Regent Park Focus

It was time to get out and explore together as a group during the last Diva Girls session. The sun was shining and the skies were blue. So we packed up Focus' digital cameras and headed outside. The urban landscape of Regent Park is continuously changing around us as the demolition and revitalization process continues. As our radio dramas from the last week are being edited, I thought it would be a good time to have a brief class on outdoor architectural photography. Before heading out, we discussed 5 ways on how to improve shots of buildings and architectural forms. 1. Know Your Camera- Become familiar with the major settings on your camera and how to use them. If you see an interesting photo you want to take, try a variety of settings. It better to have more options than fewer ones. Keep in mind you are also going to edit these photos using software to make adjustments. 2. Think About Reflections- Many of the new condos have very shiny surfaces because they usual...

Last week's Divas Girls sessions marked the second installment of the series on emotional and mental health by our intern Erika from the University of Toronto. Since the girls started writing their radio dramas last week on peer pressure, this week's focus was on recording them!  With help from the radio co-coordinator Tyrone, the girls were able to use the latest recording software. They discussed the importance of using their voice to emphasize the characters that they created and other nuances that could make the dramas more successful. The girls worked in groups of three or four and developed tag lines, slogans and introductions.  The girls learned many things about radio production, including the time and patience it takes to successfully record a drama. They needed to work together and support one another in order to have a successful recording. All these groups were able to record their dramas and now it is time for the editing process. Stay tuned for...

Last Friday, May 9th marked the first class of a three week unit on social and emotional health lead by our new intern Erika Hughes, from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Last week's class was about peer pressure, social expectation and ways to combat and deflect peer pressure. Erika started the class with warms-ups that stimulated conversation, and sought out any assumptions or beliefs the girls had on peer pressure. First, they defined the terminology; what is a peer and what forms can peer pressure take? Next they discussed and learned that peer pressure is often negative, but it can also have some positive aspects as well. The discussion concluded on the note that it is important to surround yourself with people with like minded views and beliefs, so that they can support your decisions and encourage you to pursue your goals and aspirations. After the discussion, Erika started the "Skills to Combat Peer Pressure" activity, where she han...

Tonight the students from Radiozilla came in to learn how to properly conduct interviews using handheld recorders and mics, how far you should be from your interviewee and how you should go about asking your questions to get quality answers. As part of the interview training the students conducted mock interviews using the remote recording equipment provided by Regent Park Focus.This process is to gear them up for when they are ready to interview people on the streets of Toronto for their audio documentaries. They did an awesome job! Funding for this project was provided by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and Mozilla Hive Toronto.

Regent Park filmed an episode of Interfaith Dialogue. This episode of interfaith dialogue was about the Muslim religion. The guest was a student who is currently taking the Chaplin program at the University of Toronto. During the interview, the topics that were touched on were: What does Chaplaincy mean to you? How do you see yourself as a Muslim? How do you practice your religion? The production team consisted of the Director (Horace) The Host (Kamal), Switcher (Joanne) and Camera (Omar, Isaac, Tyrone). dialogue

Inspired by HiveNYC's Radio Rookies, Regent Park Focus and Facing History are collaborating to produce youth-led internet radio series, school curriculum guide, audiovisual slideshows using web-maker tools, and a project documentary. Working with 5 different TDSB high schools the project will be contributed by 20 students in the first phase. Today marks the first day of the RadioZilla Project.We spent most of the day doing introductions and tours of the Regent Park Focus space, TV studio and radio studios. We also presented some examples of radio documentaries produced by HiveNYC's Radio Rookies to give them a better idea of the project and how to incorporate visual theme with their audio. Funding for this project was provided by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and Mozilla Hive Toronto.

As part of my involvement in the RDYL “Common Grounds Media Project” at Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre (RPF) I worked on producing an interview. The theme of the interview was pluralism, and I was given much freedom in deciding on which issue I would specifically focus on. RPF offered several options, however, the one I found especially interesting was the issue of violence against Muslim women. I choose this topic because I felt it would have the benefit of touching on not only themes of religious diversity, but would also speak to a very serious social issue. I was fortunate enough to be able to conduct an interview with Sahar Zaidi. The following is some background information on her. Sahar holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Schulich School of Business (2012), a Masters in Business Administration from the American University of Sharjah (2010), and a BS in Accounting from Purdue University (2004). She has had over 4 years of experience in leadersh...

