Focus Media Arts Centre Blogs

The diva girls participated in a music session with Andrew and Will, they got the chance to remix original songs which included Clocks by Cold Play and Telephone by Lady GaGa. Over the last few weeks the girls have really enjoyed working with Andrew and Will and have found a new love for both music and creating music. The girls have become amazing at using Garage Band and over all have learned so much from this experience. Getting the chance to be apart of building and creating has really encouraged them to continue to use their creativity in a positive, safe outlet. We at Regent Park Focus would like to thank William and Andrew so much for all of their hard work, we had so much fun participating and learning!!!! By: Mellissa Hum

Today we filmed our first Girls Talk show in the studio. Prior to the filming, the girls interviewed their families and friends about their experiences as first-generation immigrants. Most of the girls were born in Canada. Some came at an early age and can barely remember their first day in this new country. Therefore, getting to know how people feel when they first arrived, what motivated them to start a new life here and the difficulties they encountered would enable the girls to look at things from a different perspective. For the first part of the show, we created a short "draw my life" video on the story of the first-generation immigrants in Canada. The girls then discussed some of their findings from the interviewing process. It was the first time they filmed a TV show in the studio, and they were very excited. We hope that you would like it and the other two winter shows that are coming up on RPTV! By: Dan Cai

We opened up with telling each other spooky stories we had heard through out the week. We then went on to talk about fan theories about some of our favourite child hood shows like the Rugrats and Spongebob Squarepants. We then played a game of two truths and one lie with Will and Andrew. The girls had a great time getting to know more about them. Afterwards we brought it back into the Media Lab where we continued to create awesome beats on Garage Band. The girls got to jam out to some of their previous tunes and create new ones. Instead of using prerecorded sounds they got to create their own from the ground up. Using the keyboards they created tunes from instruments on Garage Band. After the session with Will and Andrew they got to create a mini show and tell. Everyone loved hearing their one of a kind songs and over all we all had a great time.

Today, we had our interview for Youth Talk on RPTV. We had a guest named Gursharan a researcher from CAMH come in and discuss her position as well as Mental Health as a whole and the stigmas and steriotypes surrounding mental health as well. Omar interviewed her and got the chance to talk about his own views and expierences with mental health and he helped Gursharan debunk some of the steriotypes and stimags that cause people to not feel comfortable and seek help when dealing with mental health issues. Over all it was an incredible opportunity to learn and educate and gave us the chance to really take a deeper look at mental illness as a whole and understand that so many people deal with mental health issues on a daily basis and need that support so that they feel safe and comfortable seeking assistance. It’s important to create a safe space and really tackle issues head on, we all need help sometimes and this episode makes it clear that you are not alone and that there is help out t...

On the 24th of April we had our annual AGM meeting for the years of 2012 and 2013. The meeting consisted of board members voting on the highlighted key issues as well as the budgets and the steps for the upcoming year. Members of the Board and Regent Park Focus Youth and Media Arts Centre were also recognized for their efforts and hard work they put into the current success of Regent Park Focus. The meeting also served as a platform to welcome and nominate new members to the board. By: Karrisa Davis

I’m here since 3 months and today is my last day and the last episode of my French TV Show “La francophonie”! Today my guest was Arthur, a young men of 27 years old who come from Ivory Coast and since 2006 he lives in Montreal. But now, since 8 months he lives in Toronto and works in financial area. He came in Toronto to discover a new culture and a new English-speaking city, to join some members of his family and also, to gain more opportunities about jobs. It was a great last episode because, it was really different than others. Indeed, is the first guest who doesn't come from France so, his experience was really interesting and unlike the others, he means that Toronto is a great city but he prefers Montreal for several reasons including good atmosphere and a kind of social side. I loved create my own TV show during these 2 weeks, share and discover many experiences, meet many people and especially become a youth producer ! This experience was really unique. I l...

