Search Results

A Letter From ArtReach's Director: In 2007 as a young and highly-driven youth, I was part of a poetry collective which would become one of the first recipients of an ArtReach Grant. We received $10,000 from ArtReach to deliver poetry workshops in schools and create an anthology of works penned by our students. Fast forward to the end of 2017, and not only have I gone on to become an award winning spoken word artist who has taught poetry to thousands of children, youth, and adults across Canada, I also have the honor of holding the position of Director at the very organization that gave me my first chance to pursue my passions and give back to my community. As the Director of ArtReach, I continue to be humbled by the meaningful impact that ArtReach continues to have on communities through the delivery of programs, projects, and the development of young community leaders. For those of us who were shaped by ArtReach- whether it was through funding, attending workshops, or being mentored by staff- we know that ArtReach has given us so much, while asking so little in return. As our 12th anniversary approaches and I reflect on the work we have done and the work we hope to do in the future, I ask you now to support ArtReach by making a donation, and to continue to invest in building youth leaders, their arts projects, and the communities they serve. Although ArtReach began as only a pilot project, the love from community members, youth artists, organizational partners, funders, and a variety of devoted advocates has allowed us to operate for over ten years. With one successful decade already under our belts, we’re more excited than ever for our second! Between now and December 31st, we are launching our $20 to 20 campaign. With a donation as little as $20, you can help to power ArtReach’s second decade and help us continue to support amazing young people do amazing work in communities across the city. Don’t have $20 to spare? No problem. We welcome all donations and encourage you to Pay What You Can. Every little bit helps. All Donations over $10 will be eligible to receive a tax receipt. For donations of $1,000 or more donors will be recognized as ArtReach Ambassadors and featured on our website, with a special Thank You from our Team. Making a donation is easy: please click HERE to support ArtReach now. As you move through the next weeks of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas shopping, join me in making a gift to ArtReach, and help us continue to support young people in giving their communities the gift of high-quality, accessible arts programs and projects. Thank you for over a decade of love and support. With humble gratitude, Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony, ArtReach Director --- Options for Giving Card or Bank Withdrawal:Please click HERE to donate via card or to set up a bank withdrawalCheque:All cheques can be mailed to: ArtReach, a Project of Sketch Working Arts, 401 Richmond Street West, Suite 350, Toronto ON, M5V 3A8Cash:To pay with cash, please email info@artreach.orgNOTE: ArtReach is on Sketch's administrative platform- if you donate a receiptable amount ($10 or more), your tax receipt will be sent from Sketch Working Arts Click HERE to see 'The Evolution of ArtReach'!

This session is for those applying to the ArtReach's February 1, 2018 deadline. Information and grant writing tips from this workshop will be specific to the ArtReach application. You can read ArtReach's grant guidelines here to see if your idea is a fit. This interactive session will explore the basics of preparing a grant application for ArtReach's upcoming 2018 deadline. It will break down the main components of our application, including the proposal, work plan and budget; and will provide tips for creating a clear and concise application. The workshop will run from 6:00-9:00pm, with a Q & A session from 8:30-9pm. FACILITATORS Paulina O'Kieffe- Director, ArtReach Fonna Seidu- Project Manager, Photographer, Community Artist DETAILS Date: Tuesday, December 5th, 2017 Location: City Hall, Committee Room #3 (100 Queen Street West, Toronto) Time: Registration/ food at 5:45pm; workshop start time 6:00pm RSVP: HERE Note: This workshop is open to youth (13 to 29 yrs). Space for this workshop is limited so register today! Food and refreshments will be provided.

