How Art Starts is building bridges

Art Starts visits the Habari Africa Festival!

July 18th - 20th the Harbourfront Centre hosted the Harbari Africa Festival, so we decided to bring a group of kids and youth from our Glendower community down to the waterfront to experience all there was to offer! A little rain didn't dampen their spirits as the kids had a chance to listen to musical performances, play Oware games and eat at the World Cafe. In the afternoon we were so happy to bring together our Glendower kids and Art Starts microgrant recipient Pulga Muchochoma, who received a grant to produce a contemporary dance piece Inkosi based on the life of the late Nelson Mandela. Pulga lead the group in an African dance workshop and had the youth dancing their hearts out in a great end to the day. Watch the fun by clicking the video above, or check out the photos from our summer students who had a great day tagging along on the trip here.

New Bridging Initiatives

As part of a funding catalyst provided by the Toronto Arts Council, Art Starts is a partner organization in the Platform A initiative. One of the goals of this funding is to connect city-wide community arts practices, and diverse audiences to some of Toronto's larger art and cultural institutions. So far we've been able to visit the Tarragon Theatre earlier this year to connect our Lawrence Heights community to the production of The Valley, written by award-winning playwright Joan MacLeod and directed by Richard Rose. This play brought the themes of gun violence and police internvetion to the stage and opened a dialogue to addressing community concerns. We were also able to partner with TIFF Special Delivery to offer pop-up movie nights and bring some outdoor fun and kick off the summer in our different communities. Field trips to the Harbourfront Centre include visiting the Habari Africa Festival and Island Soul - such a great way to combine music and dance and food in a multi-media cultural experience. We've also partnered with Urbanvessel who adapted their Singing Rivers project to our Villaways community offering a Water Dragon Workshop to connect art to the geography of the landscape of the Don River which is a great outlet and reflection for local residents who are undergoing a current neighbourhood revitalization. To gain a fuller understanding of some of the impact these bridging initiatives have on our neighbourhoods, organizations and arts practices watch the video above.

Villaways Youth Make Short Films

In June, youth from our Up & Rooted Program in Villaways took a field trip to the National Film Board to create their own stop motion animation short films. Accompanied by acclaimed film maker Charles Officer youth spent the day learning the ins and outs of film-making including scripting, storyboarding and animation. The kids created their very own short film using a variety of materials and professional animation equipment! Chosing between either clay or paper-cut out methods they were able to accomplish a 10 second film during their workshop.

When asked what the workshop experience was like, one of the participants Rebekah Kelly exclaimed that "It was awesome!" Thank you NFB and all involved for this great opportunity. Watch all the short films here.

photos courtesy of : Andrew Martin-Smith

Art Starts visits the Habari Africa Festival!

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New Bridging Initiatives

Villaways Youth Make Short Films