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Living Black Genius is a program designed to illuminate the living Black Canadian geniuses of today.  Created out of the necessity for adequate representations of Black Canadian role models beyond the minimal depiction in the media, Natasha, the founder of Living Black Genius, explained, “the stereotype would be a rapper, musician, entertainer, or athlete … when we asked the kids in our program who a Black Canadian role model (was), we got blank stares – and Drake.” With youths’ aspirations tied to these scarce representations, it was vital to the LBG team to fill in the narrative.  Natasha told us, “When (we) think Canadian, (we) must think all Canadians.  Especially if you’re a Black Canadian, you want to be represented in your country.”  So, the team took on the task of broadening the spectrum.  The program, which happens twice a week, has brought in a variety of professionals, “we wanted there to be a mixed bag (of professionals), because some are going to speak more to others than others”. Youth suggest the types of professionals they would appreciate hearing from, and research the professionals before they come in to the program, “We don’t want the workshops with outside facilitators to be a pinpoint of reference on leadership", Natasha explained. Youth direct the program the whole way through, with some even assisting with workshop facilitation. Natasha talked to us about a West African drummer who came in to discuss the rhythm and meanings behind drumming language, and the connections that have crossed from West Africa, “One of the youth was from West Africa and it was amazing what he could chime in!  He supported the drummer as a secondary assistant drummer and was telling us what he knows.  He even showed us a song that he knew!” “Share your dreams. You are living Black geniuses” Leadership within the program has been carried out by everyone in the room, “We’re learning from the kids, too.  We want them to know that just because you’re young, or just because you’re a young Black youth, doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to contribute.  Share your dreams - you are living Black geniuses.” She went on, “We want to share that you don’t just have to be a leader in your community, but with everyone in your life … you don’t have to stick yourself in a box … leadership is infinite”.  Natasha and the Living Black Genius team, which consists of: Natasha Adiyana Morris (founder); Amanda Nicholls (co-program lead); and, Dennis Langley (media director), have documented the experience through video, and the youth have led the direction every step of the way. She talked to us about how, in January when the program began, preparation, participation, and confidence seemed low.  Now, an atmospheric change has occurred.  Time is utilized.  Each participant has the confidence to share and contribute ideas, and each one ensures that the other has lines within the documentary shorts.  She told us that the youth strongly understand that these documentaries are not just for them to gain skills, but to educate the public who sees them – to fill in the narrative. When we asked her exactly what it was that ArtReach helped fund, Natasha proclaimed, “EVERYTHING! We could pay facilitators an honorarium.  We could purchase the camera, the lens, and the lighting.  We could pay ourselves.  Most importantly, we could extend the program until Christmas and keep these relationships going!”  Natasha hopes that some of the youth leaders within the Living Black Genius program will help assist her in initiating the program in other areas of the GTA, such as Mississauga, “The program has been organically growing and so I want to keep that going”! Learn more about Piece of Mine here! Author: Cassey Andrews

