A PARKDALE SPACE FOR YOUNG WRITERS, ARTISTS AND DREAMERS
The Toronto WordSmiths received a Platform A – Art Starts microgrant and were able to create a free weekly meeting space for youth ages 16 to 29 to come together as a writing community. Working out of the Parkdale Library, the Toronto WordSmiths are committed to creative expression and collective learning. The main focus for this youth-led initiative is to create artistic opportunities within and outside of their community. The group’s commitment to fostering growth and authentic representation is inspiring for all of us who work in the community-engaged arts field.
Based in Paolo Freire’s important work, the Toronto Wordsmiths wanted to create a space where all youth are active agents of their own growth. They recognize the individuality of each person’s experience and moreover the value of each of those stories. The collective aims to create their own opportunities within and through their own community.
What does that look like? In one Wordsmtihs, Jess’ own words: “ On a weekly basis, as a collective, we choose different literary techniques to explore and apply them to a chosen theme – always as a collective. As of late we have been focusing on the creation of the first Toronto WordSmiths zine. We have been taking the work that we have produced since November and putting these pieces through a group editing process. We were also very lucky to have the dub/spoken word poet, Lillian Allen come in with her class from OCAD and do a workshop with us. The workshop was focused on spoken word. It was a very intense session, we wrote tons and learned so much! Recently we also had Lori May come in, who is accomplished on many fronts (novelist/poet/creative non-fiction/mentor). She shared with us some much appreciated wisdom about the literary world, how to network/make connections, etiquette, which publications we should seek out to be published in as youth, what to look for in a mentor”
Growing out of the group called the Toronto Street Writers, the Wordsmiths needed some seed funding and basic resources to make their huge ambition translate to weekly meet ups, where youth would feel comfortable to start connecting and sharing their stories. Each week the collective made up of approximately eight to ten youth approach their work in a holistic way (from stretching to healthy snacks) based in a strong anti-oppression framework. From there each session is built around writing prompts and weekly themes. Jess says: “The Art Starts grant has helped us greatly in our ability to have guests come in to Toronto WordSmiths, without the grant this would not be possible. The grant is also vital to us in producing our zine, otherwise we would have been extremely limited in our ability to fund it. Although it is simple, the grant has helped us to provide food for our members and writing supplies – these two things are also necessary to Toronto Wordsmiths.”
Ultimately, as any collective knows, there is strength in numbers – and the more Toronto Wordsmiths are able to meet and connect, with the space and resources to share their stories, the richer we all are.
Platform A 