April 9th, 2014 marked Pink Shirt Day for Bully Free Alberta, a campaign to raise awareness about bullying. In honor of this, we decided to screen the documentary, “Bully” directed by Sundance and Emmy-award winning filmmaker Lee Hirsh. The film follows the lives of five students who face bullying on a daily basis. A glimpse into the classroom, the home and the principles office, this documentary offers insight into the cruel world of bullied children. This film examines the consequences of bullying and shines a light on how we need to change in the way we deal with bullying as children, teachers, parents and society as a whole. After the screening of “Bully”, we had a discussion about the film and many of the youth were very taken back by how much bullying is still going on and how much even just name-calling can affect someone. We discussed the different types of bullying and how even joking around can be very hurtful to people. The youth discussed how bullying has gone to a...

I joined Camilla, Aidan, Omar and our guest Mona. Our topic of discussion was line 9. Line 9 is a 30-year-old cement based pipeline running between Montreal and Sarnia. During our discussion we covered the health risks involved and also how it affects not only our water system but also our airways. We also debated both the negative and positive aspects as one of the panel members was arguing that even though there are negative aspects, there is also a positive side for it being built.  - Mark

On this episode of Interfaith Dialogue, Sahar Zaidi joined me to discuss violence and abuse against Muslim women. Sahar holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Schulich School of Business, a Masters in Business Administration from the American University of Sharjah and a B.S. in Accounting from Purdue University. Sahar has worked closely with Springtide Resources, the North York Women’s Shelter and the Canadian Urban Institute. While completing her Masters, Sahar worked on several research papers looking into immigration policies and their effects on victims of abuse. In addition, she works at the Canadian Council of Muslim Women as a Project Coordinator, where she carries out government funded projects. She educated us about the differences between physical, mental/emotional, verbal, economic, and sexual abuse put on Muslim woman. We discussed that there are many stereotypes within the Muslim community that must be challenged and lastly, she let us know what people i...

Today the Divas were visited by a group of George Brown students who have organized a campaign and educational seminar about the Tar Sands and Pipeline 9. The youth listened to a presentation, watched videos and took part in interactive activities. They learned about the Tar Sands, Enbridge’s pipeline plans, previous oil spills, health risks and the environmental impact of the Tar Sands and these pipelines. A few girls in the group were very interested in the topic and have decided to write articles for Catch the Flava magazine about how they feel Line 9 will affect Ontarians. Many of the youth had not heard of the Tar Sands before, and could not believe that an environmental disaster of that level existed in Canada. This presentation sparked conversation between the girls about environmental justice and living in a healthy environment. This environmental topic interested the girls so much we will be planning another class where we discuss our own environment footprint and small...

I joined Camila and Brandon to discuss what changes we would make in Toronto if we were elected mayor. Without question, all of us agreed instantaneously that the first thing that we would change is the transit system and extending it further into the GTA so that it is more accessible to come downtown from other areas. Another thing we would like to see change is make Toronto more appealing for tourists visually and also add more tourist attractions. One panel member also mentioned that he would like to see more funding in Toronto’s sports teams. Overall, the main focus would be to designate more money into the TTC and to make Toronto a bigger tourist attraction.  - Mark

On Friday, February 21 st , we shot the first episode of Boys 2 Men What Makes You A Man for Regent Park TV. The focus of this show is to challenging the common notions of masculinity. The topic that was discussed were issues surrounding ones self-worth Vs. ones self-concept. Our host Horace Spence alongside our panelist Travis Anthony, Ronnie Rowe, and Tha CaptialE shared there views on this topic. The production team involved with filming this episode was Adonis, Isaac, Emanuel, Tyrone and Mark. On Thursday, march 13 th , we shot the second episode of Boys 2 Men was show, What Makes You A Man for Regent Park TV . This is a show where we discuss and challenge common notion of male masculinity. The topic of this show was the “Be a Man” statement. Our host Horace Spence along side our guest Travis Anthony had a great discussion about the effects the “Be A Man” statement has in the male community. Our production team included Mark, Nicole, Immanuel, Pierce, and Joshua. ...