Since one week I create my own French TV Show, this TV show is about experiences of French people who come in Toronto. The goal is to share several experiences and to know the different reasons why french people immigrate here! So, today I produce my second episode of my TV Show ! It was amazing. Indeed, during my first episode I was little stressed and I lost the way of my interview because it was the first time. But, this time was better because I was more comfortable with the topic, the question and with the guest.   My guest was Tresor Otshudi, a french singer and guitar player from Paris, in France, but since 2014, he lives in Toronto. His music style is a mix between R&B and Ndombolo (a kind of African music) and he works between Paris and Toronto to perform his concerts. His last performance was on March 20th at Toronto Police Headquarters to celebrate the Francophone Week. This experience allowed me to meet many people and to demonstrate leadership as y...

Tonight’s show hosted by Stephanie, Kaylin and Judd covered the local news and featured guests Mike Balkwill and Angela Hatala, campaign organizers who are a part of the Put Food in The Budget Campaign. If you would like to find out more about Put Food in The Budget you can visit http://putfoodinthebudget.ca/ and Don’t Forget to tune into Catch Da Flava live every Tuesday 2 6-7pm.If you missed out on the show be sure to listen to this and many others on www.regentparkfocus.com/content/radio.html

On Monday the 16th of March our March break program began. Orientation began with some ice breakers, such as two truths one lie, in which each of us had to guess which statement was the truth and which was the lie. We then moved on to demonstrations on how to setup the cameras and tripods, work the mics, and how to conduct an interview. Tuesday the 17th of March we did a little review of the orientation that we went over on Monday regarding how to work the equipment. We worked with the youth to develop interview questions around their project of the Pan Am games, and completed off site filming to get interviews of the different opinions people have about the Pan Am games. The youths of the program setup the equipment and chose filming locations around the Ryerson campus, and were very engaged and enthusiastic about the process. They worked past their fears and each participated equally, taking turns on the camera, doing the interviewing and engaging the public to partake in our i...

Today, was another fun day at Diva Girls. We warmed up by playing a few weird games such as naming our favorite brands in alphabetical order?! However, after that we went straight to work in developing more detailed plans for our first show, which was about Media. A quirky script was created and discussions were made as the room was filled with excitement. We had a few deep talks about how media really affects our lives, and even created a pros and cons list compiling examples for each. Were super exited to start filming our show and for everyone to watch it when it comes out!

Today, our Diva Girls group was filled with laughter and smiles as us girls talked about our upcoming shows. We discussed ideas for the three shows which are going to be filmed soon. Some idea's were about the Media and how it is a big influence in our every day lives. Other ideas such as having a cooking show was also brought up. We mentioned a ton of great healthy alternatives for a easy to make snack. A new member to our group was also brought up and we welcomed her with open arms. While munching on some yummy food amazing suggestions for the shows were made, but they are a secret. You'll just have to wait t'll our shows come out to find out!

Today we talked about our exciting new upcoming show ideas. We worked hard on coming up with ideas and brainstorming for new Girls talk videos. The girls are incredibly excited to start the filming, so right now our main focus is to finish pre-production and script writing so that we can get started! Some of the show ideas consisted of Medias impact on our youth, a no-bake cooking show and maybe even some singing! We will keep you posted, so stay connected and keep an eye out. By: Mellissa Hum

Tonight on Catch Da Flava the crew had a more laid back show where we cover the local and international news as well as the latest on the social media airwaves. Including the dress which took the social media by storm, creating international debate among millions. Is it gold and white or black and blue? Hosted by Tiphaine, Judd, Stephanie and some input from Tyrone.To hear more and catch up on past shows be sure to check us out on www.regentparkfocus.com/content/radio.html

This week on Catch Da Flava crew met with Rachel Lauren Clark (an LGBT advocate/activist) talks about transgendered issues in Canada. Rachel talked her views on Canada’s supports for the LGBT community as opposed to other places as well as discussed her involvement in the LGBT community and the rights of the LGBT. To find out more and catch up on past shows be sure to check us out on www.regentparkfocus.com/content/radio.html

