through centuries of struggle and passion, in hopes to inspire the docking of your own style, in the midst of the raging tides that is the cultural identity of young Filipino-Canadian poets today.
Pomegranate Tree Group – Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project $15,000
Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project is an initiative of the Pomegranate Tree Group that will explore the spectrum of family violence (for example, forced marriage and “honour” related violence) through 12 workshops in theatre and community performance. The project will present their works in three dinners and talk back performances.
Refuge Productions – In Search Of Our Stories $10,000
“In Search Of Our Stories” is a film mentorship initiative for young women of colour ages 20-29. The project that will provide skill development opportunities through the production of a three-part film focused on diasporic journeys. Participants will build their skills in the production process by supporting the production of the first part, playing key roles in the making of the second, and finally taking the lead on the third.
REX Pride – The Queer Media Arts Project (Q-MAP2): Voicing Out $15,000
QMAP2: Voicing Out is a multi-arts project based in Rexdale that will offer 5-20 LGBTQ+ youth access to multi arts programming that thematically focuses on sexual orientation and gender identity. Participants will create pieces with messages for social change in their community with the support of five mentors.
SpeakSudan – Warriors and Storytellers Zine $9,950
SpeakSudan is a collective of East African youth in the diaspora collaborating to improve access to opportunities for youth in our communities. Our magazine titled “Warriors and Storytellers” is an influence on the Canadian Cultural Landscape. Our magazine’s all youth editorial board, layout team and authors will create all aspects of the magazine, from content to layout and design. This group will select submissions of paintings, sketches, photographs, personal narratives, poetry , short stories, critical articles and more, launching it with a public event.
SpeakOUT – Poetry Workshop Series $8,950
SpeakOUT will provide 9 bi-weekly skill building workshops in spoken word poetry, followed by 3 open mics for 25 youth in Regent Park. The project will conclude with a summer slam event featuring the works developed by youth throughout the program.
Swagg Skills – Community Dance Program $9,500
Swagg Skills Community Dance Program will offer 20 youth in Steeles-L’Amoreaux weekly skill development workshops; including leadership, networking, budgeting, proposal writing, and dance training. The project will create two dance crews who will work together to deliver a final showcase.
Tangled Art and Disability – Outta Your Mind $10,000
Outta Your Mind is a storytelling program for culturally diverse youth with disabilities that aims to spark the evolution of Krip-Hop culture in Toronto. Through a series of intensive workshops, participants will gain skills in lyric-writing, beat-making and writing personal narratives with local artists. The program culminates with Krip-Hop Nation: Toronto – Canada’s first performance and professional development series with Krip-Hop giants Leroy Moore Jr. and Kounterclockwise.
Unapologetic Burlesque – Burlesque Workshops and Showcase $10,000
Unapologetic Burlesque is a workshop and skill share series with the goal of bringing burlesque back to its political roots, while prioritizing consent, accessibility and representation. The project will be offering free skill share workshops for youth to develop performances and create costumes, culminating in a sliding-scale showcase.
Victoria Mejicano – The Community Crossover $10,000
Victoria Mejicano, a youth theatre performer and a newcomer from the Dominican Republic, will lead 15 youth from the Latino, Somali and Onkwehonwe communities in this four-month project. The Community Crossover will explore themes of immigration and settlement through performance, which will culminate in a showcase created and presented by the participants.
Young Diplomats – Project Asteyayte $9,500
YD’s “Asteyayte” project will provide young girls in the Ethiopian community film based workshops in order to use video as a tool to explore and communicate community sensitive topics. Their skills will also be applied to promote YD activities such as their ongoing cooking workshops, and their annual art show.
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2012
Ashly July – Behind The Bars $4,600
The Behind The Bars project will provide a series of creative writing and audio recording workshops for youth in Toronto. The project involves mentorship and life skills development for its participants as well as the development of a compilation audio CD.
The Beekeepers – Beekeepers $10,000
The Beekeepers project will engage young Muslim women residing in Toronto in skill-building workshops through the arts including but not limited to monologue development and script writing. This project will culminate in a collective play, which will incorporate movement and dance as a form of storytelling.
Contemporary Batik Guild – Batik Art $3,400
The Contemporary Batik Guild collective will provide newcomer youth with skill building opportunities in the areas of Batik art making. This project will contribute to the integration process into an unfamiliar community or city for newcomer youth through this art form.
Eritrean Youth Collective – S.E.M.A.Y.
(Sharing Experiences & Motivating Artistic Youth) $9,500
The S.E.M.A.Y. project will engage and support 12 youth to develop skills in the areas of film making and storytelling. The project will create safe space for youth to share their stories and passions through film while addressing some of the social barriers they encounter on a daily basis in Toronto.
Ill Nana DiverseCity Dance Company – Right To Dance $10,000
This youth-led initiative is an eight week dance training and mentorship development program for 10 LGBTTIQQ2S youth, provided in an affirming and anti-oppressive framework culminating in a two-night public showcase of self-choreographed performances.
REX Pride – Q-MAP (Queer Media Arts Project) $10,000
This project will create an opportunity for youth who identify as LGBTTIQQ2SPA and their allies in the Rexdale and Jamestown communities to learn skills in media arts, and create messages for social change through the process.
R.I.S.E. Poetry – Creative Writing Workshops $6,100
The R.I.S.E. project will provide a creative writing workshops and poetic outlets for youth ages 14 to 28. This project creates opportunities for youth to express their thoughts and reflections of the world they live in through written literature and public performances. This initiative also allows youth to further explore creative ways to articulate their stories through film.
Sherbourne Health Centre (SOY Program) – Super Trans Powers: Youth-Made Graphic Novels $10,000
This project is an opportunity for trans, gender variant or questioning youth who find few positive reflections of themselves elsewhere to accurately represent and celebrate themselves through the creation of and publication of an anthology of writing, visual art and comics.
Tamarind Eco Art Projects – Food Justice Youth Workshops $4,100
This project involves creating a creative expression platform for young women of colour in various communities of Scarborough and East York. The project will consist of a series of arts-based workshops including creative writing, photography, theatre and performance poetry.
The Film Stars Project – The Real City Chronicles $10,000
This project will provide a platform for excluded youth from Toronto’s priority communities to gain tangible and transferable skills in the areas of script writing, film making, acting and directing films. This project creates an opportunity for youth to not only tell their stories but capture them as well through the creation of a short film.
