Regent Park Focus

Hello it’s Jacob from Catch De Flava and on the day of Tuesday January 17th myself, staff member Tyrone, and my friend Jonathan Suen student at Ryerson University did an hour long radio talk show on the issues facing university and college students. We discussed the tuition fees Ryerson University and George Brown College students face paying off individually or with help from their parents. There was the mentioning of the accommodations students must purchase during their studying years such as: textbooks, transportation, residential taxes, student services, and paying off OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program) loans. The University of Ryerson and College of George Brown has a huge variety of career programs costing at a range of $3500 to $10,000 per year varying on the level of profession of study. A huge majority of discussion on Ontario lowering the tuition fee or following other country practices such as Germany or Sweden where education is free for students. We also dis...

This week at the Regent Park Focus Divas Media Group Program, the Divas were presented the opportunity to record a poem and share using film, radio or perform at an event. To do this, the Divas would have to create new poems or choose from those they had created in the past sessions. After this information was passed, the Divas were asked to express how they felt about the idea in terms of readiness, whether they would like to record and present and how confident they were about sharing their poetry. Some of the Divas appeared to be excited and enthusiastic about the idea, some said they were nervous but had confidence they could pull it off, others said they would record a poem if they feel confident about their poems and one Diva said she would feel shy to face a crowd, could change her mind eventually but might consider doing a radio recording. These mixed feelings are totally relatable but what is great about this is, being brave enough to share their feelings. In this session, Ay...

This week at the Regent Park Focus Divas Media Group Program, the goals of this session are the following; (1) to make the Divas feel positive about their bodies; (2) to celebrate the difference/unique qualities of their bodies/things society normally doesn’t celebrate; (3) to touch on self care/loving and caring for the body just as it is. A recap of the previous week was done as the Divas passed the circle rock and described what they had learned through the program and the things that stood out for them so far in the ‘Celebrating our Unique Bodies’ session. This exercise was a refreshing way to begin this session as it made the Divas feel relaxed and set for the day’s activities. In today’s session the Divas watched and reflected on two spoken word performances; “Body Love” – Mary Lambert and “For the Body” – Ruby Francisco. After this exercise, the Divas were allowed to use their personal reflection of their bodies in writing. The writing prompt says: A love letter to my body...

This week at the Divas Media Group Program, the goals of the session was the following; (1) to make the Divas feel positive about their bodies; (2) to celebrate the difference/unique qualities of their bodies/things society normally doesn’t celebrate; (3) to touch on self care/loving and caring for the body just as it is. After watching a spoken word performance ‘The Body is Not an Apology’ by Sonya Renee the Divas did an exercise focused on self evaluation of the body. In this activity, the Divas thought about their bodies in different ways and they were able to use this reflection to write down unique qualities about themselves. At the end of this session, the Divas described how they felt about themselves now. The Divas had much to say about self-love and how important it was. The Divas now realize that the society is not the standard for the right body type. Indeed! The body is not an apology. It is yours to own, to care for and to love. - Titilola Onogu 

On Friday November 18th 2016, the Divas Girl Group went on an excursion to attend the MusiCounts TD Community Music Program celebration. Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre was privileged to have received a grant from the program, that will go towards a upcoming music program for the youth in Regent Park. The Divas Girl group was lucky to attend the kick-off celebration which included amazing performances. There were three performers from Art Starts, Vanessa Lu, and one surprise performance from Canadian juno award winner- Kardinal Offishall. It was an overall exciting upbeat performance from all three performers. The Divas Girl Group then went on to the Art Gallery of Ontario to view great Canadian artist’s work. It was a great excursion that all of the girls enjoyed.    By: Julianne Uptegrove

This week at the Regent Park Focus Divas Media Group Program, the Divas continued where they left off the previous week on Feminism in the modern world. The goals of this session was the following; (1) to be more aware of feminism as a movement and what people are doing about it; (2) make them aware that their voice matters and they can do something too; (3) make them understand the history of the movement. In this session, the Divas focused on the awareness of knowing that they have a voice. In one of the exercises we were asked to draw a mental picture of what each person wanted the future to look like and afterwards what we can do to make that change in the future happen. After this exercise, the Divas spent their time writing and creating poetry with the help of a writing prompt that says “I want a future where...” Divas who felt comfortable to share their poetry did so and it was very inspiring. - Titilola Onogu 

Hello, my name is Jacob and I’ve been facilitating the game design program lead by Fernando. The second session Fernando taught students Deondre, Ron, and Jose the visual language program known as Scratch to prepare them for creation of simple animations for their game. I and one of the students Lam taught me the process of creating my own character in a virtual reality game called Dungeons and Dragons. Together we worked on a spread sheet where we had to think of a character name, character class, supplies the character would carry, statistics, and personality traits. The process was long and confusing however; it was fun to learn and to hear how my character would act in the real virtual game once the character creation was completed. It’s good to see these students gaining new skills and knowledge of design so they could incorporate it into their mindsets to benefit themselves. By: Jacob Hong