The Catch Da Flava Crew came together once again Evening news where the crew touched on topics of the TDSB, Shelbi Chase and more, We had a call in interview where we discussed the "Queer Spirits Film Fest '15" as well as sat down with Robert and a discussion about copyright laws. This week’s show was hosted by Judd, Karrisa, Amita and Tiphaine so you know you’re in for a treat. Don’t Forget to tune into Catch Da Flava live every Tuesday 2 6-7pm.If you missed out on the show be sure to listen to this and many others on www.regentparkfocus.com/content/radio.html

We opened the meeting with a check in talking about school and how our weeks were going. Everyone was relatively stressed about tests and exams so we were all incredibly excited that it was Friday and we finally got to sit down and talk. We continued to work on our candy grams for our Valentines Day fundraiser. Needless to say the girls worked incredibly hard on all of the hand made notes attached to the little bags. We filled them up with cute sayings and pictures and afterwards we started to put in the heart shaped lollipops and yummy chocolates.  We had so much fun making them and in the end they came out exactly how we had imagined. The girls and I were so proud of the final product and we are so excited to get the chance to do the fundraiser so we can in turn have a little more money for many of our exciting future projects. We ended the night by walking to the Regent Park aquatic center to put up one of the wonderful flyers the divas had made.  All in all it was a very ...

We had the great privilege to have one of the board of directors from imagineNATIVE come in and speak on their behalf. Andre Morriseau, once a manager, still a comedian and an overall delightful human being talked about his background as an aboriginal, brief experience of being in a residential school and the amazing work he and his staff do in the imagineNATIVE film and media arts festival. A brief note on what is imagineNATIVE comes directly from their website, imaginenative.org, " Since our first Festival in 2000, the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival has programmed film, VIDEO, radio and new media works made by Canadian and international Indigenous media artists in key creative roles as producers, directors, and/or writers. In programming these works over the years, imagineNATIVE has embraced works from Indigenous creators that push artistic boundaries to represent a diversity of ideas, themes and genres in our programming, seeking representations of subjects that woul...

I guess Ryan Cunningham is a big fan of Regent Park Focus as much as we are a fan of him because he came in again! It was amazing to see him come in and spend some more time with us in our studio to discuss the Native Earth Performing Arts. This time around, one of our youths from Council Fire Native Cultural Centre interviewed him in front of the camera and discussed topics surrounding Arts and Culture in the Indigenous community. The youth had to step up their game, in relation to their interviewing skills and stay focused and precise in their questions while still keeping a smile on their face, which wasn't hard to do since Ryan was a great delight to be around. The youth had more opportunity in front and behind the camera and it showed that night in their actions. Even though there were some snags in between shots, about the next line, how we are going to go about questioning Ryan and how to focus the camera on our host and guest. They pulled through and made it a great night ...

Prior to the filming, the girls interviewed their families and friends about their experiences as first-generation immigrants. Most of the girls were born in Canada. Some came at an early age and can barely remember their first day in this new country. Therefore, getting to know how people feel when they first arrived, what motivated them to start a new life here and the difficulties they encountered would enable the girls to look at things from a different perspective. For the first part of the show, we created a short "draw my life" video on the story of the first-generation immigrants in Canada. The girls then discussed some of their findings from the interviewing process. It was the first time they filmed a TV show in the studio, and they were very excited. We hope that you will like it! By: Dan Cai

This past week we had the opportunity to have Ryan Cunningham from Native Earth Performing Arts theatre company come in and visit our site.  Ryan is Metis (Cree/Scottish) from Edmonton, Alberta; the co-founder and Artistic Manager of Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts and the co-curator/producer of the RUBABOO Arts festival.  Being a part of many other titles to his name as well as many theatre, TV and big screen productions such as "Blackstone" and "Blue Murder" he still has the time to be a part of our very own production concerning Indigenous youth. The youth from Council Fire had the chance to talk to Ryan about his role in the theater company as well as what native earth was all about. The youth also created and asked him their own questions as to how he sees the Indigenous community in the performing arts her in Canada. They got the idea as to how they can be a part of the performing community and the steps they could take after high school going on to Colle...