Thorncliffe Emerging Artivists/ S.T.E.P.S. Initiative – Youth Reclamation $10,000
This project will create an arts-based leadership development for youth in the Thorncliffe Park community. The workshop series will lead to the creation of multiple public artworks such as murals throughout the community.
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2011
106 & York – Professional Development Workshops $10,000
106 and York will mentor and support young artists living in marginalized communities through the development, implementation and documentation of artistic professional development workshops for youth in Toronto’s west-end priority neighbourhoods. The project will support aspiring musicians, dancers, visual artists, photographers, and cinematographers through mentorship by professionals in their fields.
CATSCAN – The Catscan Collective $9,225
The CATSCAN collective will provide youth with skill-building opportunities in the areas of photography, printmaking, encaustic painting, spray paint and airbrush as well as woodcarving and sculpture. This project will create an alternative learning environment where marginalized artists can share skills, experiment with new mediums and incorporate new skills into their personal practices.
Muslim Girls Get Moving – MGGM $8,900
This project creates safe and accessible space for female Muslim youth to engage in culturally appropriate artistic movement/performance forms. The project aims to reduce barriers and engage these young women in skill-building opportunities in the area of kalaripayattu, an Indian martial art.
Pomegranate Tree Group – IZZAT Project $10,000
The IZZAT project will engage and support 8 young racialized women to explore family violence through the use of theatre and illustration. After building skills in these art forms, the youth will create a graphically illustrated composite story to be used as a teaching tool by educators and community leaders.
SAQuN (South Asian Queer Network) – ‘Q? Y Art?’ $10,000
This project is a multidisciplinary arts initiative engaging South Asian LGBTTIQQ2S AND MSM/WSW youth in skill-building opportunities in the areas of creative writing, burlesque, drag and visual art. The work of participants will be launched at a public event, and exhibited.
Sherbourne Health Centre (SOY Program) – Living Trans Pride Project $15,000
This project aims to create spaces for trans and gender queer youth to build community through artistic expression and to develop leadership skills in planning, outreach and implementation. A series of multi-disciplinary arts-based workshops (film-making, dance, and interdisciplinary practice) will be provided to engage and empower trans and gender queer youth in a positive journey of self-expression, culminating in an opportunity to showcase their work at a community-wide arts-based Trans Pride event.
Swalha Said – True Colours $10,000
The True Colors project is a collaborative community arts project designed to create employment opportunities and promote capacity development for young people in the Flemingdon Park community of Toronto. The project will provide skill-building opportunities in visual arts through the production of a mural. The mobile mural will be placed at various points in the community to represent the neighbourhood through the eyes of its young people.
The Young Visionaries – Photography and Cinematography Project $8,000
This project will provide youth, from underserved neighborhoods across Toronto, with skill-building opportunities in storytelling and cinematography. Experienced young artists in Toronto will provide the youth participants with instruction and mentorship to develop short films that reflect issues faced in their communities. The final products will be showcased online and at a screening event.
Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance – Dance Workshops $10,000
This project involves creating a safe space for LGBTTIQQ2S youth from Jane & Finch, Malvern, Chalkfarm, Regent Park, Jamestown, Galloway, and other areas of Toronto to build skills in ballroom dance and other related art forms. Performance opportunities will be made available in the form of monthly ballroom events. Young people will also be provided with training and opportunities to assume leadership roles in programming and governance.
Zahra Agjee – The Truth & Dare Project $10,000
This project will provide a series of photography-based, skill-building workshops for young Muslim women in Toronto. The youth participants will have an opportunity to showcase their work and participate in the development of one edition of AQSAZine. This project aims to strengthen one’s sense of identity through creative exploration and create a sense of belonging among excluded youth.
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2010
Amadeusz – Look at my Life Project: Da 2nd Album $10,000
The Look at my Life: Da 2nd Album project will provide visual arts, graffiti arts, poetry, spoken word, and life skills programming to youth aged 18-29 at the Toronto West Detention Centre and youth aged 13-17 at the Roy McMurtry Youth Centre.
CUE Collective – CUE 2010 $9,970
CUE is a youth-led, arts funding initiative dedicated to empowering, funding, and supporting arts projects being developed by excluded youth in Toronto.
De-Railed Theatre Collective – Stories Off the Track $9,700
This project will empower racialized, newcomer youth in the priority neighbourhood of Lawrence Heights to enact and share their stories, while exploring Canadian history through weekly art-based skill building workshops in acting, script writing and performance opportunities.
Gashanti Unity – Sheeko Project $10,000
The Sheeko project will involve 10 young Somali women being supported to develop technical skills in film and photography, as well as explore their culture and art history through storytelling.
Kwemto International – Disabled Young People Project $10,000
The Disabled Young People’s Project will engage 10 to 15 racialized young people, between the ages of 16 and 29, living with disabilities in Toronto. Youth participants will be supported to build on their leadership skills, increase self-acceptance and learn filmmaking skills to be able to express themselves through art as means of effecting social change.
Limitless Productions – Limitless $8,890
This project aims to create inclusive, skill-building opportunities in contemporary dance theatre for excluded youth of diverse backgrounds, specifically engaging young people of South Asian decent, and youth with disabilities.
Manifesto – Know Your Craft $25,000
The Know Your Craft project provides breakdance, photography, film-making and DJing skill-building opportunities to youth, aged 14-29, from underserved areas of Toronto including Scarborough, Regent Park and Parkdale.
Media CreatorZ – CreatorZ Project $9,030
The Media CreatorZ project involves a series of weekly workshops for 10 Native youth in Toronto on the topic of contemporary storytelling. This project will provide youth with skills in filmmaking so they can highlight First Nations issues and share their untold stories.
No Limit Dance Squad – No Limit Dance Squad Leaders in Training $10,000
This project will provide 30 excluded youth from Scarborough with skill-building opportunities in reggae, hip hop and krump forms of dance, as well as choreography. The project will culminate in a community showcase.
Soulcraft Collective – Imagine Animation $7,500
The Imagine Animation project will engage 36 youth from the priority neighborhoods of Lawrence Heights and Weston Mount Dennis in art-based skill-building opportunities. Youth will learn the art of animation and will be supported to develop animated film shorts and portfolios.
