Regent Park Focus

Tuesday show had everyone excited about the upcoming festivals in the city.

For our final Photography workshop of the summer of 2011 we had participants write up artist statements regarding their work. Although some editing has been completed by the students themselves, the final selections and slideshows and prints will be done by the workshop instructor. A final photo session was held outdoors across the street from Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre where we photographed some of the demolition of old buildings. Students and the instructor were also interviewed for a documentary filmed by another Focus youth. Finally students were photographed with the Centre's Project Coordinator Adonis Huggins by Sway Magazine for an article about Adonis and Focus. Photos by Nick Kozak .

Wednesdays show was about the outpouring of love for Jack Layton from our city. We then switched gears and talked about how technology, "e-literacy" more specifically, is changing the way we write, speak and communicate with each other. Are we destroying the English language or advancing it? *photo courtesy of everdaygenius

We were all affected by Jack Layton's passing, and we all highlighted what he stood for, and expressed our sorrow. What will happen to Canada now? Our half hour on Tuesday is not going to be enough, so we are continuing it on tonight's show as well.

This week we completed shooting our video. We had some problems setting up the green screen and the lights to finish shooting our scenes. In total we shot 3 scenes on the green screen. Despite the technical difficulties we completed our video and now all that’s left is the editing stage.

This week was officially the first week of shooting and we’ve got about 3 scenes done. Everyone got a chance to direct the scenes. Also everyone got a chance to operate the camera and be the sound person. Next week we are ready to finish off shooting the video including the green screen scenes. -Abdul

This week is the first week of shooting but unfortunately our cast was not ready therefore we were not able to shoot. Nonetheless we decided to use green screen for one of our scene and the group was not very knowledgeable in that so we took the time to learn about green screening and found pictures that we will be using in the scene as backgrounds.    -Abdul

This week we polished up all the scenes we need, our shooting spots and roles. We learned about storyboards and how to use them. With our storyboards we drew scene by scene and the type of shots we will be using to film the scenes. This was done to confirm that everyone in the group knows the full story and the shots. This will also enable everyone to direct the scenes. -Abdul

This week we voted on one story and started to develop it more so we can come up with a script. By developing the story line and sharing ideas our video changed completely from being a short drama film to a poetry video. We took our original idea of teens committing suicide and turned the story into poetry. We decided that the video would be a poem with visuals that we will shoot. As a group we worked on the poem. -Abdul

This week we learned about the different types of video, drama, documentaries, etc. Then as a group we decided to make a short film on issues that relate to us the most. A video always starts with an idea so we took out pens and papers and begun to innovate ideas for a video. Later we shared our ideas and voted on the one that will become the “product” of this workshop. As a group we decided to produce a video relating to teens committing suicide. Now that we have an idea, we can come up with possible story lines and plots that will be used to give out our message, there are always more options. We were given time to come up with possible stories and then everyone was sent home to think and develop their stories with a proper beginning, middle, and an end. -Abdul

Regent Park Focus kicks of the summer programs, beginning with the video production workshops. First we go to know each other in to workshop, we learned about the types of videos we enjoy watching. Then we continued the workshop with some old Regent Park Focus videos. This helped us frame what type of videos we will be producing through this workshop. Later Isa, the workshop coordinator gave us an introduction to video production, “A video is a story without the papers” he says. We learnt that every video must have a purpose; a video without a purpose is basically useless. A video is often obliged to direct a message to the audiences.  -Abdul

On tonight's show, we first talked about Fan Expo and their "speed dating" service. We tried to imagine ourselves being there in full cosplay trying to quickly chat up potential suitors with three facts about ourselves! We then spoke about the two youth who were sentenced to 4 years in prison for organizing the riots in the UK--by setting up "events" on FACEBOOK. We came to the conclusion that social media (ie. facebook, google etc.) is not only a powerful communication tool, but also a place where your every move is tracked and filed! There is so much of ourselves that we have put online that we must be responsible for what we put on line, because "big brother" is always watching! Already, social media is taking in our personalities and selling it to corporations who in turn will pepper us with ads while we are emailing, facebooking etc. Pretty creepy.

That's right, tonight's show was about the upcoming Fan Expo next Thursday. Our lively discussion veered into personal opinions of which staff member could be a character from Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings, or Buffy. I learned a new term, "cosplay" which is not only dressing up as your favorite superhero/character from a movie/comic but to also go so far as to mimic the exact skin colour! This made us question the appropriateness of stereotypes in some tv shows and movies. All in all, we were quite passionate about how we felt about these characters and shows. Listen Here!