Last week Jeff Kugler, one of the original founders of Model Schools came into Regent Park Focus to discuss the program with our youth on our Catch Da Flava Radio show.  Model schools in Toronto are those that receive extra funding to help their students (who are often of lower economic status) receive the same opportunities and social supports as more fortunate children.  The schools are determined by the Learning Opportunities Index which rank schools depending on the socioeconomic need of the community.  Model Schools initiative for Inner Cities ensures that students in the inner city will grow up with all the positive choices and opportunities they need to thrive. Through focusing on the needs of the child and by working together with students, families, community and governments; Model schools help make a difference to battle challenges like poverty and language barriers that affect a students outcome in school and life.  Our youth greatly enjoyed the opportuni...

Regent Park Focus welcomed Toronto city councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam to our studio. We interviewed Kristyn about her experiences in politics, her career inspirations and how she copes with difficulties in life. Our host Maeashah had an interactive conversation with Kristyn and asked for her advice to young women who come from diverse cultural backgrounds and are interested in becoming politically involved. We really appreciate Kristyn for sharing her stories, and hope that our audience would gain something helpful from watching the upcoming show! By: Dan Cai

The Diva's Media Group is an all-girls group that meets up every Friday at 5pm - 6:30pm. This past Friday I  had the opportunity to meet the girls for the first time.  I am a George Brown student who is doing my placement at Focus on youth media arts center. I loved being able to interact with the girls, who have both amazing personalities and amazing opinions. We started with an introduction. Then we went onto play some interactive games. One of the games consisted of having the girls draw a picture in 5 minutes that depicted their personalities and themselves without the use of words. We then took turns guessing who drew what. Later we went on to have a discussion about some ideas and concepts for the 3 shows the girls will be producing for Girls Talk.  Afterwards we discussed fundraising opportunities to help the girls raise funds for the divas group itself. We ended with a spirited game of two truths one lie in which we got to bond further and continue the process o...

Morgan Baskin, a high school student and active community volunteer, weighs in on lobbying for youth involvement at City Hall. After a long soliciting time, finally last week, we had her as a guest at Focus. Both on radio show and Tv show , she showed her well formed and clear thoughts on city's affairs. She described her experience through this journey. We learned that coming to mayoral candidacy, it was her own decision. And that took many people in surprise. Being too young, inexperienced in politics, she knew from the outset that she wouldn't had any chance to win the mayoral election. But what's is so encouraging is that she wanted to get youth voice being heard, weighed, measured, and considered seriously.  She believed that  her goals have been well achieved through this unexpected experience. Thanks,   Mori Teacher Candidate at Focus

Today we filmed our first Girls Talk show in the studio. Prior to the filming, the girls interviewed their families and friends about their experiences as first-generation immigrants. Most of the girls were born in Canada. Some came at an early age and can barely remember their first day in this new country. Therefore, getting to know how people feel when they first arrived, what motivated them to start a new life here and the difficulties they encountered would enable the girls to look at things from a different perspective. For the first part of the show, we created a short "draw my life" video on the story of the first-generation immigrants in Canada. The girls then discussed some of their findings from the interviewing process. It was the first time they filmed a TV show in the studio, and they were very excited. We hope that you would like it and the other two winter shows that are coming up on RPTV! By: Dan Cai

Over the past few months, a group of youth with RPTV have been meeting every Wednesday evening on the creation of a three-part mini series called "Samira's Choice."  The mini series is set in modern day Regent Park and we hope to accurately represent the issues and current events facing the community.   Samira’s Choice centres around our main character, Samira, who faces conflicts growing up in Canada and attempting to appease her parents and culture.  The process of trying to bring this script to life has been an interesting and new experience for many of our participants.  We have learned that script writing is a lengthy and detailed process.  We have a diverse and fun group of people:  Some high school students, University students from Ryerson media arts program, York Bed program and even middle school students.  Our diverse backgrounds contribute to eclectic and thought-provoking Wednesday e...