Spoken-Film – Spoken Film Project $5,000
Spoken-Film will create opportunities for youth in high priority neighbourhoods to express their personal experiences through spoken word. Spoken-Film will use film techniques to deliver their sentiments through media arts (DVD) to the community as well as for the participants to see their own progress. Spoken-Film works towards building positive relationships with youth and to continue the ripple effects in communities by using art as a therapeutic tool not only for self-expression, but for healing as well.
Stolen from Africa – SFA Summer 2010 Media Project $10,000
The Stolen from Africa Summer 2010 Media Project involves a series of weekly workshops for 15 underserved youth from the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto. The project provides youth with opportunities to learn about media outlets and gain skills in filmmaking so they can share their stories. (Special thanks go to David Kassie for making a contribution to support the Stolen From Africa project.)
Stud Magazine – Stud Magazine $7,000
To engage excluded youth that identify as masculine female in positive, skill-building opportunities in overall magazine development, with a focus on comic script writing, comic illustration, writing and photography. These youth will apply their skills in the development of Stud Magazine, an online portal containing valuable resources and information for masculine women, an underserved part of the youth community in Toronto.
Teresa Wignall (Suritah) – Embracing Our Community $10,000
This project will provide skill-building opportunities for 10 youth, between the ages of 14 and 21, in the form of a mural development program. The youth participants will be supported to develop 2 community murals that will be publicly placed in the Upwood Park and Salvador Del Mundo Co-ops in the Jane and Lawrence area of Toronto.
Toronto Mosaic – Mosaic Project $10,000
Toronto Mosaic will provide young people from the underserved communities of Alexandra Park, Regent Park, Parkdale and Glendower with training in mosaic art, an opportunity to build a permanent artistic piece in their community as well as career development supports.
Tonya Burke & Tre Armstrong – D-Tour $8,000
D-Tour is a 12-week dance program focused on goal-setting and decision-making skill development for excluded young women, ages 15 to 19, in Parkdale. The project will culminate with the youth participants learning how to choreograph a dance routine, and performing it in an interactive showcase for the community.
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2009
AQSAZINE – Zine Project $10,000
AQSAZINE is an entirely volunteer based grassroots cultural production project open to 16-29 year old women who self-identify as Muslim. Participants will be trained in creative design and writing skills and the project will culminate in the production of a print and online issue of a zine entitled, AQSAZINE, as well as a podcast and blog.
Beyond the Lyrics Youth Resource Centre Inc –Living Through HERstory $17,550
Living through HERstory is a collaborative project that will support young women from Crescent Town to build skills in traditional dance forms, as well as the cultural art form of basket weaving, to develop mouts (Harari baskets) and hats. This inter-generational project also aims to engage young women in discussions around their experiences with respect to identity and familial disconnect.
Brandon Street Community Development Fdn. & TSZ – Fashion Strikes Again $8,900
Fashion Strikes Again is an eight-week project that will provide skill-building opportunities in fashion design and jewelry making for 30 young women, between the ages of 13 and 16, in the Lawrence Heights and Oakwood and Eglinton areas of Toronto.
Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples – The Sequel $24,330
The Sequel will provide 10 Latino youth with an opportunity to build skills in the art of filmmaking. These youth will have an opportunity to tell their story through the films they develop and screen in the Jane and Finch community.
Hidden Voices – S.P.L.I.T. Dreams $10,000
The S.P.L.I.T. Dreams project will engage youth between 14 and 20 years of age, in Malvern, and provide them with recording, songwriting, song production, studio engineering, photography, videography and graphic design skill-building opportunities. The youth will work together to create a compilation album entitled, S.P.L.I.T. Dreams, which will be reflective of the real-life experiences of the young people involved. 5000 copies of the album will be released to youth throughout the GTA, and the youth participants will tour various communities in Toronto to share their stories and experience in the project.
Highclass – The Bigger Picture $10,000
The Bigger Picture project will reach out to and engage youth between 14 and 18 years of age in skill-building workshops in the areas of photography, graphic design, and filmmaking. The project will support youth from the Rexdale and Jane and Finch communities of Toronto, and will be held at the Rexdale Pro Tech Media Center.
Matthew Plummer – The Film Stars Project $7,200
The Film Stars project will provide skill-building opportunities in the area of filmmaking and videography to youth in the Jane and Finch community that are between the ages of 13 and 24.
Nomanzland – Operation Raise Your Voice $10,000
Operation Raise Your Voice is a project of Nomanzland that involves recruiting 6 young people to build theatre and poetry skills, alongside the existing members of the group, with the aim of developing and performing interactive theatre pieces in local schools, community organizations and in the public sphere. This project will provide a platform for the youth in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto to discuss topics or issues of a sensitive nature in a safe and comfortable environment, with their peers, through the use of theatre and poetry.
Not In My Neighbourhood – Arts In My Neighbourhood $9,000
Arts In My Neighbourhood is a one-year project that involves youth leading local dance, drama, and vocal workshops in the Jamestown area of Toronto, culminating in various community showcases.
People Project – Outwords $10,000
Outwords is a one-year arts and leadership training program that utilizes innovative queer and trans youth-informed and culturally relevant programming. People Project will engage diverse, marginalized queer and trans youth in order to increase their confidence, leadership, artistic and life skills as well as provide opportunities for young people to act as queer/trans youth advocates.
Project Building Blocks – CipherMedia $10,000
CipherMedia is a 10-week photojournalism initiative, which will provide up to 15 youth with an opportunity to develop skills in photojournalism, web and graphic design, storytelling, feature writing and new media. The project will include an intensive 2-day Journalism and Leadership Boot Camp, as well as an opportunity for the youth participants to showcase their newly-developed skills by contributing their work to Yo Mama magazine, the dotcitytv.net website and various mainstream photography festivals.
ReVeAL Dance Creation – ReVeAL Dance Creation $10,000
ReVeAL Dance Creation is a six-month pilot project for youth with special needs. This program strives to provide two recent high school graduates with the individualized supports needed to explore their creative abilities and leadership potential through dance/movement and performance.
School of Mayhem – Who Am I? $10,000
WHO AM I is a four-month project that aims to train 14 youth in the areas of dance and theatre, provide them with mentorship and opportunities to showcase their skills in the form of a youth-run theatre production.
Schools Without Borders and Lost Lyrics– From the Streets to the Classroom $10,000
From the Streets to the Classroom will provide skill-building opportunities to male and female youth participants of Lost Lyrics. This 4-month project involves the provision of Artistic Development Sessions by diverse young artists in Toronto, in the areas of studio/stage performance, writing, visual arts, use of lyrical devices, dance, music, theatre and visual arts. The project will culminate in a showcase planned and implemented by youth participants from Malvern and Jane and Finch areas of Toronto, as well as the development of a program curriculum and DVD.