During the March Break programing, the youth were able to leave the studio and go shoot news clips around the Regent Park area. We decided to go do an interview with one of the employees at the Toronto Birthing Centre. A Birth Centre is a regulated, community-based health care facility that offers women a safe, comfortable, family-centered place to give birth. The facility just opened on January 15 th , 2014 and is the first of its kind in Ontario. In order to give birth at the Toronto Birth Centre you need to be registered with a midwifery group, but there are no extra costs to give birth at the Centre. Nicole Moore

Today's radio show involved a majority of the Regent Park Focus staff in a friendly debate called “The Focus choice awards.” In this radio show each focus member picked a movie that was nominated in the 2014 Oscars, and pitched why it deserved to win or justified why it won. After everyone stated the reasons why their picked film was the best, we all took a consensus vote to narrow down the movies until we had a top 3. It was a lengthy in-depth discussion, we decided that the top 3 movies were: Frozen, Wolf on Wall Street and Gravity.  - Mark

I was joined by a panel, which included: Horace, Travis, Nicole and Josh. The topic of today's radio show was youth homelessness. To start off the broadcast, Travis who is the founder of the homeless incentive gave multiple facts as to how youth in Toronto become homeless: i.e abusive homes, drug abuse, neglect, or because of sexual orientation. It was surprising to see the percentage of homeless youth, as I personally was not aware of the percentage being that high. Our guest Travis also talked about his organization and about all the work he is doing in order to form a greater awareness about the issues being presented. This radio show opened the mindsets of all the participants and made them all aware of the increasing rate of not only homeless youth, but also homeless individuals in general. We were also informed about services available that can temporarily help. - Mark

This Tuesday, March 3rd Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre was very busy producing a radio show for Radio Regent. The topic for this week’s radio show was Alternative Schools. The show was hosted by Essen, and Annie-Marie, and the technician was Isaac. Radio Regent was also joined by four panel guest. We started the show by introducing what an alternative schools is, and talking about the various alternative schools the panel members had gone to and what their experiences were like. We then talked about the purpose of Alternative Schools, which brought up opposing points of view. One of our panelist believed the purpose of alternative schools was to act as a last effort to help kids who dropped out of “regular” schools. Other panelists thought the main aim of alternative schools was to offer different learning experiences for interested students. The panelists also discussed the Afrocentric Alternative School and whether this was a helpful initiative for black students. ...

On Today's radio show the panel discussed issues surrounding the 2014 Sochi Olympics. During the show we covered various topics relating to the Olympics like: living conditions for tourists watching the games, LGBTQ rights of gay athletes competing, and controversial issues related to past Olympic games. The whole panel was unanimous in the fact that athletes and humans in general should be treated with equal amounts of respect, and should not be judged based on anything less of the norm.  With tourists, living conditions were not only dangerous but also unsanitary. We all agreed that the tourists should have been well accommodated for, and the hotel staff should have been more prepared knowing how much people would be traveling to that area.  Other topics which was carried out in the discussion was the Paralympic games. It was discussed that there should be an equal amount of attention to the Paralympic games, and the panel felt that it is lacking support from the media. Ove...

Some of the Divas talk about what Black History Month means to them: I think black history month is amazing and should be acknowledged more! There are a bunch of amazing black people that have changed the world because of their actions. It's kind of sad that we aren't doing anything in school about it though. - Thusany  Me being here today proves that my people made it though slavery. They fought for freedom and succeded. I am Black History. - Tajah  For many, many years black people were discriminated for their race.But now black people are treated the same as any other race. For us to get to where they are, many people such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Jackie Robins, and Emit Till and others help black people to have their rights. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have the family I have, the friends I have, the safety I have, the education, freedom, confidence, and opportunities I have now. Black history month is to remember what bl...

