ArtReach is excited to announce the 25 programs that were awarded funding in our 2022 granting round!
Charro Torres- The Heart of The Story: Screenwriting and Artist Intensive $8,000 This program is a 14-week online, anti-oppressive/ anti-colonial screenwriting workshop series where 6 racialized and working class youth will learn about narrative, guerrilla screenwriting, and developing/ protecting themselves and their art outside and inside the colonial lens. Delivered through lectures, one-on-one mentorship, group story editing, workshops with industry guests, and access to Final Draft, this program teaches the art of screenwriting, specifically through a working-class/ racialized lens. Colectivo Satelital- Cuarenteca Aspiring DJ Incubator 2022 $14,000 The Cuarenteca Aspiring DJ Incubator 2022 is a three-month educational DJ program organized by Colectivo Satelital and facilitated by Cuarenteca's resident DJs, ANA LUISA and Lil Arepa. Four QTPIBOC Toronto-based youth 19-29 experiencing misogyny and/ or transphobia and who have little to no experience in DJing, will participate in 6 DJ + artrepreneurship workshops and practice sessions. Participants will put this knowledge into practice by recording a commissioned mix to be aired on ISO Radio, and by organizing a closing party where they will perform. CUE- CUE Grant Cycle 2022 $15,000 CUE is being funded to run their 2022 grant cycle. This grant is intended to directly support youth artists in project creation material support, in total contributing to the creation of 15 projects. At the end of the creation process, we expect 15 artists will have the opportunity to publicly present their work. We anticipate delivering approximately 400 hours of mentorship and support to artist participants throughout this project, with roughly 150 attending info sessions and 60-80 applications. Dear Ailment- Dear Ailment: Virtual Studio Sessions $14,600 Dear Ailment: Virtual Studio Sessions is an online program for youth artists 16-29 navigating mental health. Four groups of three artists (Music Producers + Songwriters + Visual Artists) will collaborate on original pieces, such as a music video combining all three arts disciplines with access to mentorship and production support throughout. Weekly group workshops will explore various philosophies of creativity and artful exercises offered by guest artists, best practices for collaboration and navigating mental health through art-making. The four final pieces and one full-group experimental piece will be screened in an online event. DigiZine Collective- Digizine (Season 2) $14,000 The program will include online arts workshops for 10 2SLGBTQ+ and BIPoC youth to work towards making and publishing their own digital zine. Community-engaged 2SLGBTQ+, disabled and racialized artists will teach participants zine history, zinemaking, printing, digital sales. Participants will receive an honorarium, a food stipend, access to Canva Pro for the duration of the program, and 25 copies of their final zine. DigiZine will prioritize Disabled/ Deaf/ HoH applicants and transfemme/ transwomen applicants in Toronto. Ecru- Ideas From I $13,000 'Ideas From I' is a virtual concept development program for pan-Asian photographers and filmmakers 18-29 with no formal training in their discipline. From this 3-weekend workshop, participants will walk away with a fleshed-out treatment deck ready to be executed and a micro-grant to put towards development of their project. 'Ideas From I' will provide mentorship and learning opportunities for emerging artists to safely express themselves. Our aim is to demystify industry knowledge and equip participants with the skills, resources and confidence to communicate their ideas. Empowered Phụ Nữ (EPN) Collective- (Ăn)thology $14,000 (Ăn)thology will engage 10 participants in archiving an anthology that includes food recipes of cultural, familial and historical significance over the course of four group sessions and an event launch. This project will provide participants with an honourarium for their creative input and equip them with technical skills in photography, archiving, storytelling and graphic design. It will culminate in a publicly shared anthology, print and digital, in English and Vietnamese. To garner traction for applications, we will organize a virtual event with guest speakers from the Vietnamese food industry to target prospective participants. Faduma Mohamed- LISTEN $12,500 LISTEN is a creative writing program centering disability. The program will be delivered to disabled youth, neurodivergent youth, and siblings of disabled and neurodivergent youth to help foster creative writing skills in a brave and equitable virtual learning environment. Youth will learn together for 12 weeks and will present their poetry in a showcase honouring and displaying the works of disabled youth and artists. Girl Power'd- Summer Flow Program $7,650 The Summer Flow Program will provide 15 young Black girls 13-15 with a safe space to encourage self-expressed culture through spoken word, poetry, and journaling. The series will also include health and wellness lessons. This program will take place over the course of 10-weeks starting in June 2022 in Toronto. The workshops will be held online, and the sessions will be once a week on Fridays for 2 hrs/ session. Through this, we encourage the development of confident young Black women well rooted in their culture and self-expression.
