On Thursday, February 15, 2007, ArtReach hosted its first ever workshop: Grant Writing 101. Forty young artists from across the City filled the second floor meeting room at the National Film Board office in downtown Toronto, eager to engage in training on how to secure funding for their community arts programs. Feedback from participants was fantastic, with folks who attended sharing that they loved “the fact that presenters were fellow youth”, and that “the information presented greatly helped clarify the process of grant writing”. From the success of this initial session, ArtReach’s Grassroots Organizing And Leadership (G.O.A.L.) workshop series was born!
Since that first workshop 15 years ago, G.O.A.L. has expanded significantly in order to provide accessible learning opportunities to enhance the work of young artists and youth-led groups in Toronto. To date, we've coordinated and delivered over 180 workshops that have been attended by nearly 5,000 young artists and community leaders. From our original slate of 6 offerings, we’ve now run sessions on over 70 different topics on building the skills needed to create meaningful arts programming and develop oneself as a community artist.
In addition to engaging participants, the G.O.A.L. series has allowed us the opportunity to employ hundreds of incredible emerging and established facilitators; partner and collaborate with dozens of arts organizations from across Toronto; and reach creatives from all corners of our City, from Etobicoke to North York, and Scarborough to Downtown.
To help us continue supporting the professional development of Toronto’s young artists and community changemakers, we ask you now to help us reach our $1,000 goal for G.O.A.L.
Head to artreach.org/donate now to contribute!
With much appreciation and love,
The ArtReach Team