The divas got together to celebrate and multiple important occasions. With regards to black history month, there were numerous outlets of information provided to the Divas in order for them to obtain more knowledge about Black history. The girls all submerged their attention in documentaries about various Black activists who strongly impacted anti-oppressed groups for the better. After viewing these biographies, the Divas discussed what they have learned and also were amazed how individuals can have such a big impact not only while they’re here on Earth, but also many generations that have followed them afterwards. All the divas also wrote a quiz that was Black history month themed, to see how much they knew prior to watching the documentaries and the discussion. Another topic of interest for this weeks program was discussing all of the events during the Sochi Olympics, and also the inconvenient events in Russia surrounding the anti-gay laws. After all of these discussions, the Div...

I joined Issac and Omar to host a radio show surrounding the increasing tuition rates in Canada, and comparing the cost of post secondary with schools in the United States and also in the UK. For this radio show we were also joined by Esen, Ihsan, and Tyrone who shared their experiences with dealing with their tuition costs. The radio show consisted of various ways in which students can make their tuition more affordable: either through bursaries, loans, and grants (ie) scholarships. Surrounding the topic of the importance of education, we played two spoken word videos: the first was titled "I will not let an exam result decide my fate" by Sullbreezy. This was a good spoken word piece as it focuses on how our society labels our worth by what kind of degree we obtained from post secondary education, or if we have even had the opportunity to go to school. It also questions why the school system continues to base our intelligence on exam marks and how it is an unfair chance f...

Thursday January 30 th was another long awaited session of the animation programming and the reveal of the highly anticipated houses that show how each member has grown as animators. We also had new members join the program beginning their first assignment by building a tree and playing with the program to make new creations at the youth's ability and imagination. The staff watched as the youth spent their hour and a half of programming laughing and enjoying their creations as well as trouble shooting issues such as an unwanted hole in the roof of their houses. The staff asked each youth to tell a story about their creation and why they made it the way they did, giving the youths a chance to explore further into their imagination. The staff watched and enjoyed the creative genius and stories unfold in front of them, giving us the front row seat to a show you need to see to believe. - Corrina Richard

On January 14, 2014 - I joined Isaac, Tyrone, and Omar to look back at the events that occurred during 2013 and the impact that it had on the world. We opened the show by commemorating the life of Nelson Mandela. It was a tragic day when the world's known activist/politician/philanthropist and all around leader passed away. Even though his life ended, his message will live on forever inspiring people to treat others with kindness and to never stray away from anything less than promoting equality. Another issue that we touched upon was the death of Trayvon Martin, and the court ruling that acquitted George Zimmerman of Martin's death. Many were left outraged feeling that there was no justice, while others agreed with the court ruling. Some of the views of the members of the radio show believed that he was racially profiled. One issue that personally through me off was when we talked about Edward Snowden. Edward was a former CIA and NSA employee that leaked documents pert...

On Friday January 10th, 2014 The Divas girls Group meeting started off by discussing the different holidays and events that will be occurring during the month of February. The Divas brainstormed and all agreed that there were three main areas which they would like to focus on: Valentines day, Family day, and Black history month. When asked what Valentines day meant to the Divas, a majority came to the agreed upon conclusion that it mainly focused around spending an excessive amount of money on chocolate and cards. Since our society believes in an implemented theme of material goods to show appreciation towards one specific Valentine, we wanted to bring back the roots of what Valentines day should be like. It was important to discuss the different types of relationships that can also be celebrated. Instead of just focusing on the obvious relationship with a "significant other", It was mentioned that the Divas can also celebrate with: siblings, friends or best f...

It was about mid-November when I sat down to plan out a one-hour program for Radio Regent, the topic of which was to involve religion in some capacity. With the sensory rush of the holidays just gearing up and the airwaves (and internet) beginning to buzz with the annual "war on Christmas" debate, it seemed appropriate to consider just what "Christmas" means in today's Canada.   Although North American Christmas has been an ostensibly Christian holiday, many Canadians - even those who have been in Canada for generations - are not devout Christians, or Christians at all. So what do we do with a holiday that has "Christ" in its very name, and supposedly celebrates the birth of Jesus? Specifically, what do young Canadians who don't identify as Christians do when Christmas rolls around?        I sent out a couple of feelers to religious leaders in the local community, hoping for a response. Only two peop...