Today we did a radio show on women's rights in two countries: Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Our hosts, Maeashah and Sabrina, talked about various things that women are allowed or forbidden to do.Although both are primarily Muslim countries, our hosts found that women have different rights, restrictions and lifestyles. Also, there are different social and gender expectations for women in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Interested in learning more? The radio show will be coming soon! We hope our audience would enjoy this last Girls Talk show in 2014. By: Dan CaiDate

Today we did a radio show on women's rights in two countries: Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Our hosts, Maeashah and Sabrina, talked about various things that women are allowed or forbidden to do. Although both are primarily Muslim countries, our hosts found that women have different rights, restrictions and lifestyles. Also, there are different social and gender expectations for women in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Interested in learning more? The radio show will be coming soon! We hope our audience would enjoy this last Girls Talk show in 2014. By: Dan Cai

On November 27th the youth from council fire finished production in their first episode of LANND TV with the topic on Residential Schools. Throughout the production of this episode it was very clear that the youth were deeply invested with the creation of the video. Even though the youth have very little experience in front and behind the camera, they gave it their all and pulled through. There were times of laughter, excitement, anxiousness due to changes in scripts, cancellation  of guest lecturers and even general silliness as well while working inside a room that can be an oven part time. However in the end we had a great opportunity to  have a guest lecturer on our show to talk about her experiences and stories of residential schooling and her opinions on the future affects of it on the youth. All in all, it was a great time the youth shared with each other in the creation of the show.

Today’s session was very touching. We started off talking about shows we were going to produce in the future. When Dan was telling us about what we’ll be doing for the how, there was special excitement in the room. I for one have never done a talk show before and that’s why I’m really looking forward to this project. Next, we go active and played a game called, “Race of Privilege.” In the game we closed our eyes and listened to Ashley’s question. Whenever a question applied to us, we would either take a step forward or backward. There was candy waiting for us at the finish line so we were all eager to reach the end. When the game was over we discussed what the real purpose of the game. The ones who were closest to the front, you can say had it “easy in life. Very few factors, including their race interfered with their progress. Even though some of us were farther than others, in the end I think it doesn’t matter. Difficulties experienced because of one’s race don’t have to de...

Regent Park Focus, since 2013, has joined forces with HiveToronto Hive Toronto which is a network of non-for profit organizations within the Toronto area. HiveToronto is supported by Mozilla (The developers of Firefox) and acts as a way to bring organizations together to collaborate and participate in Maker Party events. A Maker Party is an event led by any of the containing organizations within the Hive network. A place to give participants the opportunity to quite simply... make something. For Regent Park Focus we have been very lucky to be featured in the 2014 MozFest that took place in London, England last week. All the Hive networks from around the world met up for the very first time. Was a great opportunity to connect, share knowledge, collaborate ideas and discuss challenges and solutions pertaining to each organizations' needs and potential growth. Additionally to the Hive track program I was fortunate enough to also meet the other track programs that Mozilla support...