Last Tuesday's show, we spoke about what we were looking forward to Eid at the end of Ramadan. We explained for listeners who were not familiar with Ramadan its meaning and purpose. Many of our youth, volunteers, and staff observe Ramadan. We also introduced Wednesday's topic of movies, specifically ones that the youth can't stop discussing: comic book adaptations. William was pretty excited and fist-pumped the air! I wish I had gotten a photo of that! It was interesting to discuss how the printed word and illustration can still outshine their motion picture interpretation. Listen Here!

We're nearing the end of our Summer Photography Workshop at Focus and this week was spent mainly on editing. Initially students were shown work by famous photographer Dianne Arbus and current young photographer Rafal Gerszak who is based in Vancouver and is part of the Boreal Collective based in Toronto. Students were taught how to use Adobe Lightroom. They individually edited their batches of photos on the Focus Macs. Participants learned the importance of selecting the strongest photos and how to select photos for a photo essay. The editing process will continue next week. Meanwhile...across the street, Regent Park continues to go through redevelopment. Photos by Nick Kozak .

After a long weekend break the Summer Photography Workshop was back at it. We finally took some time to view samples of students' work that was shot both outside of workshop hours and during our first few sessions. New participants were taken on a quick photo tour of Regent Park by our wonderful volunteer assistant Abdul Wahid AL-basith who has been very successful taking on the task of photographing strangers in the area with our workshop students. The remaining students who had already shot photos of their own for the workshop were introduced to the process of editing their photos and pick out the strongest and most powerful images from their collections. They learned to use the program Adobe Bridge to do their own editing on the new Mac computers at Focus.

Last week we went on a field trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario also known as AGO. We saw different types of cool art. The art that I liked were the pop culture. We really enjoyed our trip and it was fun. We saw many creative art works, all different from each other. The art was unique and interesting. We even created our own art by using building wooden blocks. We saw paintings from different artists including the famous Group of Seven. The painting had a story in the background. -Diva Girls participant

In today’s Diva Girls workshop, The girls did a project, which helped them learn more about the community that they are from. The art project was a community map created by the girls and how they see themselves in their community. The girls talked about all the communities that they are from including, religious communities, school, community centres, cultural centre and even Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre. The girls felt that the Regent Park community is a great place to live in. They made many friends and they have supportive community members.     This week in Focus, we made maps of Regent Park. We showed where we most often go. I go to the mosque, Focus, the green park, the library, and the book bank. This tells us Regent Park is our home.This map of our community shows us how we fit in. The people in Regent Park are nice and the environment is nice.

We went over the treatment and other notes we had previously made and started to work on the dialogue for the script.  After some improvements we workshopped the scenes and came up with all of the script.  Next week we will begin shooting. -Rani

We decided on the story to use. Then we brainstormed the possible story line and what will happen, what order, etc. We wrote out a rough outline. We also made a list of characters and crew and assigned roles to everyone in the group. Then we made a list of locations, costumes and other props we will need for the shoot and tried to figure out how to arrange for those. - Rani

  We got to know each other, and then we discussed movies, genres, what  everyone likes about different kinds of films, documentaries, etc. Then we all brainstormed a list of possible themes for our movie.  We  decided it should be a drama about "Chasing your dreams" - and the  obstacles and solutions that hinder and help people achieve those  dreams.  We also came up with a couple possible story lines and plot  ideas.  Everyone was sent home to think about it for next week. Rani

This week in diva girls, we learned how the media shows girls and women how to act, think, and look. We made collages that show that they have to be like a certain way. From our perspective, the aspects are to be you and unique in your own way. We should not be judged by others, we all have equal rights. Our questions in our art piece was, how would it be like if the world was all the same? Our statement for our art piece was, 'You don’t have to be perfect'. If the world was all the same it would be boring and no excitements would happen. Also you should know that you do not always have to be perfect. This is shown in magazines, television, books and all sorts of things that you have to be like this. This week taught us a lesson about how the media portrays girls. We had fun and learned a lot! We had a great experience! Mahmuda

The Summer Workshop session for the Diva Girls has begun. We are going to learn a lot of fun activities during the summer. The first week we talked about our plans for the summer. The girls also drew a picture of what summer means to them. Than, the girls wrote poems of their summer experience.   The Diva girls program is an opportunity to bring young girls together and we are even more excited that our summer workshops will not only bring youth from the Regent Park community but from all over the GTA. The girls explored different topics of interest and we plan to do our best to make this summer Diva workshop a successful one.  

We spoke about Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival (formally known as Caribana) in tonight's show--focusing on the media's coverage of the shooting leaving 1 man dead and several injured. We questioned why the media jumps onto the violence and does not even mention the positive celebration of Caribana, and the power the media holds in perpetuation stereotypes of certain cultures. Listen Here!

