Regent Park Focus

July 31- Aug 4 This week participants at Focus worked on discussing their pitches and shared their story ideas in a pitch meeting. They were asked to start on their scripts with the advice and suggestions they were given from the group meeting and to have them submitted later on. Participants also took part in a two day anti-oppression workshop with guest Rania El Mugammar, to give them context on how to write their newcomer stories. They were given several exercises and hand outs with definitions for what anti-oppression entails. They were asked to use this information to inform their script writing, but some of them will be using the information to work on their debate on race issues in Canada and America for next week’s episode of Catch Da Flava youth radio. By: Judy Pham

I interviewed rapper Emiricus Brown from Harlem, NY on this show. Emiricus is a unique artist who has his grassroots experience in poetry and is slowly trying to expand his rap interests as well. Emiricus is an amateur producer, and has only recently tried his hand at producing instrumental beats, available on his Soundcloud page. I started the interview with him asking questions about his youth and his early years dabbling in poetry and channeling his creative energy. He told the story of his youth, stating that he grew up anting to channel the hatred of the educational institution and the flawed system into is works in high school. He said that his poetry style grew as he advanced in age, and expanded from romantic poetry, to topics like politics and societal issues. Rap, he said, came naturally to him because of this. Throughout the interview, I asked him questions about his upcoming EP, his musical inspirations, and his role as a student at Emory University. I ended the show by pl...

In the second week of the Audio Production class, we touched on some basic composition and musical modes, but the practicality and interest level of the topic was lower than moving forward with mixing and focussing on sound rather than theory. In week three, we looked at more functionalities of basic recording knowledge, such as internally recording audio and sampling, and simulating space around a sound source with digital reverbs and EQ. This led us to discussion of editing audio for film and TV, and how a background in improving or manipulating sound quality for basic effects such as nearness or space is also beneficial in mixing music. Also in the third week, the students began working on audio replacement for minute-long segments of film. They were asked to find pieces of film which included foley, scoring, live sound, and dialogue. This tasked them with a holistic approach to the DAW by requiring them to work with both audio and midi, to record and to mix, to create auxilia...

The students of RPF’s 2-month audio production program initially came in once a week for 3 hours. Class began with 1 - 2 hours of discussion, instruction and demonstration before students would independently work and practice the content of the day’s lesson. Because we had 3 workstations and 6 regular students, at first we staggered the days on which some students would work on a computer, while the others were taken into another, separate lesson for the remainder of class; then in our third week we added one more day of class, so that when the students began their personal projects, they could spend more in-school hours working on them. The course content was presented under terms of self-direction and personal musical desires. The curriculum was drafted as a branching map of possible chronological creative and academic routes. When each student enrolled, they were interviewed one-on-one by the instructor on their previous experience with music and sound, what they wanted to ...

July 24-28 This week participants at Focus worked on submitting pitches for a seven-minute video they will be doing, with a focus on the newcomer experience. Three stories would be created into videos, while the rest were asked to focus on writing the script to familiarize themselves with script-writing. On Friday, participants held a goodbye party for six international student interns as their session at Focus were ​ finished. Participants were able to enjoy each others’ company, but also learn to balance that with completing all video projects on the same day. Some participants were assigned to be on air for Catch da Flava youth radio, where they discussed the experience of being international students, and the overall experience of trying to belong in a country that doesn’t wholly accept them as being a part of their society.

For this edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we talked to Erdine Hope, a mental health case worker  in the Regent Park community, about mental health, addiction and her journey to being clean for 22 years. Jaidyn and I delved into the challenging and rewarding world of a mental health case worker and learned about what a mental health case worker does, the challenges they face, and how Erdine started her career as a case worker. Erdine talked about her ongoing work with youth who have mental illness and/or addictions. She gets connected with youth in need through the courts, hospitals, and on a referral basis. One intriguing challenge she talked about was the difference between  working with men and women. From her twenty years of experience, she’s found that women are, “harder to transition into case management because they are more self-reliant.” On the other hand, she's found that men usually rely on the one-on-one support that comes with case management. F...

This week on Catch Da Flava, we talked to the Under the Stars coordinator Elizabeth Mudenyo. Elizabeth spoke to the co-host Jaidyn and the host Nicholas about current events and future events that the festival will be occurring with the festival. We discussed how the festival is a Regent Park movie night where family and friends can get to together to watch family blockbuster films outside of their homes. Some of the family films are Moana, Space Jam and The Hunter For The Wilderpeople. The festival also plays foreign movies like historical documentaries, Bollywood and drama films like Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, Bicycle Thieves and Hidden Figures. Elizabeth also spoke about the programs and workshops that will occur during the events 6 weeks of the festival opening. There will be soccer games, dance classes, dj workshops and more. These programs will run every week and take place between 7-8:30 pm before the films begins on Sunday at approximately 9pm. ...

