Happy Birthday!

We’re looking forward to lots more workshops, performances, showcases and community conversations with Neighbourhood Arts Network members in 2012.

Friday February 24 at Harbourfront Centre

Be a part of Emergence, Neighbourhood Arts Network’s first Symposium on Community Arts Practice!  Join us for the day and enjoy the opportunity to participate in Panel Discussions or Networking Sessions and meet artists and cultural workers from across Toronto.

Greeters: Greeters will help answer questions and guide symposium guests to their session rooms.

Registration: Registration volunteers will work at the registration table for half a day, and spend the other part of the day enjoying the panels and networking sessions.

If you decide to spend the full day with us, you will also have a chance to have lunch with guests from Toronto’s vibrant arts community.

Morning Shift

Registration Table: 7:45am – 12pm,

Greeters:  10am – 12pm

Afternoon Shift

Registration area: 12pm – 5pm

Greeters:  2pm – 4pm

If you would like to volunteer, please contact skye@torontoarts.org

or call 416.392.6802 x212 before February 1st

City of Toronto Committee Meeting; image courtesy of Dewi Minden

The motion, put forward by Councillor Peter Milczyn, states “that City Council reverse the reduction to the CPIP Budget Envelope of $1.9 million for Arts and Culture Grants, the funds to be drawn from additional assessment growth revenues.” City Council is expected to approve this motion at its special budget meeting beginning on January 17.

The decision by Executive to protect arts funding from impending cuts was arrived at in response to thousands of Toronto residents voicing their opposition to the cuts. Councillors Michael Thompson, Jaye Robinson, Peter Milczyn and Gary Crawford worked very hard within the Ford administration to defend the importance of arts funding. Councillors Anna Bailão, Shelley Carroll, John Filion, and Mary Fragedakis, who join Gary Crawford as City appointed Directors of the Board of Toronto Arts Council (TAC), also provided critical behind-the-scenes support. Councillor Mike Layton offered very strong community leadership with his support of the Friends of the Arts Network. The network now includes over 20,000 Toronto residents, many of whom have contacted their local Councillors to defend the importance of arts funding. Claire Hopkinson, Executive Director of Toronto Arts Council, said “In addition to the support of so many Councillors who championed this move to protect the arts, I am grateful for the efficient work accomplished by the Mayors Arts Task Force in such a short time. Equally important was the strategic groundwork laid by Culture Division in developing the Creative Capital Gains Report and in helping to launch the Municipal Cultural Investment in Five Large Canadian Cities Report. The research provided by these publications reveals and clarifies the critical role the arts play in the economic fabric of the city.”

“I was encouraged by Councillor Milczyn’s remarks,” said Toronto Arts Foundation Chair, Susan Crocker. “He made clear that this administration now considers itself a strong supporter of the arts and is willing to defend the value of arts grants despite significant cuts elsewhere.”

The City Budget for 2012 with the amendments made on January 12 will be put forward for a final vote by City Council on January 17^th.

To learn more about recent arts advocacy efforts, please visit http://www.torontoartsfoundation.org/Our-Programs/Advocacy

- 

Dewi Minden, Toronto Arts Council

What is it?
•   An intensive workshop on the principles, practices and underpinnings of art that engages with and creates community,
•   Everything (or many things!) you need to know to start your own project,
•   A prelude to future work or internships with Jumblies,

Feb. 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 – 10am – 6pm plus final celebration, and option to take part in MABELLEarts Parade on Feb. 18th
Location: Jumblies partner & offshoot venues TBA
Cost: $300 (with limited sliding scale and work-trade rates available).
Accommodation: For out of town participants, we can help find billets
For more information or to register: Please e-mail info@jumbliestheatre.org.

First JUMBLIES SEMINAR of 2012
co-hosted by Making Room Community Arts

Special Guest: Noah Kenneally presenting his work in Nunavik.
Location: Parc Activity Recreation Centre, 1499 Queen Street West
Date: Thursday January 19th
Agenda: 6:30: meet, greet, refreshments, 7:00: presentation, 8:00: questions, discussion, mingling, 9:00 end.
Cost: PWYC donations gratefully accepted
Solo Chicken Productions, led by Lisa Anne Ross, has coordinated the Nunavik Theatre Arts Program in Northern Quebec for nine years, working in schools in remote Inuit villages to develop community arts projects. In 2010 and 2011, Noah Kenneally joined the team as coordinator of the Innalik Mask and Puppet Project, in Inukjuak, Nunavik. Using masks, puppets and other visual theatre elements, the children of Innalik Public School tell stories about their experiences, their ideas and their community.
Noah Kenneally worked for several years as a community artist, primarily in visual theatre and performance. He was an associate artist with Jumblies Theatre for eight years. In 2008, he began undergraduate studies in Early Childhood Education at Ryerson University, and still did small community arts projects here and there. Noah plans to continue in academia for a while, and his graduate studies involve an inquiry into children’s autonomous spaces for learning and play.