Our summer workshops are officially underway! Youth come from all across the city to discover and explore the world of media arts. Here, youth can create their very own original videos, radio shows, and photography projects. Some youth come in for just one workshop a week and others decide to participate in multiple workshops throughout the week. Either way they are always welcome. The best part of all is that these workshops are 100% free. On Mondays we have digital photography and video. Youth come to learn about the different types of shots/angles and get the chance to create their own original projects. In one class the students went outside and explored the regent park community and took photos of the different building and landscape structures. On Tuesdays young women who are apart of the Women in Radio program get the opportunity to work on producing their very own radio show. Also on Tuesdays, apprising writers can join the Catch Da Flava Magazin...

Wow, the topic for yesterday's show was a hot one. We all felt very strongly about the protest at the Valley High Public School. http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/144877--groups-protest-muslim-prayers-at-toronto-public-school And although Abdul could not participate in the on-air discussion ( he had to be somewhere), he did direct us to the online petition he started up in protest of their protest!   http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/letuspray

We are currently working on our summer issue and its very exciting. Everything is going great and were all really excited for this upcoming issue. Our writing restrictions are extremely free and open to the youth. Meaning even if you have a poem, short story, article, or any type of work it is highly appreciated. We would love to have any new volunteers so if you are interested please don't hesitate to come by for a meeting. Or if you have not yet seen the environmental issue, we have plenty here. Our meeting during the summer are great because you don't have school stress which allows you to focus on writing. It's awesome and feel free to drop in if any of you guys are interested.

This week we had some new students join the program increasing our number quite a bit but making an even more interesting young group. The students were shown basic tips on using the Fuji cameras available to them including when and how to use the flash, how to ensure a sharper photo by making sure your hands are steady, and how to conserve battery power to avoid being stuck with no juice. A set of street portraits by Mike Peters were shown to the class and a short discussion followed regarding photographing strangers in the street and the need to ask for permission when seeking to shoot portraits. The group was divided up and given a task to go photograph people in the streets around Regent Park. The groups did a great job in approaching individuals to take their photos, especially Abdul's (one of Focus' assistants for the summer) group. Congratulations to everyone.

After an initial workshop class being run by a supply teacher the participants met Nick Kozak , their workshop instructor for the summer. After some quick getting to know one another activities the group began to talk about documentary photography and the importance of documenting Regent Park before, during and after the revitalization.Students were shown photo projects by successful young photographers around the world including Jonathan Taggert , Boris Austin , and Brett Gundlock . The instructor pointed out the significance of photographing people in their environment, not just their environment. A good part of the workshop was spent on identifying potential projects for each student to pursue. It was agreed that students would focus on documenting their family or friends' lives in Regent Park. Some students live in the new accommodations and others are still in old buildings which should make for an interesting dichotomy.

This week at the Catch Da Flava magazine, we welcomed a new writer to our group! Articles, photos and picture/cover ideas are now being brainstormed with more ferocity since everyone's more on a summer vibe! Tracy has done some reporting and photos on the Good Bike Event, which will be included in the new issue. Our writers are also working on their experiences with this summer's Luminato festival! Hopefully by the end of August, yes, that's right AUGUST--hot on the heels of our recent Environmental Issue--the new summer issue will be out!

We talked about the new independent nation of South Sudan. Shouts out to Eman who is out there right now! It was interesting to hear the youth express their opinions on the concept of freedom, and what they thought needed to change if South Sudan was going to be successful in this new transition!

This past Wednesday's show was great. We still are still working on a name for it, because the content of the show is different than Tuesday's Catch Da Flava Radio. So a new name is in the works. We had a great time talking to Chiptune artist, Jeff the World, who came in and answered a few questions from us avid gamers and music fans. Jeff also played some new songs! OnetwoTres also played his chiptune influenced tracks and the discussion went from Jeff's do-it-yourself rise to fame as well as explaining how he made his tracks with only a few gameboys and old atari computers! We thank Jeff again for taking the time to come down to the studio to perform and chat! Listen Here for Part 1 of Jeff The World on Catch da Flava Radio! Listen Here for Part 2 of Jeff The World on Catch da Flava Radio!

Our Wednesdays are getting to be really fun. Last week we talked about the gaming industry, and how the music of videogames are such a recognizable medium! These video game theme songs don't even have to be made with video sounds for people to recognize it, as we also listened to a version of the Legend of Zelda as interpreted with an electric guitar! The main focus of Wednesday's show was to introduce some of our youth and listeners to a new genre called "Chiptunes". Chiptunes take the sounds of early 8-bit video games and use them to make dance music tracks! It is a relatively new scene, being a few years old. But it has steadily gotten more popular within the last few years. Even at Nuit Blanche, two years ago, there was a free outdoor concert in front of city hall. One artist who has been the driving force in Toronto's Chiptune scene is Jeff the World, of whom we played tracks from his first album.

