Meet ArtReach's 2026 Community Arts Programming Grantees!
- 14 hours ago
- 8 min read
ArtReach is proud to announce the 27 programs that were awarded funding in our 2026 Community Arts Programming granting round!
Funding for these grants are made available annually thanks to our partnership with the Toronto Arts Council- click here for more info!
Alexander Robinson: Marks Of Expression 2.0 $13,000
Alexander Robinson will run Marks of Expression, a program that will introduce BIPOC youth ages 21-29 to mark-making as a tool for creative expression and emotional processing. Participants will explore different mark-making techniques through weekly hands-on workshops, with the final two weeks dedicated to creating individual works that will be displayed on Neilson Park Creative Centre’s exterior digital billboard.
Art Show Hub: Looped-In $10,000
Art Show Hub will run Looped-In, a hands-on crochet and textile crafting program for Afro-Caribbean youth ages 19-25 from North York and Etobicoke interested in crochet arts as an outlet for creative expression. This workshop series will focus on foundational crochet making, creativity, and mindfulness, giving youth the opportunity to explore their own individuality.
Arushi Chopra: Sew4all Practical Sewing Workshops $10,000
Arushi Chopra will lead SEW4ALL, a practical sewing workshop series for young adults ages 20-29 in Toronto who have no prior sewing experience and are facing financial barriers to accessing sewing education. Participants will use sewing machines, hand-sewing tools, and existing textiles to learn sewing machine basics, garment hemming, mending, and will create a unisex vest with existing fabrics.
Being Otherwise Collective: Flourish: Facilitation In The Arts $10,000
Being Otherwise Collective will run Flourish: Facilitation in the Arts, a professional development program supporting emerging Black artists interested in facilitation, community arts leadership, and sustainable creative practices. Participants will gain practical tools to translate their artistic practices into paid facilitation opportunities, culminating in an opportunity to design and deliver a workshop at TMU.
BOSSY: BOSSY Bootcamp $10,000
BOSSY Bootcamp is a street dance workshop intensive for trans and non-binary youth and women in Toronto. Sessions will be led by multiple instructors and focus on a variety of street dance styles, including Hip-Hop, Popping, Krump, Locking, House, Waacking, and Step. Each class will introduce new techniques, creative tools, and cultural knowledge in an inclusive, supportive learning environment.
ESL: Drama And Queers: ESL: Drama And Queers $13,200
ESL: Drama and Queers is a theatre-based acting program for Queer ESL newcomers that will use structured exercises, scene work, and presentation practice to support confidence, artistic growth, and English language development. The program will also include a media-training component focused on self-presentation and professional development, and will culminate in final presentations and headshots.
Girl Power’d: Summer Flow Program 2.0 $15,000
Girl Power’d will run the Summer Flow Program 2.0, a spoken word/ poetry and visual art program for young Black girls, ages 13-16 experiencing systemic barriers to accessing professional arts opportunities. Participants will gain visual art skills, confidence to express themselves through a spoken word/ poetry lens, and build hands-on artrepreneurship skills, providing valuable knowledge and skills for youth to take their art to the next level.
Horizon Academy: Intensive Culinary Workshop Series $10,000
Horizon Academy will run an intensive culinary workshop series for Ethiopian + Eritrean (Habesha) youth in Toronto seeking a deeper connection to their culture and community. The program focuses on how food can be a powerful tool for cultural transmission, community building, and inter-generational connection. Participants will learn hands-on skills from local Habesha chefs, culminating in a gathering alongside community and family members.
Iman Dirie & Ahmed Adan: A Way W/ Words $14,000
Iman Dirie & Ahmen Adan will lead A Way With Words, a poetry workshop series for Black and racialized youth from low socio-economic communities in Toronto. Participants will develop poetry, spoken word performance, and revision skills through writing exercises, peer workshops, mentorship and guest speakers. The program will also give participants the opportunity to build a portfolio, and will culminate in a community showcase.