YOUnited Neighbourhoods – Scarborough Stand-Out Showcase $5,000
The Scarborough Stand-Out Showcase will bring together eight youth from two priority neighbourhoods of Scarborough, Scarborough Village and Eglinton East Kennedy Park, to hone their craft and perform at three summer festivals. The youth participants will receive mentorship and support from professional artists to prepare their performances.
Zanette Singh – My Punk Rock Bollywood $9,300
My Punk Rock Bollywood is a platform for young women of colour in Toronto to build skills in creative writing and illustration, and creatively contribute to the building of a graphic novel story on multi-layered identity.
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2008
Asian Arts Freedom School – AAF School Project $10,000
Asian Arts Freedom School (AAFS) will be introducing youth to various art forms and artistic skills through weekly workshops on dance, visual arts, film, theatre or music, with a primary focus on writing and spoken word. The overall goals include developing an anthology of work created in the freedom school, holding performance night for students, establishing a strategic plan for AAFS and incorporating as a non-profit organization.
b current – rAiz’n Practiced Leaders $25,000
This project will begin to transition b current performance arts corp into a neighbourhood theatre with programming, operations, and management under the leadership of young practitioners. The focus will also include entrenching a company culture which establishes b current as an organization whose community is first and foremost centred around the young peoples in its Green/Arts Barns neighbourhood and the bordering underserved communities in Lawrence Heights and Weston-Mt Dennis.
Brian Elrington – The Hope Community Mural Arts Education Project $8,825
The key activities for The Hope Community Mural Arts Education Project include hiring and training youth to paint a mural on the Highway 400 and Jane Street Overpass. Youth from the project will continue to consult on Mural Maintenance in the community upon completion of the project.
Caprice Duncan – The R.I.P. Project $10,000
The R.I.P. project is a multi-media theatre presentation that will be collectively written and performed by youth 16 – 29, to uniquely address the social and political issues of youth in Toronto. Through the hiring and training of a team of youth artists to write, choreograph, design, perform and produce a community showcase, this project will develop a travelling production and mini documentary.
For Youth Initiative (FYI) – The Art of it All $15,000
For Youth Initiative will provide an eight-week graffiti arts and twelve-week artistic dance program. In these programs, youth will gain artistic skills and talent, increase their leadership capacities, develop a variety of transferable life skills, expand their potential for economic opportunities, and have access to and gain ownership over safe youth-friendly arts programming space.
Jasper Bol – SPIT (Speak in Time) $10,000
This book project will result in a collection of translated short stories by youth for youth. Youth will be hired and trained to develop the book, which will be published and used as a tool, in partnership with other artists and countries, to “edutain” young people.
Kapisanan Philippine Centre – CLUTCH $10,000
Clutch is a 6-month, arts-based program for young Filipina artists aged 18 to 25. The aim is to begin a dialogue between the young women, access professional tools and mentorship from practicing artists in the community, begin to define their identity, explore their community and tell their stories on their terms. KPC will hire a youth outreach coordinator; develop an “Artist Mentor Bank” database; and provide an exhibit.
Rated Inc, Krown Video – Rated XPOSED: Roache’s Reality Television Series $19,470
Krown Ent. & Rated Inc. will engage youth in the under served communities of Jane and Finch, Jamestown, Dixon and Weston-Mt. Dennis, and provide them with opportunities for training and employment. Youth-led video production and technical editing workshops will be held throughout the summer of 2008, with a goal of developing a reality television series to highlight the positive accomplishments of young artists.
Royalz Wear – RoyalzWear $10,000
Royalz is an initiative designed to provide training and supports to youth using art as a form of engagement. This project will involve training and employment opportunities for youth in the area of fashion and clothing design, as well as project development, implementation and evaluation. The project will result in an event to showcase the skills and talents gained by young people in the project.
San Romanoway Revitalization Association – United Music Publishing Fund (ECHO) $74,900 (3 years)
ECHO! is a youth-led initiative built to help create sustainable long-term employment and skill development for youth residing in the under-resourced neighbourhoods of Toronto, using Music Publishing as the tool. Throughout the duration of the project the youth will administer as well as attend a number a workshops and professional development seminars and events. The project will result in sustainable employment opportunities for young people as well as structured training curriculum.
Stile Diva – Showcase Portfolio Development Program $10,000
The project will provide weekly workshops in portfolio development, which include the development of creative material for portfolios (pictorial, text content, media kits, press releases), consultation, mock press conferences to sharpen youth interactive networking & interviewing skills, a lookbook ceremony, talent showcase and post production promotion.
Tek it Thru Dem – Tek it Through Dem $9,980
Tek It Through Dem (TTD) dance crew is a youth-led group whose mission it is to empower youth through dance. TTD will engage youth aged 15 to 24 in 15-week workshop sessions. Participants of the project will work collaboratively with peers to put together various movements and routines after they have learned the basics of dance.
Tragic Glory Clothing – Tragic Glory Clothing $10,000
Tragic Glory is a youth-led initiative that uses the arts as a tool for engagement. This project will train youth in processes involved in fashion and clothing design, as a means of addressing social issues. The project will include a fashion show event.
Whippersnapper Gallery – Art Exhibition and Community Events $10,000
Whippersnapper will host 2 young artist showcase exhibitions where exhibiting artists will receive 100% commission for the sale of their work. Whippersnapper will also provide 1 free night each month for youth arts and community based organizations to use the gallery space.
Young Diplomats – Asteyayet $20,824
The main objective of this project is twofold; the first, to provide a medium to increase dialogue between youth and their parents through a popular art form- film, the second is to provide training in Digital Media & Arts and promote the profession in the Ethiopian/ Eritrean community. This will be carried out through weekly workshops on production, cinematography, interviewing, storytelling, writing, direction and editing. The project will culminate in a community film screening event.
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2007
7th Generation Image Makers – Ricochet Project $45,000 (two years)
The Ricochet project connects Aboriginal youth to a variety of tools and skills for creative development. Directed through youth consultation, the project focuses on developing interdisciplinary digital media skills.
