FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Pixelated Communal Portraits: A Community Celebration of Portraiture
TORONTO, ON (April 19, 2011) – Arts for Children and Youth (AFCY) is so proud to celebrate a community sharing event for our Pixelated Communal Portraits program, which helps young people in high-priority neighbourhoods celebrate creativity and diversity through digital portraiture. On April 27th, we will invite Lawrence Heights’ residents in North York to participate in a community portrait by having their picture taken in a Snapz portable photo booth that AFCY will place on site at Lawrence Heights Middle School. On April 28th, we will be holding a similar event at Brookview Middle School in the Jane/Finch area, also in North York.
Inviting the community to participate in a photo booth day creates an opportunity for everyone to come together and explore their creative potential. Community members will be able to take home a copy of the photo strips, which the photo booth prints in duplicate. The other copy will be used by the youth in the Pixelated Communal Portraits program to create a large-scale digital portrait of their community. The final project will be showcased at both public schools after the completion of the year-long program in June.
Since October 2010, more than 40 participants in Grades 6 – 8 at both middle schools have been working every week on their Pixelated Communal Portrait project. This included creating masks and decorating them with photos and found imagery during the program. Michael Reyes leads the program at Brookview Middle School and Alina Martiros is teaching at Lawrence Heights Middle School. The programs will end in May this year. With guidance from AFCY artist-instructors, the youth have learned photography skills and used digital cameras throughout the year. The photo booth day is a chance for them to get creative with the idea of a ‘portrait’ – holding up their artworks, props or mirrors within the photo booth picture to create multiple exposures and pictures within pictures. Program participation is always free-of-charge to youth and children. These events are part of AFCY’s Community Sharing Program.
This year, AFCY is operating afterschool Pixelated Communal Portraits programs in three Toronto schools, in partnership with the Beyond 3:30 program, which is a shared initiative of the Toronto Community Foundation, TDSB’s Model Schools for Inner Cities Initiative and the Toronto Foundation for Student Success (TFSS).
“The focus of this program is creative community participation. It’s about providing opportunities for local youth to identify themselves as creative leaders in their community,” explains Julie Frost, AFCY Executive/Artistic Director. “ The photo booth creates a buzz – it invites people to stick around and step into a safe space to express, work together and have fun. Essentially, the booth itself can be seen as an innovative art resource – photographs capture the learning process and the booth is a place for new dialogues to happen between the youth and their community.”
The young people who participate in these programs are so enthusiastic. One young man was asked how he felt when he was taking pictures in one of our programs and he said, emphatically “I feel like a PROFESSIONAL!” It’s hearing such passion in the participants’ voices that makes leading these programs so rewarding for AFCY staff, volunteers, and instructors.
AFCY values community, relationship building and youth participation. What is important about these after-school outreach programs is that youth participation leads to creative and leadership opportunities for young people that are essential to making a healthy transition into adulthood.
The Pixelated Communal Portraits programs are funded by the Vital Toronto Fund with support from the Ada W. Slaight Fund, two endowments at the Toronto Community Foundation, as well as the Audrey S. Hellyer Charitable Foundation. This is the second year that AFCY has been involved as a major arts provider for the Beyond 3:30 program.
AFCY’s Community Sharing Program (CSP) is our way of sharing what students learn in our programs with their families and the entire community around them. This learning experience will culminate in a day where parents and teachers can participate in their children’s accomplishments.
Interview and Photo Opportunities:
Lawrence Heights Middle School CSP
50 Highland Hill, Toronto ON
Wednesday, April 27th, 3 p.m-7 p.m.
Brookview Middle School CSP
4505 Jane St., Toronto ON
Thursday, April 28th, 3 p.m-7 p.m.
About AFCY:
AFCY is a registered charitable organization. We ally with high priority communities and empower marginalized children and youth by engaging them in hands-on, community and school-based arts education programs that respect existing cultural and community activity, resulting in participatory action and social awareness. To learn more about us, please visit www.afcy.ca. You can email us at info@afcy.ca or call us at 416-929-9314.
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Media Contact:
Shehreen Ladha
Marketing and PR Coordinator
401 Richmond St. West, Suite 230
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
416 929 9314 x 114 (Mon-Wed)
(Cell) 416-732-9016 (Thurs-Fri)
shehreen@afcy.ca