DANCE IMMERSION WILL BE HOSTING A
SECOND VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION
SATURDAY JANUARY 14, 2011 AT 1:00PM
METRO HALL -ROOM 314
(MAIN INTERSECTION:KING & JOHN)

dance Immersion has an exciting opportunity for individuals looking for volunteer experience through practical, hands-on work at the 24th Annual IABD Conference & Festival. We are currently looking for reliable and dedicated individuals who are interested in gaining valuable hands-on experience, knowledge and insight into the arts community. Volunteer’s tasks include but not limited to; registration, ticket takers, ushers, production and guest liaisons.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND THIS ORIENTATION PLEASE REGISTER BY EMAIL AT VOLUNTEER@DANCEIMMERSION.CA

A snapshot from our recent Partnerships Panel featuring Helen Walsh (Diaspora Dialogues), Julie Frost (Arts for Children and Youth) and Tim Whalley (Scarborough Arts).

Our next Arts & Equity workshops will take place on January 18 and February 8, 2012. Please contact skye@torontoarts.org for details.

For several weeks, we explored creative writing (particularly memoir) through practices including free association, “cut-up,” word strings, found poetry, and collaborative writing. We experimented with voice and form, and the relationship between the written and spoken, and visually explored word. Throughout our creative process, students were encouraged to claim their place as storytellers and experts in their own experience. I provided guidance for the work being produced, but students’ areas of interest (themes and motifs) led the project.

Our work together culminated in the production and presentation of individual zines. Student-creators gave me permission to photograph their work, and develop a video that anthologizes their zines. Together, we viewed the video and talked about what they’d like to see happen with it.

There was consensus amongst the students that the video should be posted and distributed online, and available to everyone as an educational tool. Triangle students particularly want to reach out to other youth who have been or are being bullied at school— and those who can make a big difference: school boards and trustees, school administrators, educators, and guidance counselors.

Many students said that if it weren’t for the Triangle Program, they wouldn’t be in school. Triangle students recognize education as a right for all students, and that safety, or lack thereof, reduces access to education for LGBTQ students, and many other students for a broad variety of systemic reasons. Triangle students would like their stories and creative work to be a beacon for all youth who are struggling with safety and acceptance.

–Anna Camilleri, artist educator

More Information

What is a zine?

A zine is usually a non-commercial, non-professional publication, kind of
like a magazine but with a twist. The main difference between a magazine
and a zine is that zines are not out there to make a profit but, rather, to add
other, often unheard voices into the mix. Zines are usually made out of
interest and passion and are often self-published by the writer/artist/creator.

From <http://artmatters.ca/wp/2008/08/what-is-a-zine/>

The Triangle Program is one of three micro-schools that are part of Toronto District School Board’s OASIS Alternative School. Triangle classroom provides a safe educational environment for LGBTQ-identified youth. As the only LGBTQ-focused TDSB school, the curricula and pedagogical framework include LGBQT history and contemporary concerns including shifting notions and locations of LGBTQ community.

      don’t miss the chance to see JumbliesTheatre’s production – Like An Old Tale

December 11th to the 14th, 2011

Join artists and allies from across Canada as we share our evolving ideas, practices and unfolding stories of engagement and transformation on the other side of a community play, when the show stays in town – or in the park.

Together we’ll explore the diverse outcomes and evolutions of the Community Play Movement in Canada, with a special focus on the legacy of community play projects. We’ll share perspectives on projects that continue after the play wraps up, and discuss the ramifications of staying or leaving once the play is done. We’ll invite artists and allies from across Canada to share their work related to community arts and outdoor spaces and hear the perspectives of veteran community arts project participants from Toronto, Vancouver, North Bay and beyond.

Check out http://symposium.mabellearts.ca/ to find out more about our contributors and the companies they represent and to see our schedule of events, including public panels, community workshops. In addition to this, there will be a chance to see Jumblies Theatre’s latest community play Like An Old Tale – a Scarborough Telling of Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale for the Wednesday evening show. This is an exciting opportunity to see the work that Jumblies Theatre has been creating for over three years in Scarborough- Kingston Galloway.

For pricing information or to register, please visit http://symposium.mabellearts.ca/register-now/

For more information about tickets to Like An Old Tale visit http://www.jumbliestheatre.org/upcoming/tickets/

We hope you’ll join us in celebrating and sharing the art the builds community.

With love from MABELLEarts and Jumblies Theatre