Blunt Magazine – Blunt Magazine $10,000
“Make the entire world a better place, one issue at a time". This project involves the development of a print magazine from an online magazine, where each issue focuses on one highly relevant issue such as Health and Peace. This youth-based magazine provides a powerful and artistic voice to young people across the City of Toronto through professional opportunities to publish their words.
Connect the Dot – Connect the Dot $10,000
Connect The Dot is a youth-led project that aims to unite the city’s urban arts community through the provision of dance battles, concert and talent event (inclusive of local talent from all over the city to increase exposure) and the development of a consolidated website, CTD.ca, which will be a resource tool and online store.
Death Before Dishonour – Project Death Before Dishonour $10,000
Death Before Dishonour is a youth-led, entrepreneurial project in Lawrence Heights that aims hire local youth to develop a clothing line, build on artist promotions and their overall business. Their organization is made up of rap artists, singers, dancers, models, and clothing designers and all acts are under the age of 19.
Hustletile Entertainment Group – Hustletile Entertainment Youth Center $10,000
Hustletile Entertainment Group will build a studio and deliver a two-month music production workshop for youth ages 14-19 in Rexdale. Hustletile Music Camp will provide potential youth artists the opportunity to produce and record their own material in a professional manner through the summer music production program. The artists will have a single recorded on a compilation CD and an opportunity to perform at the closing community barbeque.
Images of Courage – Art and Mural Project $10,000
This youth-led art and mural project provides arts opportunities for young women in the shelter system. The main objective is to unite artists with the community and teen mothers. Preparation for the mural will include design theory and discussion on themes pertaining to social, cultural and environmental issues.
Indian Martial & Performance Art Collective of Toronto (IMPACT)
: South Asian Performance Arts Workshops $10,000 This project involves the provision of workshops, teaching the fading performance arts of banethi and kalaripayattu to youth. These sessions will draw on history, cultural traditions (including classical Indian dance) and storytelling as well as support participants to acquire fundamental performance skills.
J.D. Griffin Adolescent Centre – Tart! $17,600 (year-one), $9,600 (year-two)
Tart! is a youth-led skills exchange for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth artists, exploring visual arts, zine making, drag, theatre, writing, storytelling, songwriting, poetry, photography, painting and set design, and spoken word. This project also aims to establish a network of LGBT artists.
Manifesto – Manifesto Festival 2007 $5,000
Manifesto is a multi-disciplinary urban arts youth festival. The festival will include performances, exhibits, networking opportunities and workshops to promote Toronto’s young talent and increase opportunities for young artists and audiences. Mentorship will be a key component of programming. ArtReach Toronto is supporting the economic development portion of the event that supports young artists to network, raise their profile and sell their works, as well as access mentorship opportunities and workshops.
Nick Gittens & For Youth Initiative – COMPLEX: Life Proposal (L.P.) $21,400
COMPLEX: Life Proposal (L.P.) is a youth-led project that aims to engage youth (13-24) through urban arts in the low-income neighborhood of Weston Mount-Dennis and the surrounding Toronto Housing communities. Local youth artists will come together to create a recording studio, mentor younger youth and will provide workshops teaching elements of Hip Hop Culture.
Paul Selby & Andrew Franklin – Ear to the Streets $10,000
This project is a music production program, located at Remix, where youth will have an opportunity to learn art of beat production, mixing and mastering, musical engineering, song structuring and the business aspect of the work.
Phase1 Step – After School Program $10,000
Phase 1 Step is a youth-led group made up of female members ranging from 14 – 22 years of age that specialize in the art of African step dance. They will provide an after-school step program, in the Kingston-Galloway area of Scarborough that incorporates mentorship, tutoring, and step dance lessons.
Rowntree Arts Society (RAS) – Take Back R Block Project $10,000
RAS, a youth-led organization, will provide life and artistic skill-building opportunities to youth in Jamestown using the four elements of hip hop culture including graffiti, DJ’ing, MC’ing, dance and knowledge, resulting in the provision of the fifth element of hip hop culture; knowledge.
Schools Without Borders – Blitz Mobile Film/Music Production Initiative $40,010 (2 years)
BLitz Mobile Film/Music Production Initiative is an intensive film/music project in neighbourhoods across the GTA that lets youth explore identity and community. Participants produce 2-5 minute videos on the theme of identity and submit them to various film competitions and festivals.
Sherrie Mohammed – Womynation Memento $20,000 (two year project)
This project involves the creation of a book of short stories, poetry and art from young women of colour in various communities across the City of Toronto. This book will provide an outlet for youth to share life experiences as well as provide capacity-building training in the form of workshops.
South Etobicoke Youth Assembly (SEYA) – Claiming Toronto’s Communities $10,000
SEYA is a youth-led group who will provide various arts and culture workshop sessions for local youth to gain skills and prepare for performances in the yearly ‘Ruckus’ show, while supporting the training of local youth as coordinators for all aspects of the show. The project also involves visual documentation of the process and show, which will be held in June 2008.
Travis Blackman – The Red Pill $18, 950 (2 years)
The Red Pill project involves youth from the Malvern and Morningside/Kingston areas of Toronto engaging other local youth to collaboratively create a graphic novel, accompanied by a DVD and CD. The book is geared towards youth, and the process will involve employing local young people.
Young Urban Professionals – Grafix 4 Print $10,000
To support youth to build skills in the area of graphic design. The project would also emphasize the ‘business’ of graphic design and educational options to pursue a career in this field. The program will take place in Jane and Finch, Lawrence Heights, and Weston/ Mount Dennis.
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2006
4Unity Productions Youth Media Association – 4Unity Grassroots Label Project $25,000
4UNITY proposes to create a grassroots record label that will encompass the following four components: creation/performance, production, management and merchandizing.
A.M.Y. (Artists Mentoring Youth) – Theatre Passe Muraille Pilot Program $10,000
AMY is Artists Mentoring Youth, an educational project that nurtures the confidence and unique identity of underserved teenage girls through developing their cultural vocabulary and skills of healthy, creative self-expression.
Asian Arts Freedom School/ Sherbourne Health Centre: AAFS Project $25,000
The Asian Arts Freedom School addresses writing, spoken word and various arts programs for Asian/Pacific Islander (API) youth in the Greater Toronto Area. The grant will support expansion of the summer initiative to provide year-round arts opportunities in the areas of music, writing, dance, theatre, film and the visual arts.