Beautiful Minds is new to the program scene.  Developed in 2016, its intention has been the promotion of self-care and mindfulness paired with the demotion of stigma surrounding mental health.  Nicole D’Souza, the founder of Beautiful Minds, notes, “Negative mental health can be things in normal circumstances, like taking a test - let’s cope with that!”  The program looks for new techniques that foster a positive mental health state, because, well, not everyone just wants to talk about stuff. Beautiful Minds explores ways to transcend the singular way of westernized mental health practices of sitting and talking.  Understanding that they may look different from person to person and culture to culture, “some (languages) don’t have a word for mental health … some cultures are very private and your thoughts are very private … (and) not every culture believes in medication” says Nicole.  Self-care can be done through dance, storytelling, or nature; expression goes beyond the spoken word.   Beautiful Minds aims to dust off, sharpen, or discover the tools that best work for an individual’s self-care. Discovering your tools for expression can be a daunting task; the program acts as a metaphorical map to help youth discover the treasure that works best for them.  Offering various techniques for self-care over multiple weeks, the youth are given tastes of expressive forms without the intimidating obligation of eating the whole thing, “doing things for an hour each week is less intimidating than a six week program (focused on one thing) … we attempt everything!”  It’s not about being the best, or doing the thing that you’re good at, but finding the thing that works best for you. With the help of ArtReach funding, art supplies and artist themselves are brought in to facilitate programs in their craft (such as: dance, yoga, spoken word, rap, and more).  Nicole laughed as she explained to us about how the Beautiful Minds team attempts everything, although “not being that great at anything”.  The hope is that the authenticity of the mentors can create a safe and brave space for the participants. Creating a safe communal space is integral given the current climate of the mental health scene; Nicole explains, “Mental health is becoming predominant in the news and other venues.  Youth get diagnosed more so at childhood and adolescents – wait lists exist.”  By creating a space, on Sundays, when most facilities are closed, the team attempts to promote wellness for folks who are experiencing either mental illness or negative mental health experiences.  Through understanding their personalized self-care, youth can understand their boundaries and needs; as well as multiple means to express them.  Mental wellness is neither singular nor linear, it is a beautiful juxtaposition of every inch of your self; and, Beautiful Minds hopes to illuminate that beauty. Learn more about Beautiful Minds here Author: Cassey Andrews

Are you an artist who wants to ensure you are paid fairly for your art? Do you want to learn how to create solid contracts for your work? Do you want to understand how your artistic income affects your taxes? Two of the most important things you can do for yourself as an artist are to ensure that you are paid fairly for your work, and that your administration is up to date. This workshop, led by lawyers through Pro Bono Ontario, walked participants through some of the important legal issues that you should understand as a practicing artist. The workshop focused on how to: create contracts that ensure you are paid fairly for your work, understand important legal elements about your arts business practice, and ensure that you have the correct and up to date paper work for your arts business practice to thrive. On Thursday, March 24th, 2016, ArtReach hosted Lawyers for the Arts, a workshop on legalities related to running your non-profit organization. This workshop was facilitated by Matthew Wiens, the Director of Corporate Pro Bono Projects for Pro Bono Ontario. Pro Bono Ontario supports Ontarians who have essential legal needs but can’t afford a lawyer. - View photos from the workshop here -

Are you an artist looking to access bigger contracts? Are you interested in applying to do arts based work for the City of Toronto? Do you have ideas on how to create communications materials that are more appealing to young people in the City? DETAILS Date: Thursday, March 10th, 2016 Registration/Food: 5:45 pm Workshop Start Time: 6:00pm SHARP! Location: Toronto City Hall, Committee Room #3 (100 Queen St. W) Facilitators: Paulina O’Kieffe, Andrea Zammit, Gena Meldazy RSVP: HERE (Space is limited, so register now!) NOTE: *This workshop is for youth ages 13-29. If you are an artist who is seeking to expand their portfolio/ resume through bigger contracts, check out this workshop on how to apply for requests for proposals. RFPs are becoming more popular in hiring contract work for not only public, but also corporate clients. Through this workshop you will learn what an RFP is, what RFP review committees are looking for, and best practices when putting together an RFP response. The activities in this workshop are also designed to support artists interested in submitting responses to City RFPs that will be introduced in the workshop. Click here to see the RFP Guidelines. The Applying to Request for Proposals (RFPs) workshop is being offered as part of the Toronto Youth Equity Strategy (TYES) Action 1D: "The City of Toronto will invest in youth artists and arts groups to develop youth sensitive and appropriate communication materials (posters, videos, songs, stories, etc.) that will promote key city programs that serve youth needs". These workshops are being offered to assist youth artists and arts groups in preparing to submit proposals for a Request for Proposals that will be put out by ArtReach, in partnership with TYES. The RFP will be seeking proposals from youth artists and arts groups to complete communications products (posters, videos, photos, etc.) promoting City of Toronto services and initiatives for youth. PLEASE NOTE THE DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS IS EXTENDED TO MONDAY MARCH 28 @ MIDNIGHT.

