ArtReach is proud to announce the 24 programs that were awarded funding in our 2024
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!
At Dem: At Dem workshop Series for Music and Rhythm Artist Entrepreneurs $14,800
At Dem will run Workshop Series for Music and Rhythm Artist Entrepreneurs, a program for Black/ African/ Caribbean youth ages 18-25. This culturally-driven program is grounded in personal growth, self-expression, and fun, providing a safe space for participants to expand and express their creativity. Youth will explore songwriting, sound recording arts, self-expression, basic music theory, advance rhythm and music entrepreneurship, gaining skills to become self-sustainable artists with a global impact.
Black Star North Film Collective: Rights to Our Tales $14,225
Black Star North Film Collective will run Rights to Our Tales, a hybrid intensive in the art of film curation, exploring experimental storytelling in Black cinema. Tailored for Scarborough-based Black and queer and /or trans youth, participants will delve into curatorial skills, community outreach, event planning, and film critique, all under the guidance of community mentors. Youth will partner in groups to organize their film curatorial debut, providing engagement opportunities in their communities and bridging geographic gaps.
Brown Gyal Diary: The Carnival Canvas $12,000
Brown Gyal Diary will run Carnival Canvas, a program for Carribean girls aged 13-16 to learn foundational elements of Caribbean Art Forms, including mas making, steelpan, Chutney/ Soca/ Dancehall dance, and Tassa. Led by industry leaders and Caribbean art form professionals, the program will consist of weekly workshops where youth will gain skills, learn the theory and history behind the different artforms, and understand the histories and cultural elements attached to the art forms.
Camila Salcedo: Gender Affirming Drag Workshops for Queer Youth $15,000
Camila Salcedo will lead Gender Affirming Drag Workshops for Queer Youth, a professional development series of weekly drag skill-building workshops teaching skills such as wearable art, makeup, and performance for participants ages 18-29 years old who are members of diasporas. Participants will get the opportunity to build a gender-affirming look from scratch by building an outfit and learning how to apply drag makeup. The program will culminate in a final showcase, where participants will present a drag act with their new looks, by showcasing them to an audience of friends, family and greater community, with a lip sync karaoke.
Charlotte Carbone and Diséiye Thompson: Ballroom Fashion Design & Sewing Workshop Series $9,900
Charlotte Carbone and Diséiye Thompson will lead a Ballroom Fashion Design & Sewing Workshop Series for QTBIPOC youth in the Toronto ballroom community who experience barriers to accessing fashion/ costume opportunities, education, and support. This program will teach youth design and sewing skills, building community and helping them create full looks that are ballroom ready to present at their culminating showcase event.
DigiZine Program: Digizine Residency Season 3 $13,750
Digizine will run Digizine Residency Season 3 is an emerging artist virtual residency, focused on zine making and vending, for youth ages 18-29 who are BIPOC and disabled. This 6-week program will be held virtually, where participants can expand their zine practice while in community with a small cohort of emerging artists. Residents will receive an honorarium, a food stipend, and hard copies of their final zine. The program will culminate in a zine launch event for the participants' friends and family.
Fat Fables Collective: Fat Fables $14,850
Fat Fables Collective will run Fat Fables, a hybrid theatre creation and performance program for Fat 2SLGBTQIA+ youth ages 18-29 in Toronto. Participants will learn the necessary steps to build a show from scratch and see it through to performance in front of an audience, develop relationships with professional artists, and learn new skills through guest artist workshops. The program will culminate with a week-long intensive and two public performances.
Flaunt It Movement: Flaunt It's Creative Internship Cohort 4 $14,700
Flaunt It Movement will run the fourth cohort of their Creative Internship Program, a training incubator designed for racialized young women and gender-diverse artists aged 16-23 from priority neighbourhoods in Northwest Toronto who are in the early stages of their artistic careers. This paid incubator will consist of workshops, mentorship, and resources, and participants will produce a final project for Flaunt It’s visual anthology by utilizing the art disciplines explored in the program. Following the program, interns will have the opportunity to work part-time at Flaunt It and further develop their skills as emerging creative entrepreneurs.
Friends From the Endz: GEM-THEORY $9,550
Friends From the Endz will run GEM-THEORY, an incubator program for entry level content creators to develop practical skills and knowledge, exploring their environment through photo/ video documentary. Consisting of weekly workshops with industry photographers, directors, and editors, youth will develop fundamental skills around visual storytelling and the process of production. The program will culminate in a graduation event where final projects will be showcased to community and industry collaborators.
Gumawa Space: Coming Home re:route/re:root $10,000
Gumawa Space will run Coming Home - re:route/re:root, a program for 3 queer South-East-Asian and Black emerging youth storytellers aged 22-29 from Toronto with no formal-arts background. The program will provide a space for youth who recently visited their motherland to explore what home means to them and who they are as diasporic youth navigating their hyphenated identities. Participants will explore a variety of written, visual, and oral storytelling approaches to connect/ reconnect with their ancestral lineage and inner-child.
JaneStreetSpeaks: Artist Development Program $10,250
JaneStreetSpeaks will run an Artist Development Program for youth participants aged 15-19 in Toronto. This program will consist of comprehensive skill-building song-writing and performance workshops facilitated by professional musicians, and will offer the opportunity for participants to record in a studio. The program will culminate with an arts showcase, where participants will share and celebrate their finished piece with friends, family, and their local community.
Jasmine Vanstone: Verse & Vision: Collaborative Creations $10,000
Jasmine Vanstone will lead Verse & Vision: Collaborative Creations, a program for Black emerging artists aged 18-29 to learn the technicalities of poetry and digital collage. Participants will be paired and mentored to create a digital collage accompanied by an original poem, learning the fundamentals of collaboration across visual and spoken language. Verse & Vision will be held at JAYU, accompanied by virtual mentorship sessions. The program will culminate in an immersive performance showcase and short film documenting the creative process.
