what we do
URBANARTS offers a range of activities designed to stimulate artistic creation at the grassroots level.
Look at our current programs
Activities include:
- Y-Arts, a storefront arts centre in Weston offering after-school arts programs lead by professional and emerging artists for children and teens, summer camps, exhibitions and other activities.
- Graffiti Transformation Program, which hires and trains local youths to create murals in public spaces
- Culturehouse, where professional artists lead activities in local community groups
- URBANSCRAWL newsletter, featuring interviews with artists and columns on important community arts issues Special events such as Artsweek, St. Clair Arts Festival, Art in the Park and programs to mark Black History Month
- STEP UP a weekly dub poetry workshop for youth 15-29. Participants work with professional poets and perform as a group while supporting each other's individual artistic activity. See the STEP UP page.
- Communities on the Move Urban Lounge and Young Women's Photography, held at TCHC Community Spaces.
- Dream Building, aking the community how they would like to see their youth, their spaces and their lives enriched by the arts. Hiring local youth to DIRECT and CONTROL the community's artistic destiny. See the Dream Building page.
Y-Arts Why arts? Why not?
Y stands for youth. Over 300 youth from age 8 to 26 attend activities each year at Y-Arts, a storefront arts centre in Weston offering after-school arts programs for children and youth, summer camps, art exhibits and other activities. Y-Arts offers and holds gallery exhibitions, and is a studio space for emerging and professional artists, to work and/or rehearse in.
After School Arts Program
About 20 children or youth attend the After School Arts Program (A.S.A.P.) daily; a free after-school arts program that operates on a drop-in basis. Participants are led by professional & emerging artists, exploring techniques in theatre, dance, music and visual arts. In addition to artistic skills development, young people develop friendships and gain leadership training. In 2003, a CD entitled What if created by the participants under the direction of musician Randy LeGendre aired nationally on CBC radio. In 2004 our summer youth participants registered in Song Writing & Deejay Turntables with Brassmunk and J-Tec of Turntable Monkz workshop, recorded 3 songs/raps onto a CD. All lyrics were written by the youth.
Culturehouse hires professional artists from different disciplines and brings them into local community groups across central-west Toronto and throughout the city of Toronto. For example, at the North York Community House, visual artist Lois Schklar worked with Canadian-Hispanic women for 4 weeks creating masks and dolls from textiles and found objects.