Engaged Journalism Conference 2025

The 2025 Engaged Journalism Conference was held at The Metropolitan University, bringing together journalists, educators, and media practitioners to explore the successes, challenges, and funding strategies behind community-based journalism initiatives. The event was co-organized by Gabriela Perdomo Páez of Mount Royal University and Magda Konieczna of Concordia University, with Anita Li of The Green Line serving as co-host.

Participants included representatives from news organizations across Canada and the United States, each sharing insights into how their outlets serve local communities. Among the featured organizations was the Focus Media Arts Centre, represented by Dawar Naeem and Tyrone MacLean-Wilson, with Executive Director Adonis Huggins delivering a keynote presentation.
 

Huggins traced the roots of the Focus Media Arts Centre to its beginnings in Regent Park, Toronto, where it emerged from a grassroots effort to challenge the negative stigmatization of the neighborhood. Through television, radio, and print, the Centre has provided platforms for community voices for over three decades.

Huggins’s journey into media and community work began after graduating from George Brown College’s Community Worker Diploma Program in 1988. He later earned a BA in Theatre at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, where he performed in lead roles with a Black theatre company affiliated with the Nova Scotia Black Cultural Centre. The company's mission—to confront Canada’s racist history and highlight the ongoing struggles of Black communities—deeply influenced Huggins’s later work in Regent Park.

Returning to Toronto in 1991, Huggins joined a newly formed resident group focused on youth engagement through the arts. This initiative eventually grew into the Focus Media Arts Centre, a hub for community-driven storytelling through multiple media platforms.

The conference also featured breakout sessions where attendees discussed a range of topics, including sustainable funding, community engagement, and strategies for promoting news content. These sessions fostered collaboration and knowledge-sharing among participants working to redefine the role of journalism in community empowerment.

The event was made possible through support from J-Schools Canada; the Centre for Journalism Experimentation (JEX) at Concordia University; the School of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University; the Department of Arts, Culture and Media and Journalism Joint Program at University of Toronto Scarborough; the Rideau Hall Foundation; and Facts and Frictions.