Gumawa Space- Coming Home $9,600
Coming Home will serve 6 BIPOC emerging Youth-Storytellers, ages 22-29, born to immigrant families residing in Scarborough/ York West, who speak or understand their mother language. This 12 week program consists of three 4-week phases, with two 2-hour sessions per week, by gathering creative inspiration supported by a PD art demonstration, followed by sense-making sessions to explore new creative skills. We will imagine and create with a variety of storytelling and artifact making through collective/ individual zines to preserve elder-youth stories and bridging generations together. Jayeden Walker- Iridescent Youth Circus $8,580 Iridescent Youth Circus is a two-week program for LGBTQ2S+ youth 13-19 focusing on empowerment, self-expression, and artistic creation. Throughout the immersive circus experience, participants will learn both aerial circus and ground arts from a variety of coaches connecting them with Queer and Trans circus artists within the local community. The second week of the program will give youth the opportunity to hone their creativity through a series of workshops on act development and the creation of their own circus piece. The program will culminate with the professional recording and online presentation of a circus show. Kapisanan Philippine Centre- KAMI (WE) $8,800 KAMI will serve five Filipino/a/x femmes ages 19-24 who want to develop their artistic practice and be immersed in their Filipino/a/x heritage. KAMI means ‘we’ in Tagalog and is short for kamiseta (shirt). Like a favourite shirt, KAMI strives its name to be worn with pride to define SINO KAMI (who we are). Through a 4-week program, participants will meet online and in-person for workshops facilitated by professional artists and field trips to expand their knowledge on multidisciplinary art practices and diasporic Filipino/a/x culture. Participants will create art about their learning experience and present a virtual exhibition on the KAPISANAN website. Khalil Dorival- Speakers U $10,000 Speakers U is a program designed to support 15 young black men ages 13-29 living in Ward 3 Etobicoke-Lakeshore learn the art of oration. Participants will use the art forms of creative writing, spoken word, poetry and monologues to create their own allegorical stories. Workshops will have a personal direct impact on the black experience and will address racial profiling by police. Through weekly communication & public speaking training, personal development workshops & mentorship from alumni of the program, participants will speak before a live audience at our final showcase event. kin + care collective- mama’s hands $9,370 mama's hands will engage new and emerging young artists 18-29 who self-identify as BIPOC and live in Scarborough. Through virtual peer-to-peer knowledge sharing workshops, youth participants will learn about photography, photovoice, and storytelling; these skills will culminate in a co-created exhibition. Youth participants will creatively share their lived experiences of Scarborough and nurture their relationships with their mama’s (broadly defined as mothers, grandmothers, aunts, as well as any other person that might play a ‘motherly’ and/ or ‘matriarchal’ role in their lives). Mahnoor, Isha, and Iman Cheema- Makers $12,700 Makers is a ten-month community art program that enables South-Asian youth in the Scarborough Village community to create ceramic art. Ten youth participants between the ages of 16-29 will learn pottery techniques such as wheel-throwing, hand-building, and glazing. The creative process and the final artworks will be posted on social media after each session to share with the community. A final exhibition will be hosted at a local community center. The project will be hosted within various community studio spaces, and an online platform for creating a website portfolio to exhibit their work and create a personal brand Michelle Nuamah- Collectif Series I $9,000 This program serves young Black women+ between the ages of 16-23 who are interested in fashion entrepreneurship and live in low income, priority neighbourhoods in Toronto. Catering to a group of 10 participants, this hands-on workshop series will focus on art forms such as fashion design, illustration, communications, branding, fashion journalism and social media. This will be a hybrid, virtual and in-person program, held at Casa Bona studio in the Weston area. Rainbows Pride in Scarborough- QTBIPOC Multicultural Universe Express $14,500 QTBIPOC Multicultural Universe Express is an arts-based project serving QTBIPOC Multicultural youth with abilities ages 15-29 in Scarborough. Running from Summer 2022 to Winter 2023 at Children’s Peace Theatre, the program will offer workshops in the mediums of makeup art, sketching/ drawing, modelling, and acting. Youth will participate in workshops, a photo shoot day, video interviews, and a final celebration showcase/ exhibition. Saawan Theatre- Saawan Playwriting Intensive $13,000 The Saawan Playwriting Intensive (SPI) will be a five day overnight intensive at a Retreat Centre. This program will serve five emerging South Asian playwrights 18-29. We will ask participants to join the intensive with an idea for a play that they would like to