During this session the youth had the opportunity to start researching the themes they were interested in. The four themes (history, politics, spirituality and arts and culture) were broken down to topics such as drumming, lacrosse, residential schools etc. However, due to the nature of these topics the students had to break them down further and form sub topics. These included, the type of drums, the equipment used for lacrosse and the apology for the residential schools respectively. For the social justice activity we analyzed photos and discussed what they portrayed and how we felt while looking at them. We then received the annotation that was attached to the photo and compared and contrasted our thoughts to the ideas depicted by the person taking the photo. The goal of the activity was to show the ideas and the emotions we may have while glancing at the photo without any texts associated with it. By: Tanbir Haque

My first interview on an Interfaith Dialogue was of Jasper Bendici. He is part of the Shallow Seas (a current rock band), as well as being an active member of a Greek Orthodox Church. For the first time ever, I was actually doing what I've always wanted to do: host a tv show ! I had so much support from everyone. I received simple advice about studio interviewing technique , which greatly improved the interview. Because of my experience in front of the camera, I now feel so much more confident in speaking out. This experience of people depending on me to deliver, caused me to grow in areas I didn't even expect.    The program of Interfaith Dialogue is so important to me, because it encourages people to see above themselves and to explore the big questions every human faces. I believe our culture has suppressed these thoughts and questions. A public show that discusses different faiths, groups, and movements toward peace and understanding is immensely i...

Mαєαѕнαн Hαqυє Dινα Gιяℓѕ~ Wєєк Tωσ “I know every day is a gift, but where's the receipt for Mondays? I want to exchange it for another Friday”- Unknown. It’s no doubt that everyone looks forward to Fridays. Why? Simply, because Fridays are everyone’s chilling day, where you can let go of school and just relax with the upcoming weekend. But for me, that’s not the only thing I look forward to on Fridays. Recently I had joined a group called “Diva Girls”. “Diva Girls” is a place where you can just be yourself, a group about us. We talk about several important things going on, whether it’s in the society, media or globally. We feel comfortable enough to share with each other about things, like hard or rough times and things that are happening all around us. Our very first week was truly amazing. We all just had this great vibe that made the session absolutely remarkable. Lots of ideas were being thrown around; all of us reflecting on what we were talking about and connecting with ...

With the Summer Program to a close, the Fall Program has begun! Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre opens up for a new season of programming. Including: TV Production, Radio Production and a New Media Program which will be starting on Saturdays in October. We will be conducting TV production every weekday Monday to Friday. Newcomers are very much welcomed to come take part in the pre-production, production and post-production stages of the shows. Today with the new RPTV crew we introduced them to the fundamentals of film-making. Learning about camera angles, shot framing and how to operate the TV broadcast equipment. Following the camera workshops we sat down to talk about future possible TV show ideas that relate to community news and social justice. Many topics were bounced around; some included a TV series focusing on the city's young entrepreneurs and another series on exploring the city of Toronto; checking out cool pockets of the city, focusing on establishments an...

The first gathering of divas was nothing short of brilliance. It was quiet inspiring to be with a group of young women who had so much to say about the world around them. It was great to see them stand firm in their beliefs, an anchor I know will be the steering rudder of the group. Many ideas for future goals and aspirations were rooted in what meant most of them. Through one of the activities we did it was interesting to see how many of the girls were struggling through similar things and all of them had a vision to positively impact their community. This certainly will be topic of discussion in future weeks. This week we’ll be creating art pieces from proverbs each of the girls chose and interpreted; these will be wise words to refer back to throughout the  year. By: Ashley Pileggi

My grade eleven year was largely highlighted by my experience in the TDSB and Facing History and Ourselves “Genocide and Crimes Against Humanities”course. Through it my class and I were able to explore topics that sometimes rendered us speechless and often produced new inspiration in our minds. Everyday in class we would learn about atrocious events of the past or present, at home or abroad. We would try to step into the shoes of the victims and the perpetrators, and understand the atmosphere around such events. However, throughout the course we always knew that what we were studying was too far removed from our lives for us to be helpful. If they were current issues, we struggled to find a way that we, Torontonian high school students, could tackle such issues. It was often very distressing to delve into difficult questions when none of us could really provide an answer. When Facing History & Ourselves and Regent Park Focus teamed up for the “Radiozilla” project, it seemed th...