Today at Regent Park Focus we shot another episode of Interfaith Dialogue with special guest Patricia, a representative and healer from the Toronto Counsel Fire Native Cultural Centre in Regent Park. On the show, we discussed issues of residential schools, how it has affected the Native community and how they are currently healing. Patricia works at the Native Culture Centre as a counselor/healer to help Natives who were pulled into residential school reconnect and learn about their culture and traditions, she often helps rebuilds relationships between them and families. We had a full crew for production –  it was a good learning and informative experience for everyone. -Vina

Thursday December 16 th our animation programming has continued into the New Year and continues to bring the high level of creativity we have come to expect from this program. Today youths were given the freedom to create their own animation in addition with their own story to go with it. One youth created a futuristic aircraft/ship that was both innovative and artistically inclined. Many of the youths that are involved in this program have expressed an interest in going into the animation field. The youths wish to be the future of cartoons, movies and gaming, and with companies such as Pixar, Ubisoft, and Cartoon Network Studios there are many viable options in this job field. We also engaged in conversation about jobs in the field and ideas of future games that the youths have. This was a fun and enlightening session allowing the youths to show the skills they have developed in this program. By Corrina Richard

This Tuesday Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre was very busy producing three TV shows for our Interfaith Dialogues series, and producing a radio show for Radio Regent. Originally, Tuesday’s radio show was going to be about current news and events in Toronto. However due to the sad passing of Nelson Mandela, Regent Park Focus decided to focus on the life and legacy of Mandela. The show was co-hosted by Omar and Oscar, with special guests Murphy Browne, Karen, and Adaku. We started the show off with an audio clip of how student’s from Nelson Mandela school felt about his passing. We then talked about Mandela’s life and the incredible legacy of fighting for justice that he leaves behind. The show also included music that reminded us of Mandela and ended with the reading of a quote by him. This Tuesday we were also in the process of planning and shooting three shows that will be part of the Interfaith Dialogues series on Regent Park TV. This series focuses on various religi...

Ever wanted to learn how to produce a radio show? Well that’s exactly what happened at this week’s Regent Park Focus TV and Radio Broadcasting meeting. The participants, made up of both volunteers and staff, got together to talk about producing a Catch da Flava Youth radio show on Radio Regent. The participants were lead into Regent Park Focus’s very own radio studio to learn the elements that go into creating and producing a radio show. Participants hosted a mock radio show, taking turns being the radio technician, which involves controlling the sound of the mics and music, and being the host of the show. Participants then held a discussion about what topics they wanted to talk about on the upcoming radio broadcast. The topics ranged from local issues, such as Rob Ford and upcoming Toronto music festivals, to national issues like the senate scandal, to international issues, such as the protests happening in Thailand and the Ukraine, homophobia at the Sochi Olympic Games, and the imp...

There are many misconceptions about what happens in our country and h ow we relate to other countries. In Canada we frown on countries such as Japan, the Philippines and Thailand for their high involvement with human trafficking and sex trafficking. Canadians are one of the world’s highest sponsors to the prevention of child abuse and human trafficking worldwide but many Canadians fail to see that Canada also has high human trafficking rates including human sex trafficking, human slavery and human selling.   On Friday 22 nd 2013 the Diva Girls talked about the serious topic of human trafficking in Canada and the recent discovery in London England of the three women trapped into slavery by an English couple.   But incidents like these do not just happen across the ocean, it happens in Canada everyday. Organizations such as the Canadian Women’s Foundation work to help young girls and Trafficking survivors back to their normal lives and families. According to the CWF some of ...

We are excited to announce that we have completed our second week of our 4 week computer workshop. This is scheduled to happen every Tuesday, in the media lab from 4:30- 6pm. The first week began with an introduction to building your own website.The kids each designed and customized their personal pages on Tumblr, adding images and videos along with other decorative creations. They then ended the workshop by posting instructions as to what they had learned and steps for others to make their own Tumblr pages. I must say, each participant did a great job having their page reflect who they are and interests they have. Last week marked the second lesson in our computer workshop. We were able to build upon our lesson last week and add to it this week with a look at coding. The participants were given the opportunity to look at websites in a more technical manner. Coding involves giving the computer basic commands or codes that allows you to edit the webpage in detail. At first glance, ...

