GIVING VOICE TO CITY’S YOUTH
100 Journals art project on display
A city-wide art project called 100 Journals gave young people in Windsor a canvas for their creativity.
It worked so well the project has an exhibition at Artspeak Gallery until Saturday afternoon and will be engaging youth in Leamington next year.
“Youth are often overlooked. Their opinions sometimes aren’t necessarily listened to and so we wanted to give youth a chance to express themselves through art,” Sophie Hinch, president of the Vanguard Youth Arts Collective, said Wednesday. “We wanted to share the stories of our city.”
The Vanguard Youth Arts Collective held its opening of 100 Journals Wednesday night.
The group gave sketchbooks to young people, including groups at the Multicultural Council of Windsor Essex, the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario and the Windsor Youth Centre and encouraged them to tell their stories through art and the written word, such as poetry.
Hinch, a 25-year-old mixed media artist, said the project wanted to offer quality arts workshops to youth who may not have had access to that kind of teaching. There were workshops on stencilling, graffiti, beading and calligraphy. Some of the young people, who were about 11 years old to young adults in their 20s, were newcomers to Canada.
“There’s some really talented people out there,” she said.
Some of the journals remained at the participating agencies and some will be on display Thursday to Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Artspeak Gallery at 1942 Wyandotte St. E. There is a table set up with art supplies so visitors can add to a journal.
Vanguard, which was started in 2015 and is part of the Arts Council
Windsor and Region, received a $3,000 grant from the Windsor Endowment for the Arts last year for 100 Journals.
The project is heading to the Leamington area in July and will be called Beyond Borders. Vanguard received a $3,300 grant from the RBC Future Launch through the RBC Foundation and the Windsoressex Community Foundation for youth-led projects.
It’s about creating connections through art, Hinch said. The journals include art from drawings to collages and words such as poetry, song lyrics and answers to questions that prompted participants to share their stories. The journals are a slice of life in Windsor showing what young people are pondering and reading, she said.
Julie Tucker, arts council director, said the art project was a way to bridge the gap between communities that might not otherwise meet.
“It’s a record, it’s documentation and the journals are a legacy of this project,” Tucker said.