« In 2010, Scarborough Arts collaborated with a range of organizations including Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (CAS), Catholic Crosscultural Services (CCS) and Cultural Pluralism in Performing Arts Movement Ontario (CPPAMO) to work on a new project entitled Creative Mosaics: Mentoring in Community Arts and Culture – A Needs and Capacity Assessment. Creative Mosaics was a one-year initiative funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which aimed to identify and respond to the lack of culturally diverse arts and cultural programs in Scarborough.
Creative Mosaics involved a series of elementary school focus group discussions, key informant interviews, round-table discussions, an online survey and a literature review. A number of key findings came out of this process:
- More arts programming for students in-school or after-school is needed to provide them with creative outlets for self-expression and intercultural dialogue.
- The value and benefit of the arts for child and youth development need to be promoted.
- Affordability of arts and recreational programming is a major issue for low-income families.
- Community members feel that arts and culture can be used as a transformational tool for dialogue to explore different cultures and shared histories.
- Immigrant and culturally diverse artists face a number of challenges and barriers: racial and ethnic discrimination, language barriers, lack of networking opportunities and unknown or limited funding opportunities.
Note: Resources from this assessment can be found online at: www.scarborougharts.com and www.creative-mosaics.ca
The main goal of Creative Mosaics was to develop an after-school arts and cultural program that involves intergenerational mentorship exploring diverse cultural identities. This year, Scarborough Arts will be seeking funding to support the development and implementation for the after-school program.
For more information about Creative Mosaics and future initiatives, please contact Tim Whalley at ed@scarborougharts.com or 416.698.7322. »
Submitted by Cian Knights