International students show! Radio Regent and University of Toronto Summer Youth International English Program collaborated to produce an hour long live youth radio show. On July 19 th , a class of 15 international students aged 13-14 from Japan, China, Vietnam, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Brazil came on a tour of Regent Park Focus Youth Media Centre. As a part of their class activities, one of the tasks was to produce a radio show. The teenagers were very excited as none of them had ever done any broadcast before. In fact, most of them were visiting a radio station for the very first time. The students had done their homework well; all the content was fully scripted and ready- to-air. The class was divided into three groups of five students each. On the show, the students discussed issues, benefits and complicacies involving the internet and social media usage for young teenagers. They shared views on their favorite social media apps and reasons why they use them. To keep th...

July 17-21 This week participants at Focus submitted three story ideas for radio show Catch da Flava, with an emphasis on social justice topics. They had a meeting about their pitches and presented them to everyone, and scheduled in which show they will be presenting their stories. They worked on securing a guest for the topic, learning how to write a radio script, having suggestions and revisions to it, prepared to be on-air for the next week. Some of the topics included were interviewing the cartoonist and author of Asylum Squad, Sarafin. Also, some participants wanted to discuss the experience of an international student, and another participant wanted to have a debate on whether racism was worse in Canada or the U.S. Along with this, a few participants focused on completing video editing projects and working on learning how to create their own games. By: Judy Pham

For this edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, co-hosts Judy and Diamond held a panel discussion about the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls of Canada and the anger towards the disorganization caused by resignations of senior staff within the inquiry. Resulting in families of the victims frustrated with the lack of clear strategy and strong partnerships with Indigenous communities across the country. With the recent resignation of 5 commissioners including  Marilyn Poitras, we discussed how many have questioned the leadership of the inquiry and whether this leadership problem should result in the inquiry being represented and driven by indigenous people. Furthermore, we brought to light how families feel less willing to participate in the process as their ability to claim justice for loved ones and victims are greatly affected by these resignations. We express our thoughts on the history of social and cultural oppression of indigen...

This week on Catch Da Flava we talked to Lead Organizer of Toronto Mad Pride Tim Brown about the history of Mad Pride along with how this festival jammed packed with the art, culture and heritage of psychiatric survivors became what it is today. Tim spoke with co-hosts Judy and Diamond about events to expect during this annual event celebrating and advocating for those around the world labelled as “ mentally ill”. We discussed how mad activists and the mad community seek to reclaim language ; such as “mad”, “crazy”, “lunatic”, “maniac”, and “psycho” ;just as the LGBT community have reclaimed the word “queer”; in an effort to challenge the discrimination they faced in the past and in the present day. Tim also spoke about how Mad Pride week is held corresponding to International Mad Pride Day on July 14, and Bastille day in which during the French Revolution, citizens stormed the Bastille to liberate prisoners and  mad people. This year the Toronto Mad ...

Weekly Summary- July 10-14th This week Regent Park Focus participants and summer staff held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss what needs to be done for the next two weeks. All participants were expected to work on a game idea to be developed and created with Gaming Instructor Fernando Restituto during the summer program. Executive Director Adonis Huggins announced Judy Pham as the summer’s Media Arts Coordinator, who will directed summer participants and hold radio workshops. Video Coordinator Dimitrije Martinovic discussed all the various video editing projects, their progress, and who was assigned to them. For the week, participants have been finishing up their video projects and starting to consider gaming designs and learning coding. Some students have been assigned to work on radio shows and have been working on securing guests, figuring out relevant topics to explore, and script writing for a radio show. This Friday, Judy held a radio script writing workshop to s...

The main focus of the underground hip-hop radio show on July 10th was to only showcase underground music selections from my personal cache of underground music tracks. I started off the show introducing myself to new listeners and then proceeded to play my secreted playlist. I feel like the more personal a song becomes to a youthful audience, the more it is epitomized as a song that defines a certain generation. Therefore before each song was introduced to the audience I gave aa personal anecdote or a story about the artist pertaining to that respective song. I started off the show introducing artist Vince Staples from LA, and showcased the song titled “SAMO” from his most recently released album “Big Fish Theory.” Throughout the show I played tracks by Jhene Aiko, Waldo, Smino, the WDNG CRSHRS, and finally finished the set off by playing “All Star” by Cousin Stizz.