A Public Art Manifesto for Toronto: In anticipation of Nuit Blanche, we asked artists and curators how public art can better reflect the city’s overlapping social, political and historical realities. Public art is an undeniable fixture of our city’s modern landscape. Toronto’s rapidly growing built environment is transforming the face of the city but works in the public realm are defining its character, uncovering its history and opening up new possibilities for cultural expression. The Artful City, a Toronto-based collective exploring public art issues, has noted that of the city’s 700-plus public artworks, 64 per cent of those commissioned in the last 50 years appeared after 2005, the result of both civic and private development support. Cameron Cartiere is one of the few public thinkers to have written a definition of public art. Waving at the stacks of books in her Emily Carr University of Art + Design office during a Skype interview with NOW, the associate professor says that every text ever written about public art agrees there is no one way to define it. Art movements are at times galvanized by a manifesto, which can include definitions and intentions writ large. Cartiere co-authored The Manifesto Of Possibilities: Commissioning Public Art In Urban Environments, a statement of beliefs, concerns and recommendations about the commissioning of public art. Cartiere cautions that for all its possibilities, public art isn’t a fix-all. A city’s bad social policy is its bad social policy. But it does have transformative power. As an art form that exists in the public realm, it can comment on, resurface and even question the multiple social, political and historical realities of the sites it sits on. It can cause citizens to think differently about the spaces they habitually tread, an idea that will weave its way through this year’s Nuit Blanche, which will emphasize artwork inspired by social change, resistance and cultural endurance. Proscribing to art what it should do is a fool’s errand, somewhat similar to telling a river how it should flow Whether art or water, such endeavours attempt to force phenomena to go straight when meandering is in its nature. However, Cartiere notes that when embarking on a public art project it’s imperative to ask, “What do you want it to do?” With that question in mind, we’ve compiled the insights of curators, directors, artists and an academic into a five-point manifesto that sets down what public art in this city ideally should do. EXCAVATE LOST HISTORIES A rapidly growing city, Toronto can seem so new that it almost seems ahistoric. But the same sites that host our ever-intensifying built environment also house deep political histories. Public art should excavate these forgotten stories. Barbara Fischer, executive director and chief curator of the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Hart House, is curating the Nuit Blanche installation Taking To The Streets, an exploration of protest in Queen’s Park. The site’s history of “innumerable uprisings and public manifestations from those who feel invisible,” as Fischer puts it, will rise up in participating works like Hazel Meyer’s Where Once Stood A Bandstand For Cruising & Shelter. Queen’s Park may be the site of the province’s legislature, but it has a dual life as a gay cruising spot, which was under police surveillance in the 1970s. In the tradition of activist banner drops, which made social justice demands in conspicuous spaces, Fischer will unfurl large-scale banners attesting to Queen’s Parks multiple identities through time, particularly those that “Toronto the Good” would rather sweep under the rug. “Public art can play a role in restoring public memory,” says Fischer. “Instead of the built environment becoming part of the everyday that people no longer notice, habitually unexamined and unquestioned, we should recognize that it stands for something and to question whether we still agree with what it stands for. CONTEST THE POWERS THAT BE Like cities across the U.S., Toronto finds itself grappling with problematic public monuments. Temporary public art interventions should respond through counter-works that contest the power on display. On three occasions between October 29 and November 12, comedy-art duo Life of a Craphead (lifeofacraphead.com) will send a replica of King Edward VII floating down the Don River. A pompous equestrian statue floating downstream uses wit to invalidate the in-perpetuity nature of public art monuments, especially when the public calls for a revolution in the way we commemorate history’s supposed victors. Nato Thompson, artistic director of Creative Time in New York City, curated Nuit Blanche’s Monument To The Century Of Revolutions exhibition. Featuring Russian collective Chto Delat and local artists, collaborators and activist groups, the “living, breathing” monument will transform Nathan Phillips Square into a collective artwork of mass shipping containers. Unlike monuments that generally praise one person or event, it elevates multiple voices. “People will say, ‘Why can’t art just be beautiful? Why does it have to be so political?’ I say, it just depends on where we’re at as a society. If the world we live in feels entirely egalitarian and our other civic functions are balanced, then perhaps art can be dreamy,” says Thompson. “It just strikes me that more often than not power is not addressed and so art has a capacity, because of its expressiveness, to take on issues that others don’t have the bandwidth to address.” HELP EMERGING ARTISTS GET PAST THE GATEKEEPERS Paddy Leung left art school for much of the same reasons they didn’t bother entering the commercial art world: as a queer POC artist, they didn’t feel there was a space for them. Instead, they tapped into opportunities to create temporary public art work, like their series of display window installations and DIY art events, which wound up catching the attention of the AGO. Systemic barriers prevent marginalized voices from accessing the commercial gallery system. Public art should dismantle those barriers. “In order for artists from marginalized communities to gain the authority to make decisions related to the curation of public art, they need to first rise up through a hierarchy of institutionalized art spaces, largely dominated by white men with money,” says Leung. “So long as marginalized artists struggle just to break into the first tier of this system, it remains unlikely that we will see the realm of permanent public art populated by voices from marginalized communities any time soon.” Temporary public art work, however, tends to lack the bureaucracy or the boy’s club of the commissioned permanent works process. “I am starting to see more temporary art projects throughout the city that allow emerging artists to share their voice,” says Leung, citing art commissions in music festivals and events like BIG on Bloor and Nuit Blanche, where their colourful, linked archway installation Garden Tunnel will transform the Drake’s streetside patio into a space of acceptance. “Often, it is in these types of unconventional spaces that artists like myself are able to be represented.” MOVE FROM THE CENTRE AND SPEND TIME IN THE MARGINS Toronto’s Percent For Public Art policy, which mandates that private developers allocate one per cent of capital project costs to public art, has resulted in a concentration of artwork in the developing downtown core. Neighbourhoods at Toronto’s periphery are left lacking in cultural works. “We take special care to work in neighbourhoods that aren’t typically thought of as real cultural hotbeds,” says Alexis Kane Speer, founding director of the STEPS initiative, a public art charity that fosters community-based projects like the world’s tallest mural in St. James Town. “Visible community art in the public realm often creates local landmarks in communities that may otherwise not have them; works people can feel proud about, especially when it reflects their community.” Paulina O’Kieffe is the director of ArtReach, a high-engagement funder that works with marginalized youth on community-led projects that also prepare them for art-industry careers. “I’m diligent about engaging youth in the hardest-to-reach areas,” says O’Kieffe. “Public art isn’t confined to the restrictions that gallery spaces have. It gives the opportunity for art to be accessed by those who can’t afford to do so in traditional institutions, and it gives a sense of freedom for young people trying to express what’s going wrong in those spaces.” FOSTER CULTURALLY REFLECTIVE AND NOT REACTIVE ART Commercial art spaces hold a curated vision of what art is. Indigenous artists feel it most acutely when they’re expected to fit into the confines of stereotyped Native art (think romanticized ideas of totem poles) as opposed to reflecting their multiple realities. Public art should provide space for the full and unfettered expression of cultural groups. For Nuit Blanche, Marianne Nicolson will stage a large-scale art intervention on Old City Hall. The Many Large Houses Of The Ghosts will address the dispossession of Indigenous people by projecting hand-drawn pictograms on the building’s exterior. Nicolson’s intent is to disrupt a site whose colonial-based power “is accepted as completely normal, which for Indigenous people has never been experienced as normal at all, but as oppression,” she says. “We get fit into a western colonial dominant narrative and it’s frustrating because if we had our land rights recognized and our potlatch wasn’t outlawed we would have been able to sustain our cultural production and expression on its own terms,” says Nicolson. “All we can do is interject our ideas into that narrative and say, ‘There is another way.’ I have to strategically leverage the public art opportunities I get in order to be able to do a lot of the community based-work I do. But I often wonder what would we be doing in our communities if it was all on our own terms?” christiner@nowtoronto.com | @missrattan Click here to read the article on Now Magazine's website by Chris Rattan September 27, 2017, 7:00 PM