MOMxWYFE: Screen Printing, Branding and Independent Merch Creation for Artists $10,000
MOMxWYFE will run Screen Printing, Branding and Independent Merch Creation for Artists, a program for 6-8 queer and/or BIPOC youth aged 18-29. This workshop series 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 long after the program concludes.
Rainbow Circus: Rainbow Camps $12,750
Rainbow Circus will lead Rainbow Camps, two camp programs that use circus arts to empower and mobilize participants towards confidence and a sense of belonging. Throughout each camp week, participants will be supported in building their repertoire of circus skills through daily group circus classes and workshops led by Rainbow Circus alumni. This program is for youth ages LGBTQ2S+ youth aged 13-17 with a specific focus on reaching applicants who may not typically feel welcomed in traditional circus spaces
Rainbows Pride in Scarborough: Multicultural Youth Art Empowerment (MYAE) $14,500
Rainbows Pride in Scarborough will run The Multicultural Youth Art Empowerment, a multidisciplinary arts program serving multicultural, 2SQTBIPOC youth aged 15-29 with disabilities, mental health challenges, and who live low-income in Scarborough. The program will include art-making workshops facilitated by community artists and facilitation training sessions for participants. The program will also incorporate themes involving mental health and ancestry, and culminate in a collaborative art exhibit.
Rave Angels: Decked Out $9,955
Rave Angels will run Decked Out, a 10-week Summer DJ intensive hybrid program for LGBTQA+ queer and trans youth. Through weekly in-person workshops and virtual meetings, participants will be immersed in a variety of sound mixing techniques and artrepreneurship skill development under the mentorship of industry-level DJs and promoters. The program combines advanced contemporary DJ techniques with fundamental skill development, providing youth with the essential tools to secure paid opportunities in future. The program will culminate in a showcase where participants will demonstrate the skills acquired throughout the intensive.
Scarbrite: Scarborough HERstory Expressions Malvern (SHE Malvern) $14,950
Scarbrite will run Scarborough HERstory Expressions Malvern (SHE Malvern), a mural art-making intensive for young women and non-binary youth ages 13-19 from Scarborough. Participants will develop skills in mural-making, working with Scarbrite to co-create an indoor wall mural that reflects personal and collective experiences in the community. Youth will also be mentored in event-planning and the program will culminate in a mural unveiling event led by participants.
Shoot For Peace: Shoot For Peace $14,970
Shoot For Peace’s program will teach youth aged 16-25 from Regent Park/ TCHC communities the fundamentals of videography, film and photography. Consisting of group workshops, 1-1 sessions, guest lectures, and live-set field trips, participants will learn essential techniques and information regarding how to handle equipment, use editing and composition software, and operate in a production set and environment. The program will culminate in a public exhibition, showcasing youths' final work.
Sick Stories: My Body, My Story $14,900
Sick Stories will run My Body, My Story, a virtual workshop series for youth from the Disability/ Deaf community, with a priority on folks who are BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, and low-income. Facilitators with lived experience will lead sessions around creative writing and visual art, with a focus on honouring youth’s whole disabled self, and guest artists will join sessions for discussions about their art practice and history, connecting and inspiring youth throughout the program. The series will conclude with a zine showcasing participants' work and both in-person and online zine launches.
The Greenprint Network: Creative Writing and Performance 101 $10,000
The Greenprint Network will run Creative Writing and Performance 101, an afterschool program for 15 Black and POC youth participants in the Jane and Finch community. Focusing on the art form of creative writing and performance, the program offers a series of workshops and one-on-one mentorship opportunities.
Truss: Colourful Sounds Workshop $10,000
Truss will run Colourful Sounds, a hybrid workshop series for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and differently abled youth to learn the basics of live sound engineering, with a mix of theory and practical learning. Participants will meet weekly to learn aspects of live performance sound, including sound processing tools, audio cords and connections, microphone placement techniques, using monitors, controlling effects, and stage setups for different performance scenarios. There will also be an online component to make the program accessible for those who can’t physically attend.
Unboxing Accessibility: Unboxing Accessibility $14,250
Unboxing Accessibility will run a hybrid peer-to-peer mentorship program for BIPOC youth with disabilities aged 16-29. Participants will be invited to be mentors or mentees and start a dialogue with each other through storytelling, creative writing, visual arts, and interactive digital media. Youth will receive a program kit containing access to high-quality art materials and equipment, opportunities to network with leaders in the arts and accessibility fields, and a platform to share their stories with the world and showcase why their voice matters.
Vaishnavi Panwar: Traditions Continued $14,700
Vaishnavi Panwar will lead Traditions Continued, a Kathak dance training program for youth Kathak dancers aged 15-29 with 5 or more years of Kathak Training, to develop the necessary skills required to perform with live music. The workshop series is designed to provide opportunities for the underrepresented community of South Asian and West Indian women. The program will culminate in a presentation created and choreographed by the participants for local media outlets, the Kathak dance community, and audience members.
Wenting Li: MUR/ALL $10,000
Wenting Li will lead MUR/ALL, a mural-making intensive for racialized emerging artists who want to translate their art to the large scale. Through a series of workshops, followed by a production, participants will learn practical and business skills specific to murals, be guided on producing a collaborative design, learn from guest artists, and produce a mural.
This grant opens annualy on December 1st and closes February 1st. Learn more at artreach.org/programgrant or follow us on social media @artreachtoronto
Click here to see our previously funded programs 🥰