The main focus of the underground hip-hop radio show on July 6th was to interview a rap artist from Atlanta, GA and ask him about his journey as a rapper in the youth community. I began the show by introducing myself and my guest artist BOREGARD to the radio audience and then promptly commenced the interview. In the interview I made sure to ask about his artistic vision and it developed and evolved since he was very little—music, he said, was a huge part of his life growing and allowed his youth to be more creatively fruitful. He answered questions about being a business student apart of an elite American institution, and how being an artist and a student helped him visualize his artistic dreams in a very efficient economic way. Listen Here: http://regentparkfocus.com//radio/media/undergroundvybes/Underground_Vybes_2017-07-06.mp3

De Paris à Toronto – French Connection The theme of our Thursday June 1st radio show was about the education system in Canada. We began the show by giving a quick overview of the education system in Canada such as the numbers of students and schools. In 2010, public expenditures on education from provincial, territorial, federal and local governments amounted to $80 billion spent on all levels of education. Then we talked about the main differences of education systems between France and Canada. In Canada, there is no federal department of education like in France and no integrated national system of education. Everything is split into various department that refers to a specific location. Our objective was also to explain how the system works because it’s not easy for a francophone foreigner to understand the educative system in Canada. Speaking generally, the education starts at 3 years old and ends at 26 at the maximum. You can have a lot of options like in France but here, in Ca...

Greening's first broadcast in early May was about air quality in Toronto. The show talked about informative studies done in two areas of the city. We also had an opportunity to speak with Heather from the Toronto Environmental Alliance. She gave us more insight on some of the air quality issues we are having. The show continues to speak about INHALE, a project where participants may request their very own air quality monitoring device. To find out more information about how to get one of these devices, visit www.torontoenvironment.org . To learn more about the 8 dangerous carcinogens in our Toronto air, listen to the podcast at: http://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/greening/2017-05-18.mp3  The next show will be on electric cars, tune in on June 1st!

On June 1st, Greening aired its second ever environmental talk show about Electric Cars! The podcast recounts Jim Motavalli’s book, “High Voltage” about the different types of electric cars and their pros and cons. The show also held a discussion between the two hosts about their personal opinions on electric cars, as well as the importance of them to sustain our future. Greening also dabs into the opening of Plug N Drive, a new discovery center where the public can visit for free and test-drive electric cars. http://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/greening/2017-06-01.mp3

During this weeks Divas' Group (Friday May 19 ), the ladies from the program began by reflecting on last week's activities as well as the distribution of prizes for the winners from The Visual Arts competition. Winnie Payne, a Co-op student from Nortredame High School, judged the visual art pieces and she selected Sumeya, Fazra and Faduma as the winners. The young ladies each received a prize and posed for a commemorative picture. Tusma Sulieman, a George Brown College Community Worker Student facilitated this portion of the workshop. The workshop theme was healthy skin and make-up application. Tusma began by demonstrating the proper way in which one cleanses, moisturizes, applies eye shadow, lipstick, bronzer, blush and mascara on the face and skin. The young ladies were then randomly placed into groups of two to work on each other and recreate a natural all day luminous look. The young ladies then spoke about the products they used to create the looks and share ...

Radio Regent De Paris à Toronto – The French Connection Our second show broadcast on Thursday May 18th was focused on French food in Toronto. We have been in Toronto for over a month now and we have to say that we miss French food!!! So the idea was to talk about this in our second show. Where could you find french food in Toronto ? Where are the most popular french restaurants ? Is there any events in Toronto that promotes french products and food? We listened to a french chef who works in Lavelle, a restaurant in King Street. He spoke about his experience here, his ambitions and the way that he cooks french products. We also talked about the difference between French and Canadian food. What kind of food people love here ? How they eat ? Lastly our food radio show was an opportunity to talk about some nice places in Toronto where food has an important presence. Tune into French Connection every Thursday from 2 pm to 3 pm. By Gabrielle Rousselle and Cassandra Chaillou p...

Friday May 12, 2017 Today at Regent Park Focus the Diva Girls had a blast with George Brown College Community Worker Student Tavianne, The young ladies were seated in a semi circle table and placed randomly in to groups of four. The young ladies began the workshop by choosing a name for their group and a group captain. The young ladies then began playing Diva Feud. The premise of the gameshow was to test their knowledge on Celebrities, Local News, Geography, Politics and Sports. The ladies worked well in their groups often displaying their competitive sides and proving that they were an assist to their respective teams. At the end of the Diva's Feud, all participants were given a prize for their outstanding sportsmanship and participation. The young ladies then went on a break for refreshments. After the break, the young ladies remained in their previous groups. The ladies were then asked to showcase their artistry and visual arts skills. The young ladies where asked to...