We're distributing $270,000 in grants to youth arts projects in Toronto- if this is something that could support your work, we want to hear from you! The deadline to apply is April 15th, 2016 at 5:00pm (no late submissions!) Please read about our granting program here to see if our funding is a fit for your group, then contact us at grants@artreach.org to request your application package by no later than April 11th, 2016. This funding is available thanks to ArtReach's partnership with the Toronto Arts Council. For more info on this awesome partnership, click here.

Your brand is your identity. As an artist, your brand is important whether you get a contract, grant, or even a spot in a gallery. This dynamic workshop trained artists on how to develop their brand in a way that captures their creative identity and professionalism all in one package. They learned how to create their brand identity, wrote a professional artist statement, and developed their CV and professional portfolio. We shared basic tips and tools on how youth can expose their work and their brand as a professional artist, in order to make a living off their art. Participants were given access to artists and brand strategists who taught best practices in building a brand strategy, and how to take a brand to the next level. On Wednesday, February 24th, 2016, ArtReach hosted Branding 101, a workshop on all things branding related to your non-profit organization. This workshop was facilitated by The Real Sun, Rania El Mugammar, and Pauleanna Reid, and held at CSI Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park. - View photos from the workshop here -

On Tuesday, December 8th, 2015, ArtReach hosted it's annual Funder Speed Dating event at the beautiful ArtScape Sandbox building in downtown Toronto. - View photos from the event here - - View video from the event here - At this free networking event, participants had the chance to connect directly with representatives of various funding and granting organizations that support youth and arts projects in Ontario. Participants learned about different funding opportunities, got face-to-face time with potential funders, and gained the knowledge to help them overcome barriers in accessing funding. The goal of this session was to help youth make relationships with funders and sources of support for their arts projects. This event also saw amazing spoken word piece performed by PSL's Patrick de Belen, and the event's music was provided by DJ Flex of All Trades. Funder Speed Dating 2015 received support from the following funders: Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, FACTOR, and the City of Toronto.

On November 2nd, 2015, ArtReach participated in the Creative Spaces Partnership Exchange, a cross-sector networking and capacity building event. The Exchange was a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations to connect with potential partners working on current and future creative space projects outside of Toronto’s core. Click here to learn more about this event. Our amazing director, Paulina O’Kieffe was also a featured panelist, speaking on "Leadership from Grassroots to Government”, about developing leadership and support for ventures,  communicating programs, proposals and outcomes effectively to government and other key stakeholders, and approaches to framing an organization or an initiative so that it resonates with external stakeholders. - View photos from the event here -

On Tuesday June 23, 2015, we hosted an event at CSI in celebration of ArtReach x YOF’s partnership. - Click here to see photos from the event - This event was filled with great food, great people, and great vibes! Grantees from OTF’s Youth Opportunities Fund were able to present a snapshot of the amazing work they had been doing in their communities. The event was hosted by Randell Adjei from RISE, and featured performances by the amazingly talented Domanique Grant and Toronto’s foremost b-girl crew, Keep Rockin You.

On November 25, 2014, ArtReach × Youth Opportunities Fund hosted their annual networking event, Funder Speed Dating. At this free networking event, participants had a chance to connect directly with representatives of various funding and granting organizations, learned about different funding opportunities, got some face-to-face time with potential funders, and gained knowledge to help overcome barriers in accessing funding. - View photos from the event here - Guest funders included: Kate Fraser, ArtReach; Okeima Lawrence, City of Toronto; Suzanne Paes, City of Toronto; Kristina Hausmanis, StreetARToronto; Ashton Shearer, CUE; Erin Kiyonaga, FACTOR; Carolyn Gloude, Ontario Arts Council; Janice Lambrakos, Ontario Arts Council; Tabish Surani, Youth Opportunities Fund/ Ontario Trillium Foundation; and Peter Kingstone, Toronto Arts Council.