Regent Park Focus is partnering with a group of University of Toronto students to produce a media series exploring multiple faiths and religions. Over the course of 10 weeks youth will interview religious leaders in the community and get an understanding of the different cultures, values and lifestyles that make Regent Park and Canada so spiritually diverse. The interviews will be documented in the form of two radio shows and eight television programs, which will be available at RPTV.  At this weeks’ meeting, the Inter-Faith program team prepared for an upcoming interview with a member of an LGBTQQ (Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Queer, Questioning) Islamic community. The youth divided up the various roles required for production, reviewed how to conduct a good interview, and learned how to produce, direct, and film a TV show. The youth also took a vote to choose which religion to focus on for the next episode, deciding on the Unitarian Church. By: Adaku

The Regent Park Focus facility welcomed animation designer Jude to our family. Jude will be coming in on Thursdays to teach kids about different animation programs and how to use them to creatively send a message about social issues and other topics in their society and lives. The 14 th however was an introduction into the future programming which included looking at finished products, and how they were designed. Youth can be signed up for this program which will be held every Thursday from 4pm-5:30pm, snacks will be provided as well as rewards for those who attend. Space is limited and is offered on a first come first served bases.    This program will be offered at the regent park focus in the media lab and include programs like After Effects, 3D sculpting, etc. The kids today got a first hand view on what it is like to be an animator and the kind of work and dedication that goes into producing even a short film. The youth seemed most excited about the creative fr...

Five youths came together to talk about the production of   two ten minute television shows, one about an LGBT accepting mosque and   another about the Chinese Christian Softball League. First we talked   about the potential for faith based sports such as the softball league,   and their possible capability for fostering community. We then talked   about some of the gender dynamics within Islam concerning leading and   taking part in prayer. This led to the discussion of the therefore   inherent difficulties incorporating people identifying as neither male   nor female into prayer. By: Milo Golub

The Diva Girls did the Dove workshop, which focused on issues such as body confidence, self-esteem and inaccuracies in the media. Each member of the Diva Girls filled out work sheets that required critical thinking about how they feel about their body images and how they cope with self-esteem issues. Exploring these issues help boost confidence mentally and generally giving them the ability to public speak, try out for teams and make new friends. These also help with metal hurdles the Diva Girls may face in day-to-day life whether that is bullying, stress or just in general sadness, remembering that they are beautiful and have self worth helps give them the tools to overcome every obstacle. The first work sheet asked the Diva Girls what gave them confidence, many answering that a combination of family and friends helped them through times of doubt or low self-esteem. This was a great way to remind the girls that many people find them beautiful even when they may not feel beautif...

 Friday, November 1 st 2013 the Diva Girls meeting started with conversation around how their Halloween went and their plans for November. May of the girls, sporting bags of candy, expressed they had fun Halloween celebrations even if they hadn’t been out and about with the ghouls and ghosts. The girls also talked about how their day had been at school and recent books they read. The conversation took a serious turn when the youths got into their “what happen in the week” topic which was gun violence. Less then a year after the Sandy Hook Middle School and several years after Columbine High School another middle school shooting occurred in Nevada, USA. The shooting left one teacher and the shooter dead, and rocked risky debate over a controversial bill passed in Texas, Oklahoma, and soon Indiana that allows and expects teachers to carry guns in class in case of an active attack. The Diva Girls listen to each of the events in which and active gunman entered each school...

On Thursday October 31, 2013 the media lab became a Pre-Halloween hangout for kids waiting for darkness to proceed with the always-fun trick or treating. In the Media lab, a new chance at learning was made by having the youth make a blog and a Gmail, if they did not have one. As a new initiative youths that come to the media center on Thursday will be encouraged to post a new editorial in their blog before they are allowed to go on social media websites. This will serve as both a learning media experience and an outlet for stress and the daily troubles of being a youth. The youth were quite receptive to the blog and many wrote of their Halloween experience at their schools. The youth also talked about the history of Halloween as originally a Pagan tradition having changed over hundreds of years. We also talked about Halloween plans including haunted houses and the export of candy from the neighboring house to their pillowcases and shopping bags. The excitement could hardly be co...