explore throughout their time with us. Through creative writing exercises, technical explorations, and mentorship from industry professionals, the goal of this intensive is to give young artists a collaborative space to explore new ways of accessing their writing, gain career guidance, and leave the intensive with a work that has been further developed. Scarborough Youth United- Families Stick Together $13,000 This program will serve 10 high school aged youth, primarily from East and Southeast Asian communities. Through a digital illustration workshop series facilitated by digital artist Lily Huang, youth will explore their connections to family and culture. Each youth will develop digital illustrations that will be printed as stickers and provided to program participants. The project will last 8 weeks, conducted through virtual meetings. Guest speakers and youth artists will be invited to encourage deeper reflection on the project themes. Shoot For Peace- Advanced Photography, Videography and Film Program $14,400 Shoot for Peace’s Advanced Photography, Videography and Film Program. Running throughout Summer 2022 will serve Black and racialized youth aged 16-24 from the areas of Regent Park, St-James Town, Moss Park, and other TCHC communities. Through workshops, professional guest lectures, live-set field trips, and public exhibition, participants will learn both the fundamentals and advanced techniques of the art forms, as well as technical information regarding equipment handling, using standard editing and composition software, and operating in an actual production set and environment. The Heard Co- Hip Hop Healing $13,000 This 6-week program will focus on increasing your confidence and commitment to your dream(s), through hip hop. We will assist 15 young BIPOC artists in establishing a road map, rhythm, and community necessary for the healing that's required to actualize their dreams. We will focus on the East York and Scarborough area to recruit artists. We will be offering this program virtually and are hoping to have opportunities for an in person showcase if possible. The programming will include workshops and mentorship, utilizing emceeing, writing and DJing as the artistic vehicle. Toby's Place- In Other Words: Navigating Mental Health through Poetry $14,000 In Other Words: Mental Health through Poetry' is a poetry and spoken word workshop series for 2SLGBTQIAP+ youth ages 14-29 in Scarborough and east Toronto. Over the course of 7 weeks, we will host a series of workshops with a focus on mental health, well-being, and healing. Ten participants will be mentored by published poets in poetry technique and spoken word delivery, while engaging with themes of self-exploration, belonging, community responsibility, and mindfulness. Participants will meet bi-monthly at Birchcliff Bluffs United Church in South West Scarborough and the series will culminate in a virtual poetry cafe. Vaishnavi Panwar- Traditions Continued: Live Kathak Performance $9,900 Traditions Continued: Live Kathak Performance is a 20-week Kathak dance workshop series conducted for four Youth Kathak dancers, aged 15-29 with 4 or more years of Kathak Training to develop the necessary skills required to perform with live music. The program will culminate with a presentation created and choreographed by project participants for local media outlets, the Kathak dance community and limited audience members. The program will be taking place primarily in Scarborough for South Asian and West Indian women. Victoria Bacnis- Unboxing Accessibility $13,000 Unboxing Accessibility is a 3-month collaborative mentorship program for BIPOC youth with disabilities ages 16-29 years old. This virtual and in-person program empowers youth with a sense of belonging, social connection, and why their voice matters. Participants are invited to be mentors or mentees to start a dialogue with each other through storytelling, creative-writing, visual arts, and interactive digital media. Participants will receive a mentorship box that contains access to high-quality art materials and equipment, sharing opportunities to network with leaders in the arts and accessibility fields, and a platform to share their stories with the world. Videatur Collective- Videatur Community Film Project $14,400 The Videatur Community Film Project offers a hands-on learning opportunity for four Toronto-based BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+ youth filmmakers to participate in a series of 13 virtual film production workshops as they work to create their own short films with a $1,000 grant from our collective. We intend to provide a safe and inclusive environment for folks to receive film-making education, mentorship, on-set experience, community, and the opportunity for them to tell their story. They will leave the five month program with a completed short film, confidence in their skills, and a network of supportive industry professionals and peers
$300,000 in annual grant funding for youth-led community arts programming is available thanks to our partnership with the Toronto Arts Council- click here for more!
Want to learn more about ArtReach's grantees? For project descriptions of previously funded groups, check out our website here!