ArtReach is proud to announce the finalists for the 2017 Youth Arts Pitch Contest! Finalists will pitch their ideas to our panel of judges for a chance to win cash prizes of up to $5,000 in the following categories. Creative Business & Career Development: *Igho Itebu for EGO (Ebony Girls Obsession) Initiative *Femi Lawson for Tantalization *Huda Eldardiry for Held By Huda *Balu Kanagalingam for Sweetea Consultations Community Arts Projects and Productions: *Sage Willow *Zubaida Zang Design Inc. *Cola Bennett for the F-You Project *Synergy Dance Crew This year's Judges Panel includes: *Dwayne Holness, Founder Corex Creative *Mustafa El Amin, Founder MyStand Mentorship Organization *Shereen Ashman, Programs Manager CEE Center for Young Black Professionals *Letecia Rose, Coordinator, Programs and Outreach MLSE Launchpad *Pauleanna Reid, Co-Founder of New Girl on the Block, Founder of The Writersblok Details for the 2017 Pitch Contest: DATE: Thursday October 12th, 2017 TIME: 6:30pm to 8:30pm LOCATION: Riverside Hub, 1326 Gerrard Street East MORE INFO: HERE CONTACT: pitch@artreach.org

September 8th was proclaimed as International Literacy Day (ILD) by UNESCO at the 14th session of UNESCO’s General Conference on 26 October 1966 to remind the international community of the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies, and the need for intensified efforts towards more literate societies. Since the first ILD in 1967, ILD celebrations have taken place annually around the world, coordinated by UNESCO, countries and partners, to advance the literacy agenda at global,regional and national levels. The overarching theme of ILD 2017 is: "Literacy in a Digital World". Click here to read more from the UN. How to get involved in advancing literacy: www.frontiercollege.ca www.projectliteracy.com www.literacyworldwide.org