De Paris à Toronto – Launching of a new radio show By radio regent – May 12th 2017 This new Radio Show called « From Paris to Toronto // French Connection » is a weekly french production made by Gabrielle and Cassandre who are two french interns here in Toronto. This show will be about different subjects like the social issues of french people in Toronto but also about politics, culture, environment, music... Each week, we will focus on one subject and try to talk and exchange with our audience. We will also try to have a guest, meaning a french guest who is living in Toronto. For this very first show they have chosen to talk about politics because Emmanuel Macron had just become the new president of France. During the show they comeback on Macron’s program and describe his profile. They have also talked about the future of Canadian – French relationships in politics. Their guest, Valentin Cirot a french young man who came r...

Let’s Talk About Sex! During the month of March and April, the Catch da Flava youth radio collective partnered with Planned Parenthood Toronto to plan, produce and host a sex education radio series on Radio Regent. The radio series consisted of four, one hour long shows that aired every Tuesday in April from 6-7pm. The preparation for the series started in early March with brainstorming sessions with young people involved in Regent Park Focus and Planned Parenthood youth volunteers. In the brainstorming sessions, there was an in-depth and candid discussion on various aspects of awareness, education and communication about sex. After hours of discussion, the participants came up with four themes -highlighting related issues on each show and took on various tasks to prepare the shows for broadcast. First Show- Sex Education in the education system The first show aired on 4 th April, Tuesday, hosted by Cyinthia, Winnie, Nicole, Deondre and Ahmed. For this show our volunt...

Diva's Media Group Friday May 5, 2017 Today at Regent Park Focus the Diva girls had an exciting day with Community Worker students Tavianne and Tusma. The workshop began with an icebreaker where the young ladies were asked to share an experience that was memorable and special from the current week. The young ladies then divided into two teams in which they then chose a name for their team. After the naming of the group, the ladies began playing Diva Jeopardy. The categories within the Diva's Jeopardy consisted of Canadian Politics, Social Media, Sports and Entertainment. The young ladies collaborated with one another, the ladies performed well under pressure and aimed to encourage one another throughout the game. The game concluded with the winning team receiving a prize. The workshop took a break for refreshments. After the break the ladies reflected on past discussions with Toronto Public Health Nurses from a prior workshop on nutrition, the importance of eating he...

This week (April 21) the focus of the Diva Girls group was on mental health. I did the facilitation of the workshop. We started off with a little discussion on what mental health is and then we watched a few videos. Then we organized a debate panel on what causes mental health issues. Afterwards we played a game which involved soft balls being thrown at each other. The goal was to catch the balls and prevent them from dropping to the floor. This was to demonstrate that you can only handle so many things at once before dropping them and that’s what happens when you have stress. Following the break the girls did a little quiz on myths and facts on mental health statements. A lot of the girls did perfect on the quiz and this showed that they knew the most basic facts and myths about mental health. The girls then ended the session with a little breathing exercise to reduce stress and anxiety Lysandra Lobo

Over the past two months dedicated staff from Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre has been working with young people at John Polanyi Collegiate Institute (JPCI), a Toronto District public school located in the Lawrence Heights area, to run a 12 week after-school project. The project is dedicated to educating young people about the law and was funded by the Ontario Law Foundation. 15 high school aged youth registered in the program. Here is a summary of the project to date. The first session began on February 16th with the facilitators, Adonis Huggins and Patrick Reynolds, introducing themselves and finding out more about the program participants through name games and ice breakers. This was followed by a discussion about the goals and objectives of the program and finally an exercise to determine how knowledgeable the youth were about difference between Civic Law and Criminal Law. Most of the youth had very little understanding of the difference between Civic and Criminal law...

This week, the Diva Girls finally got to present their creative poem writing skills in their final showcase! The girls came in early to prepare and perfect their poems for performing. They even had stage names prepared for themselves which were a nice personal touch for all the Divas. Before the showcase, the girls did a circle rock session to calm them down and releases some of the nervousness but a lot of them were ready to hit the stage. At the showcase, the event kicked off with a video produced by Tusma Sulieman about Molem fashion and Islamophobia. The video was funded by the In-spirit Foundation and is scheduled to be broadcast on Regent Park TV. The screening was followed by a Q and A with Tusma about the film. Next up the two facilitators performed inspiring pieces setting the stage for the Divas. The Divas did not disappoint. The Divas performed their spoken word pieces beautifully and were not intimidated by the full house. Many of the spoken word pieces ha...