Today Regent Park Focus held its first Social Media summer program, led by me, Tyrone MacLean-Wilson a web developer and graphic designer from George Brown College and long term member of Regent Park Focus. In the Social Media program I’m introducing the youth to a new perspective on the e-world they are already familiar with. We focused on blogging and social networking via such websites as blogger, facebook, myspace, twitter and youtube. We are training the youth how to integrate each of these networking sites together and teaching them the reasons why people use them around the world. Today we worked together to create each of their own unique blogs. Each participant had visually designed their own blog using the tools provided. After creating the main structure of the blogs the participants made a few blog posts to test out the look and feel of their blogs. Each member was pretty ecstatic about what they have created today. Next up we will be teaching the youth how to i...

The environmental issue is finally here! After, months of hard work, creativity and anticipation, the magazine had finally arrived. Personally, this issue has been very important to me. As, it was my first time to be able to work on the magazine. Basically, what we have been doing is every Tuesday we meet up to discuss our ideas and display it in our magazine. Whether that took the form of writing piece, artwork or even photographs it all came together to bring out this amazing printed environmental issue. Along with that we also had the privilege to work with the Luminato festival. We were provided workshops and best of all got tickets to see the different shows. The experience was just amazing. I mean can you imagine being provided free tickets to a show full of entertainment, creativity and talent. Currently the writers for the magazine are expressing their thoughts, feelings and experiences of the festival in a magazine for Luminato. So not only are we working on...

Yes! After months of hard work, I'm proud to announce that the Catch Da Flava Environmental Issue is here! Come pick it up at Focus! -Terence

Hi my name is Iman Zein. I am 12 years old and a grade 6 graduate from Regent Park Duke of York Public School. This is my 3 rd year in the Diva’s program. It is held every Friday from 4:30 p.m to 6:00 p.m at Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre. The main idea of this program is to have positive self- esteem and develop a “sisterhood” with the other girls in the program. This year, Focus moved to a different building. It is now located at 38 Regent Street. Due to that change, the program was put on hold. Instead of starting in September or October, the program started on Friday, March 4 th , 2011. We did not have as much time as usual in the program but, we had a very good time. One week we screen printed. Using a fabric screen, glue and some paint, we customized our own t-shirts. We got to express our own creativity and personal style. Each T-shirt turned out unique at the end of the day. It was fun trying something new. Another week Focus invited a guest to teach us about...

There are many different things that Focus provides. Like the radio show, the Divas program, photography and video programs. One of my favourite things that Regent Park Focus provides is held on the last Friday of every month. What better name to call it than ‘Last Friday’, of course. It’s a time to enjoy, dine on amazing food, and watch fantastic performances, and most of all HAVE FUN. June’s Last Friday was very special. It was going to be the last one before September. I have been to many of them but this one would be one that I would remember forever. We had the Regent Park Focus House band, MPP Glen Murray was there, Marni Levitt, Snooky Tynes, South Side Swagg, and even I performed.   The first performance was the Regent Park Focus House Band. They performed one of my favourite songs “I’m yours” by Jason Mraz. They also sang some of their own songs. One of their songs was called “Wait another Day”. Another one was called “Love is by my Side”. I think that the audie...

Tuesday's show was intense! Omar, Fenide, and Isaac all spoke their mind about Brigette DePape, the university student working as a page for parliament, who protested the PM in her own creative way. Was her belief worth more than her job? Apparently she got offered a job from Michael Moore afterwards, who commended her on her actions. Her popularity shot up in waves, from several Facebook pages of support as well as an interview with the CBC. 

Oh gosh, we are so close! Thanks to the writers, photographers and artists for contributing to this long awaited issue of Catch Da Flava magazine! And a big thanks goes out to Sarah, we miss you! As I am just finishing up some final changes, we've also started writing for the next issue which will be released hopefully around mid-summer! We're already collaborating with Luminato to help us in our writing and research, as well as we're contributing to Luminato's own magazine as well! You'll be able to read all about it this summer! -Terence

 Youth set up Mobile Media Lab aka the MAMMAL outside focus for Jane's Walk stop at Focus Diva Girls Group participants talk about the impact the group has had on their lives and how more young girls should get involved.  Youth wait outside Focus to present the MAMMAL to visitors  Visitors from Jane's Walk at Focus.  Visitors watch RPTV videos created by youth at Focus.  The Mammal display.  Tresvonne from the Regent Park Focus House Band and Catch da Flava Radio Show participant explains his participation at Focus.  Youth inside the computer lab doing their homework and working on articles for Catch da Flava Magazine.  Youth riding the Mammal in the community for the Jane's Walk community event.  Some of the youth who are involved in the radio show every Tuesday night talk about the importance of having youth's voice heard and their perspective on social issues and hot topics.  Michele, Youth ...