This week at the Regent Park Focus Divas Media Group Program, the Divas were introduced to Feminism in the modern world. The goals of this session were the following; (1) to be more aware of feminism as a movement and what people are doing about it; (2) to be aware that their voice as young women matters and they can do something too; (3) to understand the history of the movement.  The session began with the Divas sharing their views on feminism. Some of the Divas were already familiar with the concept of feminism while others were not. To introduce the Divas to a brief history of feminism, the Divas played the timeline game where they had to guess what year certain milestones took place in the history of feminism. After this exercise, it was so exciting to see the Divas sharing on and on about their ideas on feminism using the circle rock. They reflected on the just concluded United States presidential elections and also cited personal experiences as examples to describe their vi...

On Tuesday, November 1 2016 at The Paint Box Bistro many different artists came together and did individual live performance's to have a fundraiser in support for Radio Regent. Radio Regent is a diverse independent radio station which has been operating since January 1 2012. With Music from Isax and Friendliness, African Blues Adam Solomon, and spoken word artist Twoey Gray, Londzo Drury, the audience was very entertained and in positive vibes all night. We would like to thank everyone who participated and contributed to making this event successful. For our future events you can stay updated by following us on twitter @regentparkfocus or visit our website at www.regentparkfocus.com . By: Tito-tae Sharpe

Hello, this is Deondre, Jacob, and Tito and we’re placement students at Regent Park Focus Media Arts Centre. On Tuesday October 11th our team of 3 did a live radio show on the troubles of the TTC in the city of Toronto. Problems we discussed during our radio show were the Metropass to Presto card changes for next year and the Yonge University Spadina Subway Extension to Vaughan and Richmond Hill. Concerns and issues were raised from ourselves about the 2 problems facing people around Toronto and York Region with an extended subway line. The TTC is already pretty crowded during the morning and late afternoon commute for passengers heading in and out of the city. The Yonge University Spadina extension to Vaughan is already delayed 18 months, $400 million dollars in contractor claims, and costs 3.2 billion dollars for the whole project. On the positive side the subway extension will prevent gridlock and creating a more attractive and creative way of getting to places around the city. It ...

Hello, my name is Jacob Hong and I’m a placement student from George Brown College currently facilitating the game design program directed by Fernando. The first session myself and two other drop-in students Beverly and Lam were thought by Fernando was the program called Scratch. Scratch is a visual programming language program used by students and teachers to create simple animations. Scratch helps youth think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. Fernando taught us all 8 sprites on the Scratch program such as: motion, looks, sound, pen, control, sensing, operators, and variables. The fundamentals Fernando taught Beverly and Lam are preparing them for the future classes as it will assist them in the development of their programs. By: Jacob Hong Date: Monday, October 17, 2016

WEEKLY BLOGS FOR THE DIVAS MEDIA GROUP PROGRAM Oct 14th, 2016 Session 1: Introduction to spoken words The Regent Park Focus weekly Divas Media Group Program resumed on Friday 14th October, 2016. The Divas were back to having an exciting experience as usual. In this season of the Divas Media Program, the Regent Park Focus has a different plan for the Divas. We have lots of games, fun and exciting activities for the Divas to make their learning experience worth their while. The season started with a ‘spoken word’ series which would go on for a couple of weeks. The spoken word serious would be facilitated by two female professional spoken word artists. In the first class of the spoken word series, the Divas were excited about the art as some of most of them had never written a poem or performed the art before. The Divas were introduced to the art of spoken word, played games, got to know each other, watched videos on spoken word performances and eventually got a chance to create...

Hello, I am Julianne, a co-op student currently placed at Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre. On Wednesday November 2nd, I had the opportunity to do a live radio show during Media Literacy Week. Media Literacy Week was a great interactive way to encourage youth to learn about and explore different aspects of media. During my show, I touched on the topic of celebrity culture and the different opinions of those in the industry, as well as those who use media everyday. According to Wikipedia, celebrity culture is “a high-volume perpetuation of celebrities’ personal lives on a global scale”. I talked about how the whole star system started in 1903, and how it as evolved through the years through the growth of media. We also talked about how much young people want to be famous- 51% of 18-25 year olds to be exact. It was amazing and fun to record, and I implore you to check it out. Listen here: http://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/2016-11-02.mp3 By : Julianne Uptegrove...