Babyboyz Dance Group – Babyboyz $10,000
The Baby Boyz Dance Group was founded more than four years ago by a group of York Memorial High School students, formerly known as the “Skylz Come Ez”. Baby Boyz is dedicated to the creation of original dance works that celebrate the power of the human imagination and would like to teach their skills to other youth in various under served communities.
Canadian Tamil Youth Development Centre – Medai Konal $18,000
Medai Konal is a drama team that promotes youth expression, creativity and originality through the theatrical arts. Various forms of art include dance, music, improv, stand up comedy along with directing and producing by youth themselves. Mediums to be used include videography, dance choreography, music, creative writing and visual art.
Eclipse – From Real to Reel (Out of Time) $5,000
Start-up funds for the development of a film that involves supporting youth across the city to gain skills in various aspects of filmmaking, with a focus on martial arts and stunt making.
Elevated Grounds – Groundation $10,000
Groundation is a performing arts project that will focus on training and education in various performing arts forums and careers opportunities within the entertainment industry. Youth will be trained in music production, vocal training, visual arts, dance, public relations, D.J. training techniques, art form history and acting.
Gaa Dibaatjimat Ngaashi – Stay in School Drama Project $25,000
To train aboriginal youth between ages of 13 and 29 to act as drama facilitators/coaches at the Native Child and Family Services Summer Day Camp.
Red Pepper Spectacle Arts – PIECEofPEACE $50,000 (two year project)
PIECEofPEACE is a youth-led, hands on mosaic training, design and installation project uniting street-involved, Aboriginal youth with professional artists to create four large-scale permanent mosaic projects in Jamestown and Jane/Finch communities.
RHYME – GTA Neighbourhood Youth Slam Poetry Network $10,000
Youth poetry slam network in priority neighbourhoods, with weekly workshops in three non-formal education settings, three joint monthly youth Slams hosted by each location, sustained through a new web site.
Schools Without Borders – Blitz Mobile Film/ Music Production Initiative $10,000
Start-up funds for the development of a project involving intensive film and music project in priority neighbourhoods across the GTA. The projects will explore identity and community with a comprehensive follow-up strategy
Somali Youth Association of Toronto – Evolution: Claiming Toronto’s Communities $15,000
To deliver a 10-week photo and audio documentary program that explores the stories and oral histories of the Somali community in Toronto through the eyes of local youth.
Soul Craft - Outer Limits: Addressing Issues Through the Lens of Photography $10,000
The Outer Limits photography project will mentor youth to explore perceptions of safety and discrimination in their community and provide a visual commentary in the 3 partner neighbourhoods Lawrence Heights, Jamestown and Alexandra Park.
Theatre Revolve – Theatre Revolve: Colombia $20,000
Theatre Revolve will empower girls ages 18–22 through the creation of live theatre, artistic training, mentorship and leadership development based in Toronto and culminating in an international collaboration with the Corporacion Colombiana de Teatro, Artistic Director Patricia Aziza, and young women who have been affected by war in Bogota, Colombia.
Touchstone Health Centre/ Beatz to Da Streetz – Building Youth Capacity to Lead and Succeed $75,000 (three years)
Beatz to da Streetz plans to implement a youth engagement strategy with salary and stipend support, training and resources for youth staff and advisors for three years, supporting them in governing and running an urban arts program for homeless and street-involved youth ages 16-24.
Whippersnapper Gallery – Whippersnapper Youth Arts Network $10,000
The Whippersnapper Youth Arts Network will be a networking space, venue, and resource which will connect talented young Toronto artists with community groups, as well as create a space for young people to make connections, build relationships, and showcase their work.
UrbanArts Community Arts Council- beat.mind. movement $50,000 (two year project)
beat.mind.movement is a mobile group music production project where different groups of youth from Weston – Mt. Dennis have a chance to learn the technical aspects of music production, the basics of music creation and the beauty and power of diverse cultures’ music transition along with the ins and outs of nonprofit organization management.
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2020
Amy Wong- Healing Through the Arts $5,000
Healing Through the Arts is a mixed-media arts series for women and non-binary folks in Toronto aged 18-29 who identify as BIPOC and/ or LGBTQ+ and/ or living with mental illness. It is a registered program wherein participants will partake in workshops to continue building on healing arts practices that cultivate mindfulness, non-judgment, and resilience, specifically through mixed-media visual arts and poetry. Participants will explore expression through different mediums (ex. collage, found poetry, zines), create a piece to add to their portfolios, and gain practical tools to cultivate their mental wellness and artistry.
Art Fusion- smART (Self Care and Mixed Media ART) $5,000
smART is a six-week community arts program that combines the importance of self-care and self-expression through mixed-media art journaling. Youth participants from low-income families between the ages of 13-22 and living in East Scarborough will learn about storytelling their mental well-being through art journaling with a focus on collaging, painting, and photography. Journal entries will be posted on social media after each session to share with the community. smART will be capped with a showcase party that will involve the community and the participants’ friends and family.
At Dem- At Dem Songwriting and Song Development Workshop Series $13,000
At Dem is a culturally-driven songwriting and song development series for participants 13-18 years old. The workshop series is grounded in personal growth, self-expression and fun, and will encourage, guide and provide a safe space for participants to be comfortable enough to expand and express their creativity. The curriculum includes songwriting, storytelling, creating melodies and flows, self-expression exercises, introduction to pre- and post-production, and basic music theory and rhythm. Throughout the workshop series, participants will also gain knowledge on the music industry and how to become an independent artist.
BAM! Toronto Youth Slam- When Home Feels Like a Foreign Concept: The BAM! Publishing Program $13,500
"When Home Feels Like a Foreign Concept" The BAM! Publishing Program is a storyteller development project for youth poets throughout Toronto. The program will focus on building young spoken word artists’ talent and portfolios by providing access to workshops facilitated by a selection of professionally published poets, and the opportunity to be published in BAM's first physical and digital poetry collection, powered by Write Bloody North Publishing. Workshops will focus on writing, publishing, and business strategies to prepare youth for a professional career in the world of Canadian literature and published poetry.
Betty Belachew- Next Level Fashion and Design $10,000
Next Level Fashion and Design is a weekly, culturally-driven fashion and design workshop series for designers 18-29 interested in traditional methods of creating and using natural materials. The program will allow designers to explore African/ Caribbean traditional ways of designing to connect to ancestral knowledge and modernize traditions for today's market. Designers will gain knowledge from elders and a deeper understanding of self. The series is grounded in self-knowledge, culture, self-expression, and economic-development. The curriculum includes: pottery, sewing & pattern-making, working with plants, and weaving. Participants will gain knowledge on how to become independent artists by developing a strategic plan on selling and marketing their own products.