Are you running a community project or are involved with a larger organization? Want to take your project management skills to the next level? Are you interested in learning more about being certified as a project manager and how your current experience can be transferred? Many of us have become project managers by default as we are thrust into the field through creation of projects for our communities, often with little formal training ourselves. This Project Management 101 workshop will take participants through the basics of Project Management, as referenced by the Project Management Institute. Participants will be introduced to project management language and concepts as used in the project management field in order to be able to transfer their experience into the larger field of project management. Tools and templates will be provided to support participants in running community projects more efficiently. *This workshop will be facilitated by ArtReach Director, Paulina O'Kieffe DETAILS Date: Thursday, September 21st, 2017 Location: Youth Action Network, 1489 Dupont Street, Toronto Time: Registration & food at 5:30pm; workshop start time is 6:00pm RSVP: HERE Note: This workshop is open to youth (13 to 29 yrs). Space for this workshop is limited so register today! Food and refreshments will be provided.

It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the passing of Demal Graham, our friend, colleague, and ArtReach grantee. Demal was a devoted father, son, and brother, and an active member of the Malvern Community, who never missed an opportunity to run a joke with a neighbour or help a friend. On Sunday July 23rd, 2017, Demal fell victim to a horrible act of gun violence. In 2015, ArtReach had the privilege of funding Demal's program, New Track, a project that engaged youth from the Malvern community to become positive leaders. Through New Track, Demal was able to teach youth ways to express their feelings and emotions using music, develop teamwork and leadership skills, learn ways to practice self care and healing, raise awareness of the impacts of violence on mental health, and the life-changing effects of positive mentorship. Over 200 youth were impacted by New Track in the three months the program ran. You can support the family by showing them how our community stands with them during the most painful time in their lives. By contributing to Demal's Fund you will be making it easier for his mother, sisters, and daughter by alleviating some of the financial pressure and allowing them to focus on navigating the complicated and painful times to come. Please donate here.

APPLICATIONS TO THE 2017 PITCH CONTEST ARE NOW OPEN! APPLY BY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2017 AT 5:00PM DETAILS: Click here to learn more about applying to the 2017 Pitch Contest ABOUT: The arts are a powerful and motivating way that youth are involved in their communities. Whether it’s in someone’s basement, or through a community program – young people are creating art all over the city. ArtReach and City of Toronto Arts & Culture want to support youth aspirations in the arts. Every year, ArtReach hosts the Pitch Contest- a chance for youth to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges for a chance to win $5000 to support their community youth arts project, start an arts-based business, or take their career to the next level! PRIZES: ArtReach invites eight artists or groups to participate under two categories: Community Arts Projects & Productions, and Creative Business and Career Development. Each category has one $5000 grand prize winner, a $2000 runner- up prize, and two gift certificates that groups can use towards professional or artistic development. ELIGIBILITY: You must be an artist, a collective of artists or a youth-led arts organization You must be between the ages of 18 and 29 You must be developing an artistic project or are serious about your arts initiative Don’t hesitate to contact pitch@artreach.org for more info, with questions, or for any accessibility needs.

There are currently 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in the world, and we want to celebrate all of them! ArtReach works for, with, and because of youth, and we wouldn’t be here without them! This year, the theme of International Youth Day is “youth building peace”, and this day is dedicated to celebrating young people’s contributions to conflict prevention and sustainable peace. The youth ArtReach are privileged to work with are leaders in the fight for social justice, equity, and reconciliation, and we could not be more proud to support their work. They labour tirelessly to combat the physical, social, and economic injustices that threaten the rights and freedoms of youth globally. Today we acknowledge and appreciate their effort, bravery, and dedication in the fight for peace. The United Nations notes that “young people’s inclusion in the peace and security agenda and in society more broadly, is key to building and sustaining peace. The process of social inclusion for youth, including participation in decision-making as well as access to quality education, health care and basic services promotes their role as active contributors to society and affords young people with opportunities to reach their potential and achieve their goals. When youth are excluded from political, economic and social spheres and processes, it can be a risk factor for conflict. Therefore, identifying and addressing the social exclusion of young people is a precondition for sustaining peace.” Read more from the United Nations about International Youth Day here.