In Draft Co.: The Writer's Studio: Poetry, Playwriting, And Prose $10,000
in draft co. will run The Writer's Studio: Poetry, Playwriting, and Prose, a multidisciplinary writing intensive for emerging and early-career BIPOC and Queer writers, ages 18-29 from Toronto. The program will include three chapters: poetry, playwriting, and prose. In response to the lengthy and often inaccessible pipeline to publication and production, the Writer’s Studio will culminate in a collective zine that publishes participants’ works.
Mio Sakamoto: Beyond Words / 言葉をこえて $15,000
Mio Sakamoto will lead Beyond Words / 言葉をこえて, a contemporary dance program for Japanese-Canadian youth in Toronto who speak or are learning Japanese. Participants will learn to translate Japanese words and expressions without direct English equivalents into the universal language of dance, expressing themselves beyond the confines of the English language. The program will culminate with a live performance.
MOM x WYFE: Screen Printing, Branding And Independent Merch Creation For Artists $15,000
MOM x WYFE will run Screen Printing, Branding and Independent Merch Creation for Artists, a workshop series designed for young artists, ages 18 to 29. The program will focus on screen printing as a means to create personalized merchandise for individual artistic brands. With an emphasis on entrepreneurship, sustainability, and hands-on skills development, participants will engage in D.I.Y. practices, enabling them to continue creating after the program concludes.
Myuri Srikugan And Alicia Reid: Lens On The Ends Scarborough $15,000
Myuri Srikugan and Alicia Reid will lead Lens on the Ends: Scarborough, a photography series for BIPOC youth ages 18-29 from Scarborough to learn foundational proficiency while developing skills in visual storytelling, retouching, and portfolio development. Through hands-on workshops, guided exercises, and photo walks, participants will explore Scarborough's diverse landscapes, creating a visual narrative that deepens their connection to the area.
Northern Jumbies: Moko Jumbie Stilt Walking Classes $10,000
Northern Jumbies will lead two cohorts of Moko Jumbie Stilt Walking Classes, a program for Black youth ages 15-29 who are looking for ways to connect to their heritage through movement and embodied practice. The program will focus on teaching youth participants the art form of Moko Jumbie, mask-making, and embodied practice, and will also explore the history of traditional masquerade and Caribbean culture.
Norwin Anne: Threading Connections $10,000
Threading Connections is a workshop series for Filipinx/o/a youth ages 16-26 interested in (re)connecting and (re)discovering their identity through textile making. Participants will learn sewing, quilting, embroidery and weaving, encouraging creative expression through the lens of exploring individual and collective versions of Filipino/a/x identities. The program will culminate in a showcase that will unveil a collective tapestry mural inspired by what the youth participants learned from each workshop.
Paul-Daniel Torres: The Friendly Neighbourhood Screenwriting Program $15,000
Paul-Daniel Torres will lead The Friendly Neighbourhood Screenwriting Program, a workshop series for racialized youth from Weston to learn screenwriting, acting, and filmmaking fundamentals. Through screenwriting workshops, lectures, on-camera acting classes, and weekly online mentorship, participants will develop scripts from logline to final draft and have guerrilla short film scripts ready for theatrical release by the end of the program.
Rowan-Muriel O'Sullivan: Embody Dance Program $10,000
The Embody Dance Program is a two-part workshop series for Trans and gender-expansive youth that will teach leadership and program administration skills to a cohort of dancers who will then apply the skills learned to teach essential dance skills to beginner youth in a safe space. The program will culminate in a final showcase where youth leaders will present their program experiences and youth participants will perform.
Qian and Sarah will lead No Taboo Tattoo, a handpoke tattoo workshop series for immigrant youth seeking a gender-inclusive and culturally responsive space to start tattooing. Participants will learn safe tattooing practices and the cultural significance of tattooing through guest speakers and mentorship that honors participants’ identities. The program will culminate with participants combining their technical skills and unique artistic voice to develop a final tattoo-related project.
