FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Arts for Children and Youth Unveils Landmark Mosaic Mural in Teesdale
TORONTO-Oct. 26, 2010-Arts for Children and Youth, a charitable organization based in Toronto, is announcing the celebratory unveiling of a Crescent Town revitalization outdoor mosaic mural. Because of this initiative, twelve youth from Crescent Town had summer jobs. They were hired to design and create an eco-mural, under the supervision of AFCY’s professional artist, Sandra Tarantino.
“The Teesdale celebration is on Monday November 1, from 4.30 – 6.30 p.m. The actual ribbon-cutting and speech will take place at around 5 p.m.” says Susie Whaley, AFCY’s community program coordinator.
The celebration will take place at the Toronto Community Housing apartment complex on 40 Teesdale Place, at Victoria Park Ave. and Danforth Ave. Weather permitting, the party will be on the basketball court on the north side. If it rains, celebrations will move to the community room in the same building. Everyone is welcome!
The mosaic is a permanent landmark, and it features designs created by the youth, who were hired to work over the summer. With the help of AFCY’s project partner, Toronto Community Housing, community resident meetings held early in summer resulted in deciding the general theme and aesthetic of the tile-mosaic mural.
“What is really neat about this mural is that it is not only designed by the young people who live in the community, but it also incorporates personal items such as shells, tea-cups, metal objects, and the like. These items have been incorporated into the design,” says Julie Frost, AFCY’s executive and artistic director.
The purpose of this project embodies AFCY’s mandate, which is to empower Toronto’s marginalized youth to reach their full potential through high quality arts education programs. Creating art engages youth with meaningful employment, particularly in Toronto’s under-served neighbourhoods.
Youth develop artistic and life-skills as they participate in community beautification. They acquire values such as respect, democracy, inclusiveness and innovation through active collaboration. Through the course of the project, the entire community was invited to participate directly. Teesdale families learned the basics of mosaic making in workshops that we offered. Residents actually participated in creating the mosaic. This provided residents a genuine opportunity to make a lasting mark in their community.
The project ran from Monday to Friday for four consecutive weeks in July and August this year. Arts education played a key role in keeping youth engaged creatively. With experiential learning, youth developed artistic understanding of colour theory and creative inquiry.
This project has been a very successful joint effort between AFCY, Crescent Town’s community and residents and of course, our funding partners. RBC Foundation, Tropicana Community Services, Toronto Community Housing Corp., and Costi Immigrant Services.
About AFCY:
AFCY is a 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.
-30-
**MEDIA NOTE: High-resolution images available on request**
Shehreen Ladha
Marketing and PR Coordinator
401 Richmond St. West, Suite 230
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
416 929 9314 x 114
shehreen@afcy.ca
