Art tells the story for young newcomers to Hamilton
Benefit concert led to summer programs for kids explore talents
Ismail Al Mouhammed scanned the brick wall at The Spice Factory, absorbing the artistic creations of his children.
A red house — like their home in Syria — painted by his nine-yearold daughter, Choaa, and a cat designed by her twin brother, Khaled, stacked on top of one another.
“There are no words to express it, the joy that I’m seeing,” said Al Mouhammed through a translator, while surrounded by his four other children and his expectant wife.
Choaa and Khaled, who came to Canada in February, along with the rest of their family, are two of the refugee youth artists whose work was showcased at the “Fananeen” — artist in Arabic — exhibition and funder-appreciation party Tuesday evening.
The art was created by kids who had taken part in workshops, summer camp and other programming facilitated through Centre (3) and made possible by fundraising of the Welcome to Hamilton benefit concert held in June.
More than $50,000 was raised at the show — which was conceived by Brandon and Amanda Reid and presented by Supercrawl — to support music, art and recreational activities for the city’s newcomer youth.
Through Centre (3) — one of the organizations selected to receive funding — kids had a chance to try activities like costume-making, Tshirt designing and printmaking, said community arts manager Becky Katz.
At the event, there was song, dance and spoken-word poetry, as young Syrian refugees and their families celebrated the works of art they had created alongside their peers over the past five months.
“This sort of thing, for a lot of these young people, it’s going to be seminal,” said Brandon Reid, a Hamilton resident and manager of the band The National, who headlined the concert.
The idea for the benefit show was born out of the couple’s desire to figure out what contribution they could make to help newcomers.
By bringing in The National from Brooklyn, N.Y., they knew they had the ability to generate some funding, Reid said.
After someone suggested the couple get in touch with Wesley Urban Ministries, they partnered with the agency to distribute the
funding, so the programming selected would suit the artistic, musical and recreational needs of the kids, he said.
“I can only imagine feeling accepted is going to get these young people on the course for achieving what they can,” Reid added.
“Literally, these are your doctors and future leaders.”
Al Mouhammed’s children made up just a few of the approximately 100 young newcomers who have taken part in the programming made possible through the concert funds.
“I’m … loving Canada,” he said through the translator.
“What we do, we cannot repay them back for what they’ve done for us — the Canadian citizens and Canada.”
“I feel like I was born here and a part of this community.”