This week at the Regent Park Focus Divas Media Group Program, the Divas were introduced to the concept of the media representation of the body and gender as a social construct. The Divas used images from magazines and social media to challenge societal expectations about body image; emphasizing the ways in which race, religion and ability are commonly represented. This activity helped the Divas to deconstruct the social concept of “beauty” and representation of the “body”. The Divas also watched spoken word videos about body image. These videos gave the Divas a different perspective in terms of how/what they think about their bodies. This was followed by an exercise where the Divas were able to use their creative thinking to create and perform spoken word poems about what their body would say if it could speak. - Titilola Onogu 

Wed November 2, 2015 4-5:30pm Tour Regent Park Television Studios and Watch Live Taping of Shows Tour the studios, learn how a community TV station operates and how you can produce a show on Regent Park TV. 4-5:30pm Radio Regent presents Idolizing Justin Bieber & Kim Kardashian Join youth in a radio discussion exploring celebrity culture. Learn how you can produce a show on Radio Regent. Location: Regent Park Focus. 5:30-7pm Heritage Public Consultation: On Canadian Content in a Digital World Participate in a discussion for Canadian Heritage Minister, Hon. Melanie Joly about community TV and independent radio and why public access matters in the digital age. Co-facilitated by the Canadian Association of Television Stations and Users (CACTUS). Location: Regent Park Focus. This event will be streamed live. November 3, 2016 4-6pm DJ Workshop Introduction to the equipment and basic techniques of DJ-ing. Location: Regent Park Focus. 4-5:30pm Game Programming Workshop In...

Divas Media Group Blog The Regent Park Focus weekly Divas Media Group Program resumed on Friday 14th October, 2016. The Divas were back to having an exciting experience as usual. In this season of the Divas Media Program, the Regent Park Focus has a different plan for the Divas. We have lots of games, fun and exciting activities for the Divas to make their learning experience worth their while. The season started with a ‘spoken word’ series which would go on for a couple of weeks. The spoken word serious would be facilitated by two female professional spoken word artists. In the first class of the spoken word series, the Divas were excited about the art as some of most of them had never written a poem or performed the art before. The Divas were introduced to the art of spoken word, played games, got to know each other, watched videos on spoken word performances and eventually got a chance to create and perform their own spoken word. They all described their experience at the end of...

This week at the Divas Media Group Program, the Divas explored gender norms and girlhood. Through forum theatre and spoken word videos, the Divas analyzed media representations of gender and femininity. This activity helped them gain a deeper understanding of the gender binary and learn about a range of gender identities, including gender-fluid and trans-identities. At the end of this session, the Divas composed their first poetry that challenges labels and addresses the themes of girlhood and femininity. It was an exciting session for the Divas.

The first fall session of the 2016 Regent Park Focus Divas Media Group Program began on Friday 14th October, 2016. As well as games and exciting fun activities the focus of the fall Divas’s program this year will be on spoken word workshops. The spoken word workshop series will be facilitated by two female professional spoken word artists; Ayla and Londzo. In the first class of the spoken word series, the Divas played games and got to know each other. Then they were introduced to the art of spoken word. This involved watching videos on spoken word performances and eventually getting a chance to create and perform their own spoken word poetry. The Divas participants were excited about the art as some of them had never written a poem or performed the art before. They all described their experience at the end of the day as exciting.

Friday August 19 th , 2016 Today we spend the whole day catching up on projects. Mainly because there’s only 1 week left in the summer program so we’re scrambling to finish. I spent most of my day working on audio projects.   By:   Saeema Saifuddin

Thursday August 18 th , 2016 So for this Thursday, we have changed things around because unfortunately Eddie is sick and he can’t come in for a game design workshop. :( But I thought that since we’ve shot at least three scenes for Jacksons drama, I should start editing and after today, I have made tons of progress. I started by going through every single clip we have and label them. That is extremely necessary when it comes to editing, especially if its something involving so much footage (I had about 150 individual clips) because it will make your life 1,000,000 times easier when it comes to looking for the right clips. Once everything was properly labeled, I put it in premiere and began editing! And as previously stated, it’s going very well so far!  By: Pierce Holmes

Wednesday August 17 th , 2016 Today, everyone was working very hard to finish their summer projects! Multiple participants helped to film some of the shots for one of the short films, “Til my Lungs Run Out of Air". There was also another audio workshop going on, where the participants learned even more about how to audio engineer their own shows. But, for most of the day, many of the peer leaders and participants were busy editing different television shows and short films. We are all well on our way to completing our projects . By: Alicia Anglin

Monday August 15 th , 2016 When I say Mondays, you say rock. Mondays! Rock! Mondays! Rock! Who says Mondays can’t be fun and not the bane of everyone’s existence. Here at Regent Park Focus, when participants come back from the weekend they come ready to work hard. As the last two weeks of the program are approaching participants are working tirelessly to complete their radio shows, television shows, and dramas. The participants are all at different stages on their projects, some are doing research, some have gone out to film, and some have already started editing. Two projects that will be ready soon are a Toronto fashion trends show and a slang show. With all the participants workings as hard as they are we are on track to have all projects produced by the end of August! By: Nicholas Ramsubick