Roots & Stories: Roots & Stories Arts Mentorship $15,000
Roots & Stories Arts Mentorship is a storytelling and arts entrepreneurship mentorship program for emerging immigrant and newcomer artists ages 19-29. Participants will engage in hands-on collage, mixed media, and creative writing workshops to explore, shape, and express their stories. Youth will then apply these skills to a creative project presented at Muse Arts’ Multicultural Happening Festival, gaining public presentation experience, storytelling confidence, and pathways into Toronto’s arts communities.
Sagal Duale: Archiving Memories Of Malvern $10,000
Sagal Duale will lead Archiving Memories of Malvern, a hands-on photography workshop series for youth in the Malvern and greater Scarborough area. Through guided photo walks, mentorship, and directed tutorials, youth creatives will learn the basics of photography and create an album of photos that document their perspective of Malvern. The program will culminate with youth showcasing their curated photo albums and donating them to the Toronto Archives.
Samantha Lu: Finding Your Voice: A Spoken Word Program $10,000
Samantha Lu will lead Finding Your Voice, a Spoken Word Program for equity-deserving, BIPOC youth, ages 18-29, experiencing social anxiety, shyness, and barriers to self-expression. The program will use spoken word poetry to practice confidence and self-expression and will give participants the tools to share their stories on stage. The program will culminate in a showcase performance featuring poetry written throughout the workshops
Sick Stories: My Body, My Story $15,000
Sick Stories will run My Body, My Story, a virtual program where youth with disabilities will create, publish, and sell an original zine. Through writing, comic creation, and visual art workshops, participants will develop and publish their own short-form pieces. Participants will then be invited to vend with Sick Stories at markets and events, developing a well-rounded understanding of the creative publishing process from ideation to making sales.
Sisters Circle TO: Untold Stories $10,000
Sisters Circle TO will lead Untold Stories, a hybrid creative writing program for young Black Muslim girls ages 16-20 in Toronto. Participants will develop storytelling and creative writing skills by creating children’s books that reflect stories they wished they had seen growing up. The program will include mentorship and creation, culminating in a public showcase where participants will present their professionally printed works.
The Quartz Cluster: Sew You Wanna Sew Clothes $10,000
The Quartz Cluster will run Sew You Wanna Sew Clothes, a beginner sewing program for Queer and Trans Asian youth from Toronto. Participants will learn the necessary skills and tools to complete two projects, and will experiment with garment construction on their own. The program will culminate in a showcase where participants will share their creations and be professionally photographed in the garments that they made during the program.
Vincy Lim: We Who Hold The Sword $15,000
Vincy Lim will lead We Who Hold The Sword, a self-love needle felting workshop for people in the trans disabled survivor community. The program will be a guided exploration into the slow craft of needle felting, giving all participants the opportunity to learn and re-learn steps in an accessible space. This workshop series will encourage creation at every stage and allow beauty in the incomplete, with participants learning to make creatures, wearables, and interactive toys.
Vishwa Patel: Common Ground: Sustainable Art Skills Program $9,800
Common Ground: Sustainable Art Skills Program is a workshop series for BIPOC youth ages 16 to 21 from North Etobicoke and North York to explore sustainable art techniques and alternative ways of making art. Participants will learn batik, block printing, embroidery, handmade natural inks, natural pigment watercolour, and plen-air ravine painting with local Toronto artists, providing youth with environmentally-conscious art skills to implement into their own practice.
Wacky Witches: Breaking Blocks $10,000
Breaking Blocks is a writing + anthology-making intensive for BIPOC womxn experiencing creative blocks or seeking tools to move through them. Guided by an expert creative arts facilitator, participants will engage in writing, meditation, yoga, sound healing and receive one-on-one mentorship. The program will focus on exploring the roots of creative inhibition by integrating mind, body, and spirit and will culminate in a showcase featuring the final anthology produced by participants.
Interested in this granting program? Learn more at artreach.org/programgrant or follow us on Instagram @artreachtoronto!
Click here to see our previously funded programs 🥰