Blanket Program- #1Blanket Art Gala $9,946
The #1Blanket Art Gala will showcase the resilient stories of young Black women 16-29 years old and LGBTQ youth that have been sexually abused. The project will center around a photography workshop series in the Jane and Finch Community of Toronto, and culminate in a public art gala. To ensure safe engagement in our project, which includes each participant’s overall well being, our weekly sessions will be accompanied by wellness activities. Orientation for staff and volunteers prior to workshop delivery will include both first aid mental health training and an overview of arts-based evaluations.
Bonesthrown- It's Bigger Than All of Us $13,000
t’s Bigger Than All Of Us is a storytelling workshop series for young artist-leaders of colour in Scarborough (with priority to womxn, queer, and non binary folx). Participants will be empowered to use storytelling as a changemaking tool to reclaim personal narratives and transform our collective story. IBTAOU will be a space to build trust and heal our relationships to self, earth, spirit, and community, and will see Gen-Z artists mentored by Millennial artist-leaders, activating their creative potential to bring their visions and wisdom to life through writing, zine-creation, and photography. Their works will then be shared in a collective magazine.
Camille Gordon- Speakers U $14,786
SpeakersU is a program designed to help young black males ages 13-29 living in Ward 3 Etobicoke-Lakeshore learn the art of oration. Participants will use the art forms of creative writing, spoken word, poetry and monologues to create their own allegorical story. Workshops will have a personal direct impact on the black experience and will address racial profiling by police. Through weekly communication and public speaking training, personal development workshops, and mentorship from alumni of the program, participants will speak before a live audience at our finale showcase event.
CUE- CUE Art Project Program 2021 $15,000
This grant would see youth artists engaged in developing projects and learning about the grant process, and enable the creation of individual art projects in multiple disciplines by new-generation artists who live and work on the margins and who face systemic barriers that preclude their contributions to culture. The program is predicated on creating high-access: we conduct group info sessions, drop-in mentorship sessions, and individual grant-writing support to ensure the anticipated art project proposals submitted are strong and viable. CUE provides support for artists during their production process, and professional presentation/ exhibition platform for all artists engaged.
Elevate Equity- The Trans Resilience Project $10,000
Elevate Equity positions and prioritizes art, self-expression, and storytelling as the guide towards collective healing. Through this project, Trans and Non-Binary young people are invited to take part in shaping and sharing their connection to ‘Trans Resiliency’. In creating a trans-affirming, trans-specific environment where racialized voices are amplified, Elevate Equity and Trans Lifeline are imagining a space unlike any other in Toronto where artists, visionaries, and creatives will unify on the intersections of identity, mental health, and peer support through artistic mediums.
Faduma Mohamed- LISTEN $10,000
LISTEN is a program that will provide a safe space for people living with a disability and siblings of a person living with a disability. Together, youth between the ages of 15-29 will bond and gain artistic skills, specifically in creative writing, spoken word poetry, and public speaking. In the final week, youth will have an opportunity to perform their work at the annual #OughtTheBox 5th Anniversary Autism Awareness showcase.
ImaginArte- REvolta $15,000
REvolta engages newcomer and immigrant Latinx youth 13-29 years of age living in the Black Creek community to explore identity, migration, movement, and visual storytelling through arts mentorship and leadership development. In this program, youth will expand their artistic and technical skills in plaster-cast mask creation and incorporate community-based education principles to facilitate workshops. This peer-to-peer learning and multi-generational mentorship program is rooted in collective care, with the aim of creating a closer dialogue between youth and children within the community.
Isfandyar Virani and Michelle Nyamekye- NExT: Newcomer Education by Theatre $10,000
NExT: Newcomer Education by Theatre is a new project by award-winning workshop and performance program, SExT: Sex Education by Theatre. The NExT project will involve training a new cohort of sexual/ mental health peer educators through workshops co-led by professional artists and youth mentor facilitators in response to community demand. NExT peer educators will showcase their learning and artistic development to local youth and stakeholders. NExT will serve the Neighborhood Improvement Areas of Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park, and be delivered in partnership with the Flemingdon Health Centre and the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR).
Jheanell Lumsden- Fi Wi Voice/ "Our Voice" $9,954
Fi Wi Voice will develop the creative writing and performative skills of low income, racialized youth from the Jane and Finch community of Toronto. Participants will demonstrate such skills by writing pieces in the form of rap lyrics or spoken word, and will be able to record one of these pieces in a professional recording studio, which we will upload onto digital platforms to establish their artistry. The pieces will then be compiled into an album and the culminating event of the program will be a free showcase, whereby the participants will perform selected pieces for their friends and family.
Jonsaba Jabbi- Black Gold Archival Projects $5,000
The first project from the Black Gold Archival Projects Collective will be a podcast project on Hip Hop and the Black Experience in Canada. Our collective will engage Black youth from all over Toronto to be trained in podcasting and the history of Black rappers, producers, artists, journalists and more involved in the Canadian Hip Hop Scene from the 1980s to the 2000s. This will consist of workshops followed by recording and producing the podcast over the course of four months. Each young person will create and produce their own podcast episode interviewing one Black history-maker/ contributor in Canadian Hip Hop.
Joshua Watkis- Word is Bond Presents: Filter Through Skin $9,046
Filter Through Skin will assist Black youth poets in re-imagining their relationship to their subject matter and deconstructing Blackness as a monolith in literature. In doing so, they may relieve themselves of the burdensome expectations of communicating Blackness solely through the explanation of trauma and oppression. The project will serve Black youth poets ages 14-24 in the Weston Road, Dixon and Rexdale Communities, and be led by spoken word artist and arts educator Joshua Watkis (aka Scribe).
Jules Vodarek Hunter and Morgan Davis- Fat Fables $8,550
Fat Fables is a creation project for writers and performers who identify as LGBTQ2SIA+ and fat. Participants will meet regularly to develop skills in theatre creation, performance, and writing, drawing on socially engaged artistic forms including oral history, drag performance, spoken word and more. Through our shared weekly meals and workshops, participants will develop deep connections and build community. The program will culminate in a performance that includes a community conversation. The project will be led by Morgan, who identifies as black, fat, queer, trans, and youth and Jules who identifies as white, fat, queer, gender-questioning and youth, as well as guest artists.