ArtReach would like to wish you all a happy and healthy National Self Care Day! Self-care is about creating and maintaining practices that help you sustain your energy and spirit in whatever life path you choose. It also makes you a better friend, community member, lover, partner, and caregiver. When you give to others but neglect yourself, feelings of resentment can arise because you sacrifice your own needs. Taking care of yourself allows you to enjoy time with others while also sustaining yourself. Self-care is not selfish. Self-care is being intentional in your day to reflect, nurture your body, remember your heart, grieve your sorrows, and attend to your daily needs. Check out our toolkit, Caring for Yourself is a Radical Act for more information, strategies, activities, and stories, about Self Care: HERE

Today we recognize and celebrate the unique heritage and diverse cultures of Aboriginal communities in Canada. We acknowledge that this country is a colonial settler state, and that the need to decolonize is ongoing. LAND RECOGNITION ArtReach acknowledges that the land on which we work is the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, the Métis, and most recently, the territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. This territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. This territory is also covered by the Upper Canada Treaties. Today, the meeting place of Toronto (from the Haudenosaunee word Tkaronto) is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and live in this territory. CELEBRATION EVENTS Native Canadian Centre of Toronto// June 28th// Dundas Square http://ncct.on.ca/aboriginal-history-month-celebration/ Indigenous Arts Festival// June 21st- 25th// Fort York http://aboriginaldaylive.ca/toronto/schedule/http://aboriginaldaylive.ca/toronto/schedule/ UNACTO Film Screening and Presentation// June 21st// Toronto City Hall https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/unacto-national-aboriginal-day-tickets-35428381242 RECONCILIATION Learn how Canada is working to address reconciliation and renew their relationship with Indigenous peoples here. Read more from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission here. RESOURCES: ABORIGINAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS IN TORONTO https://www.nativechild.org/student-resources/links HISTORICAL INFORMATION AND CURRENT STATISTICS http://www.socialjustice.org/index.php?page=aboriginal-issues http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Summary-First-Peoples-Second-Class-Treatment-Final.pdf http://www.leadnow.ca/skills-for-solidarity/shared-history/ GET INVOLVED IN DECOLONIZATION http://www.opirgtoronto.org/current-action-groups/ http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/taxonomy/term/6 http://decolonization.org/index.php/des/index HOW ARTREACH SUPPORTS See below for some of the amazing Indigenous groups and projects ArtReach has had the privilege of funding! 2Spirit SkillShare – Two-Spirit Stories & Lands (2016) 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. Anishinaabe Community Spirit Dancers - Anishinaabe Community Spirit Dancers Project (2017) 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. Canadian Roots Exchange - Tkaronto: Stories of Home (Phase Two) (2017) 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. Canadian Roots Exchange – Tkaronto: Stories of Home (2015) 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. Canadian Roots Exchange – Digital Stories, Stories of Reconciliation (2013) 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. Gaa Dibaatjimat Ngaashi – Stay in School Drama Project (2006) 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. Media CreatorZ – CreatorZ Project (2010) 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. Victoria Henriquez – Community Crossover (2016) 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.

On Monday May 22, ArtReach had the pleasure of attending Heart On: Earth Angel at The Drake Hotel, a sold out event put on by a group of talented female artists and curated by Elisia Mirabelli. Earth Angel was a night of showcasing women in the arts, particularly through short films and visual art. Heart On is a Toronto screening series that celebrates the work of emerging female filmmakers and artists. Artists such as Adria Mirabelli, Maddie Alexander, Courtney Gee, Lily Watson, Chantelle Blagrove, Carly Hunt, and Alicia Harris displayed their works around the Drake’s space, with everything from photography to poetry to vinyl cutout works. Opening up the Refinery 29’s Shatterbox Anthology film screenings, the Earth Angel Choir sang to the audience to introduce the event, which was a very lovely surprise. Our 2015 Pitch Contest winner Alicia Harris screened her film, “Maybe If It Were A Nice Room” (watch it here!), to kick off the film portion of the evening as she was the featured director of the event. Alicia Harris previously received ArtReach funding for another short film, “Love Stinks”, which screened at The Future of Film Showcase last month. Additionally, films by Chloe Sevigny, Anu Valia, and Jessica Dimmock also screened, giving the night a diverse range of content. Heart On: Earth Angel was sponsored by Refinery 29, Shatterbox Anthology, SoulCycle, Bumble, Pluck, and ColourPop Cosmetics. Author: Ally Nohos

On April 11th, ArtReach teamed up with Sketch to deliver a Branding 101 workshop as part of Sketch's Art Hustle program. The workshop was facilitated by The Real Sun, community artist, leader, and facilitator extraordinaire. Through this workshop, youth were able to gain first hand knowledge of keys to branding success, building creative enterprise, and developing marketing strategies. This workshop is part of Sketch's Art Hustle program, a hands-on, 10 week creative learning series to help emerging artists working in any mediums to build design skills, create promotional materials & develop outreach strategies to market their artwork & expand their networks. You can learn more about the next session of Art Hustle here. Check out photos from the workshop here!

