Art Starts is a charitable, not for profit organization committed to arts-based community development in the city of Toronto. It was founded in 1992 by a group of artists living in the Eglinton & Oakwood neighbourhood. Its mandate is to build healthier communities using the arts. “At Art Starts we understand that the arts are a medium for engaging residents, creating a shared sense of identity, identifying challenges and collectively working to overcome them. Art Starts uses the arts as a vehicle to encourage social change in at-risk neighbourhoods. We offer high quality, responsive and relevant creative opportunities to those who do not have access – namely people living in under served and stressed communities.” (web)
The general model of Art Starts is outreach within different sites in several neighborhoods. Previously, Art Starts worked out of a storefront, they currently work in four under-served neighborhoods in Toronto that include: Eglinton & Oakwood, Glendower, Villaways (Leslie & Sheppard), Lawrence Heights/Neptune. Art Starts’ method is to work in resident led and resident focused programs. They work in each community over an extended period of time in order to gain trust, make an impact, and become sustainable.
At each project location, they have a program manager and artists who are from the community who know the community. They work out of shared community spaces which include libraries, Parks and Recreation facilities, schools, parks and Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) sites. They have just moved their main operations into the Yorkdale Community Arts Centre, a formerly city-run facility in the basement of the Yorkdale Shopping. The space includes a gallery, a large studio space for programs and their administrative offices.
You can register for Common Weal Community Arts Inc.’s Conference by April 30th!
The conference is in Regina from May 14-16.
Click here for more information.
7th Generation Image Makers is a community arts program under the auspices of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. The program was founded in 1995 by local Anishnawbek artist Maria Hupfield through the NCFST youth department. The program’s mandate is to provide arts exposure and constructive creative expression for at-risk aboriginal youth ages 14-29 in the community. The program provides art workshops run by professional artists that include summer video projects and mural making which promote aboriginal visual presence around the city. The general model combines extensive arts programming within a drop-in studio environment, with additional outreach workshops in different venues.
7Th Generation Image Makers started off as a mural company and expanded to include a range of media arts, visual and traditional arts. The program focuses on the cultural and artistic identity of the youth participants. They regularly offer digital media lab access for youth to experiment with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, film, Final Cut Express and photography. Traditional arts offered include beading, moccasin making, quill work, soapstone carving, drum making, and has included regalia making on a project-basis, some of which is integrated with contemporary media. The program also provides a lot of painting and drawing resources/workshops and assists youth with portfolio development.
The Arts and Community Development
“ There is not only a wealth of artistic and cultural resources in the inner city, but these resources can make an enormous contribution to building community capacity, energizing community-based revitalization efforts, educating young people, improving our public spaces, and invigorating local economies.” (8)
Here’s a link to an inspiring and inclusive report on issues and ideas about community arts in inner city Winnipeg. The report was researched and written by: Michelle Kuly, Etoile Stewart, and Michael Dudley with the Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Winnipeg (as project coordinator) in 2004. The community partner was: Art City, Winnipeg. Here are some excerpts from the report:
“…A review of the relevant literature shows that art-based programming offers numerous benefits to its participants, and can help to empower groups that otherwise feel marginalized. There is no one model of success, yet those agencies that we selected for review have some important thing in common: they are rooted in, and engaged with, their communities; they are open to community ownership and participation in their operations; and they allow diversity to flourish, not just in terms of what they do, but, who walks in their doors.
Boys and Girls Club of Moncton is part of Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. It has an outstanding arts programcalled: A-Zone. The centre was founded in Moncton in 1957. Its mandate is ”To provide a safe, supportive place where children and youth can experience new opportunities, overcome barriers, build positive relationships and develop confidence and skills for life.” (web). The general model is an arts program within an established community centre.
The catchment area is 9 communities including low income housing areas in Moncton, New Brunswick. The languages of service are primarily English and French. It serves/works with ages: 6-18. The daily number of children and youth that attend the entire A-Zone program is between 175-200 participants per day. There are 12 A-Zone programs that run each day. The hours of operation of the A-Zone program are 3-9 PM Monday through Saturday. The arts disciplines offered are music, dance, drama, photography, movie making, creative writing, painting, and drawing. The entire club has 3 full-time staff, 3-4 part-time staff, 138 approximate volunteers/year. It has a permanent art studio within a building that the Boys and Girls Club owns. It is a drop-in. It offers registered classes. It is free. It has many events and art shows.
The A-Zone is really good at outreach. Staff go out each night with their bus and pick up 100 kids from 9 surrounding communities. There is a problem with accessibility because most kids can’t walk to the club because there are highways in the way. The distance for a full bus run is 15km (round-trip), and the maximum distance of any community is 9km away.
Bill Stapleton's Painting at ArtHeart
Every Tuesday during ArtHeart’s after-school children’s art program, in Regent Park, Toronto veteran artist Bill Stapleton- in his eighties, would arrive, set up a chair and sketchbook and quietly draw portraits of the children in the studio making art. Inevitably, he would be surrounded by a hub of enthusiastic voyeurs, saying “wow, that’s me! look at the sketch of me!” Bill, a renowned artist who lived nearby, was committed to this Tuesday practice (for years!). He’d come back the following week with colour photo copies to hand out to the children he had drawn the week before. His presence lent a feeling of calm to the studio, he commanded respect, and the children could learn by watching a “real artist” at work. It helped that he was not ruffled by commotion, conflicts, or crises, he embraced it all with a sense of humour.
Bill Stapleton
SKETCH is calling out to all who are as keenly interested in proliferating youth organizing through the arts. Please be in touch if you want to learn more about the SKETCH engagement framework and some of its foundational principles of addressing community development, poverty reduction, gender and racial equity, environmental stewardship as well as transformative justice. Phew! We really like to dig into the hard stuff!
Sketch is a community arts development initiative that was founded in 1996 by Phyllis Novak. Its mandate is to engage youth who are street involved, homeless or otherwise marginalized in a progressive arts learning framework. The main premise of Sketch is that the arts are a response to homelessness and poverty. The arts provide an entry point into civic participation, cultural identity and social change. Their model includes open studio skill building, community connections and youth leadership programs.
Sketch has community partners who they refer youth to for basic needs and community supports. Community arts becomes a way for youth to be engaged with the broader community. Participants can initiate projects outside of Sketch, and Sketch will help provide training and facilitation of the connection.
Sketch is really good at “celebratory and wacky engagement of youth as organizers! [ It is known for ] trying things, making mistakes and learning. [ It is also known for] it’s strong intentions to build healthy relationships [as well as] respecting the unique perspectives of marginalized community, street involved and homeless youth. “
ArtBridges / ToileDesArts: Project of Tides Canada Initiatives
Contact ArtBridges at: 416-691-7777
or 1-877-278-3002 (toll-free)
sconnell@artbridges.ca
artbridgestoiledesarts@gmail.com
ArtBridges Office Address: 2006 Queen St. East, Suite 6
Toronto, ON, M4L 1J3
DONATE TO ARTBRIDGES HERE