Karla Villanueva Danan- Pathways to Decent Work in Film and Television for Young
Women and Non-Binary Youth of Philippine Descent $10,000
Pathways to Decent Work in Film and Television for young women and non-binary youth of Philippine descent is a program that will convene a cohort of creatives who have existing narrative digital projects in development. The program will offer four core learning modules: workshops on elevating storytelling skills and writers' room etiquette and leadership; an immersive writers' room intensive to develop each participants' in-progress script; a public reading; and workshops supporting industry readiness of participants in preparation for a real industry pitch or submission opportunity with a network, festival or subsequent development program.
Patrick Walters- Under The Banyan Tree $12,950
Under the Banyan Tree is the third iteration of this Caribbean literary art and storytelling program led by Patrick Walters. This latest version of the program will provide workshop sessions in the North Etobicoke Ward 1 neighbourhood at Beaumonde Heights Junior Middle School. Grade 8 students will be invited to register for the program, which infuses elements of visual and literary art to explore the Caribbean artists and culture that have greatly informed our lived experiences here in Toronto. The program will culminate with a collaborative art installment for the community.
Pretty Wings TO- Pretty Wings: STAGES $15,000
Pretty Wings: STAGES is a program for female-identifying youth who are part of the BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIAP+, or mental health communities interested in pursuing dance as a creative outlet or career. Through this program, youth 18-29 years old in the GTA will be mentored by established youth artists; taking part in workshops to co-create a collective dance-theatre piece on a topic of their choice. Participants will also be selected to receive one-on-one training and will create a solo piece reflective of an aspect of their lived experience. The program will empower participants through storytelling, and introduce healing through authentic movement and performance.
Project 40 Collective- Diasporasian Futures II $15,000
Diasporasian Futures is an incubator interested in radical and speculative possibilities for the pan-Asian arts community. Featuring two streams: art- making (text, film, image, tactile) and space-making (arts programming and management), each stream will take 4 individuals/ groups and offer intensives, strategy sessions, mentorship, presentation opportunities, designated studio time, and guest speakers. The incubator will culminate in a two-day exhibition, featuring the work of participants, allowing them to apply their learning and creative explorations tangibly toward a showcase event.
Silverfish Magazine- The Silverfish Artist and Writer Program $5,000
The Silverfish Artist and Writer Program is an interdisciplinary arts workshop series focused on cultivating ongoing relationships between emerging contemporary artists and art writers in Toronto. Six chosen participants (3 artists and 3 writers) will engage in a program focused on developing their practices through skill-sharing and interdisciplinary collaboration. This rendition of the program will culminate in the production of a publication showcasing the works produced, and engage thematics around cyborg bodies and futures. The Silverfish Artist and Writer Program provides meaningful paid publication opportunities to young emerging writers and artists, particularly those within the LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC communities.
Tamil Archive Project- Cooked Until Tender $10,000
Cooked Until Tender will provide mental health support for racialized male identified youth 18-29 years old in Ward 21 through the culinary arts. It will provide participants with cooking skills, discussions, and space for young male-identifying youth to speak on their personal challenges with mental health, masculinity, and more. The project will provide cooking lessons as the conduit to support the youth with an all-male support system, life skills, to practice mindfulness, and provide positively towards their mental health.
Taysean Wilson-Nolan- Masterpiece $5,000
Masterpiece is a project that will support participants develop the skills needed to create content through media arts. The participants will study media artistry and develop their skills through hands-on activities. They will have the opportunity to work with professional equipment and industry-level software by Adobe to create graphic designs, modify photographs, and produce videos. Finally, the participants will be taught how to make a secure website to showcase their content on a professional and personalized platform.
The People's Youth Film Program- The People's Youth Film Program $9,996
This project is a guerilla-film production, film theory and media literacy program, geared towards racialized/ underserved youth operating within an anti-oppressive framework. Taught by two award-winning filmmakers and graduates of Sheridan’s Bachelor Film and TV Production program, we aim to show youth how to produce industry-standard films and scripts within their own means. We will be teaching every aspect of film, including writing, cinematography, production, directing, acting, picture editing, sound editing, colour grading, and correction with an emphasis on narrative so youth will learn how to tell their own stories their way, taking obstacles, and turning them into parts of their style.
Toolbox Initiative- Toolbox Studio Projects $10,000
Toolbox Initiative is a community arts organization that teaches youth in the east Scarborough area woodworking and electronics skills through arts programming. Participating youth will design and create various independent projects that explore sound, kinetics, and sculpture. Toolbox programming focuses on specific projects over a series of sessions, building on skills learned in the previous session. Projects allow participating youth to develop practical trades skills while being able to incorporate creative expression.
Tristan Dryden- Intro to 8 Steps: An Embodiment Intensive $9,866
Intro to 8 Steps is an Intensive designed to introduce movement practitioners to an 8 Step Methodology that is transferable to the arenas of movement creation, embodiment, crisis intervention, and conflict navigation. While traditionally holding a Kung Fu dominant focus, funding for this project will encourage the focus of facilitation to expand, including the movement practices of Essene Yoga and Zahyen; a Holistic Martial Art used to prime to body for Natural Pilgrimages and Evasive Combat. Through self-directed explorations of these three embodiment practices, participants will be provided opportunities to expand the scope of their own movement practice.
Tyler J Sloane- It's All Queer Pride $9,998
It's All Queer Pride is a two-part performance program that seeks to build LGBTQIAP+ participants with the skills for act-development and career development as solo performers. The first part of the program, It's All A DRAG, will teach skills in burlesque, drag, production, costuming, makeup, and wigs, while the second part of the program, It's All the Essentials, will support the career development of participants through performance training, marketing, makeup 201, costuming 201, and stage hosting. Participants will be mentored by a lead facilitator and 12 guest facilitators who are active performers within the Toronto LGBTQIA+ community.
Varna Media Management- The IAM Project 2.OH $10,408
The IAM Project 2.OH offers unique learning opportunities for youth creators from the Lawrence Heights and St. James Town neighbourhoods of Toronto. The Program will provide underserved youth with a hands-on learning environment, covering a number of departments involved in making a short film and exposing them to basic components of filmmaking and video editing. Our goal is to foster youths’ creative needs and provide them with the skills and knowledge to continue to express themselves after the project. The project will cover the basis of using cameras, proper lighting, sound and digital editing.
