Check out this CBC article from May 17th about the North-South Partnership for Children’s recent trip to Neskantaga First Nation, located 480km northeast of Thunder Bay. The North-South Partnership traveled to the small community of 300 after the tragic suicides of two young men in less than a week. With the help of the North-South Partnership, the youth of Neskantaga organized an arts and music festival to help the community deal with the crisis in a positive way. The festival was a huge success and now the artwork is traveling south to Toronto with plans for an art exhibition in the near future. The following is an excerpt from the article, written by Jody Porter, CBC. (Cora, ArtBridges)
The North-South Partnership for Children sent 17 people into the community, partly in response to the crisis. The agency brings together philanthropists in southern Ontario with northern First Nations.
When the southerners arrived, young people in Neskantaga asked them to help organize an art and music festival.
“Art and music is one of the ways that the young people in Neskantaga First Nation cope with what’s going on in a positive way,” said Lauren Akbar, the youth engagement co-ordinator with the North-South Partnership.
The evening festival was a hit, according to Moonias, who looked around the community centre and saw smiles for the first time in months.
“I’d say that was magical because I haven’t seen that in our community for a while, where our young people felt there is hope. They’re starting to feel hope again.” (Read more)
Lauren Akbar is the Youth Engagement Coordinator for the North-South Partnership’s campaign, Southern Youth In Motion. SYiM aims to connect youth from southern Ontario with youth in northern Ontario’s First Nation communities through art, music, videos, etc. If you’d like to get involved with North-South Partnership or SYiM, please contact Lauren Akbar at lauren.akbar@northsouthpartnership.com or connect with SYiM on Facebook here.
– Submitted by Skye Louis, ArtReach Toronto
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