Project ArtPowerment is exactly as it sounds: the program empowers youth to develop the confidence to express their thoughts, opinions and experiences as racially, ethnically, socially or otherwise marginalized individuals through various mediums of art.  It also supports youth in developing leadership capabilities and educating them about critical social justice issues. To meet its objectives, the program offers a series of 12 workshops utilizing art media and projects of the youth’s choice, including: ceramics, collaging, zine art, improv, sketching and pencil crayon, painting, and creative writing. In addition, the program provides a safe space for marginalized youth to access and express themselves through art forms that may be otherwise inaccessible. The program was based on a 4-part pilot series conducted with youth in North Etobicoke, which offered clay-based contemplative workshops to youth. Zahra spoke to us of the importance of the program, “the grant made it possible for someone who is interested in mental health and well being to continue this work – to continue to experiment and discover what works and what doesn’t [in helping communities build resilience, express themselves, and unpack/resist mainstream damaging/ limiting stereotypes on marginalized groups].  This is significant [to test new interdisciplinary approaches to empowerment] because a lot of programs that we offer are grounded only in evidence-based practices.” Zahra, the programs director, spoke with us about reshaping the spaces that youth occupy, “we hope to not duplicate the power inequalities youth face in society (IE. racism, systematic oppression), thereby giving them power and agency in the space (to navigate the direction of the program and their place within it).” Having the ability to choose areas of learning is a new experience for many youth, “they’re not used to being asked for their opinion.  It can be a challenge for them to express what exactly they want to see, because they’ve never been given the power.”  And that is where the beauty of art comes in. The foundation of this program is that engaging in art has the ability to create a counterculture to the narratives being unpacked in each session.  Project ArtPowerment uses grounding, meditation, breathing and gratitude exercises throughout each program, “we constantly check-in and ask, how are you feeling right now?” Within the check-ins, youth have begun to express awoken feelings, “there’s been a lot of feedback around their social location as a minority and how that influences the way they feel about themselves.” Creating art pieces allowed youth to delve into this further, “they were expressing how their identity as a visible minority, influences the roles that they take up, and how they interact with other people in those roles in society.  A major realization was that a lot of our experience as a person is what people label us as (daughter, student, employee, cultural group, etc.).  It was an incredible and profound message.” The team built from there- as the program progressed, the youth further practiced resiliency through art and mindfulness.  “It’s great that we are able to bring an avenue for youth to develop these skills to our distant community (of North Etobicoke).  The grant we received from ArtReach has made all this possible.  It made dreams come true!” She went on, “Sometimes, when we’re trying new things, it’s important that funds are made available to youth or youth artists who are getting off the ground and exploring how they want to contribute to the betterment of the community,” moreover, “getting to know ArtReach a little bit better and receiving the grant has opened the door to a lot of collaborative work with other artists and agencies.  Plus, there were so many resources available on how to write a proposal and final report.  A lot of times when you’re applying to different grants, you don’t have that. ArtReach made change accessible to young people.” On Friday April 21st, Project ArtPowerment hosted its final exhibit, Voices in Color: An Exhibition on Resiliency and Resistance (photos here) by North Etobicoke Youth. The main level rotunda of Metro Hall displayed the work of project participant’s work, which featured a wide variety of the artistic mediums used throughout the project including masks, visual arts, photography as well as some live spoken word pieces. 4 project participants spoke to their experiences of being in the program and the impact it had on them. ArtReach Director, Paulina O’Kieffe, had the honor of handing out certificates to the project’s youth participants while speaking on the way in which arts programs deeply impact the lives of young people in communities where access to arts isn’t readily available- “this is evident in the young people who spoke to their experiences or took on leadership roles with this event, as well as in the art pieces you see hanging around us". If you’re looking to check out Zahra and Project ArtPowerment work, you can catch them at their recently launched page: facebook.com/projectartpowerment. Author: Cassey Andrews