On April 4, 2017, Tavianne and Deondre represented Regent Park Focus at the Rotary Youth Leadership Expo.  The Youth Leadership Expo is an annual event designed to  inspire youth to become active volunteers and leaders in their community through  leadership building activities At the expo, youth walked around and engaged in conversations with presenters on how to  become active participants in their community. We handed out brochures and spoke with youth about the opportunities Regent Park Focus offers to students; hosting their own radio show, hosting their own television show or they can submit an article that they are passionate about for the magazine, and their participation can lead to community  volunteer hours. The event was amazing and the experience was well worth attending. By:  Tavianne Jackson

This week the Diva girls continued to prepare for their final showcase performance. They continued to work on their poems and finalized them for their performance as next week would be dress rehearsal. The girls then went over some tips on how to perform on stage and they also did a word memory game to help them work on remembering their poetry. The rest of the session was spent working on video recordings and finishing up poems. By: Lysandra Lobo

Hello its Deondre from Catch Da Flava on Radio Regent, Oon Monday March 20th 2017, Jacob, Tavianne and myself hosted 20 minute radio show on the LGBTQ community, with Jordyn Samuels. We discussed some of the work Jordyn is currently doing with (SOY) , along with some of the stigma and fear for youth who come out as Gay. Interviewing Jordyn really opened my eyes to a different perspective of the LGBTQ community as well giving some great insight on what is like being an activist for the LGBTQ community. Tune in for our next radio show that will discuss a little bit about Black Lives Matter.

If you ask me how was my March Break I will tell you that it was boring, except for around 1pm to 5pm everyday, when I got a chance to experience my dream job. The first day I came to Regent Park Focus, I was overwhelm by how friendly, enthusiastic and professional everyone was. Along with that I felt a little bit shy because I had so little experience in any of the roles but everyone was so nice and encouraging. Monday, and Tuesday, I got to be in the studio and learned about the camera operation, the lighting, the audio, and the editing. Then Wednesday, the first day of filming, it was the only “break” of the week thanks to our executive director’s lateness with all the props. At that point, I can’t believe that we were actually filming a video, it was all like a dream to me. Then we took turns to act and film the rest until we realized that it was way too late. The next day was similar till the end of the week. Actually being in the studio film, I picked up a lot of tips and...

This week at the Diva Girls meeting, a guest speaker was brought in to share her poetry with the girls. Her poem was on religious culture and racism. After she shared her poem, the girls had a little discussion on why religion and culture is so important in society. Some Divas had experiences with what it’s like to be an accepted part of society while many did not know what that experience was. They went around in a circle and then talked about what makes them feel accepted and how society views them. The Divas then had a little activity where they answered three questions. They were split into two groups and the questions were “What does it mean to be a Canadian Muslim girl?”, “What is the most positive thing about being a Canadian Muslim girl?” and “What do you wish people knew about Islam” The Divas spent a lot of time on this activity sharing their thoughts on the questions and later presented their ideas to the rest of the group. After the break, they watched a video on Musl...

This reading week, a team of 8 University of Toronto students came to Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre to engage with the community of Regent Park. On day one, we toured the studio here at Regent Park Focus. We were floored by how much equipment was available to us and how knowledgeable the staff are. After our tour of the centre, we went through a walk around the community. It was during this walk we developed our idea for our pre-recorded radio show. When we arrived back at RPF, we spent our remaining time brainstorming further. The start of day two gave us the title of our pre-recorded radio show: A Walk Through Regent Park. We picked several locations in Regent Park that we’d seen the day before and that we felt were representative of the ongoing changes in this community. Armed with a commitment to showcasing people’s voices, we split into teams, grabbed our recorders, and interviewed community members. Day three was focused on script-writing, audio ed...

This week with the Diva Girls, we talked about consent. A lot of them were aware of what consent was; like consent forms and consent for other things. We watched a video about tea to further explain what consent is and make it easier for those who did not understand or know what consent is. After the video, we had a discussion on what consent is and how much they understood from it. The girls talked about how everything we do needs consent especially when you don’t feel comfortable with something. They understood how it is good to ask someone for permission when you want to do something, it is wrong to assume what other people want and people change their minds about certain things they want to do and it is acceptable. The girls then watched a slam poet talk about consent in seven different forms. After the break the girls were split up into different groups and each one was given a scenario where they had to figure out what needed consent and how the matter could be fixed. They all c...

Radio Regent's Catch da Flava youth radio hosted a Valentine's Day special show with a panel discussion on online dating. The discussion was led by host Judy with guest speakers Tavianne, Judd, Jacob, and Devaughn Stephenson. Local Toronto residents and George Brown college students, each speaker had an interesting take on the new climate of love and romance with the mainstream current of online dating. The first topic discussed was whether panelists believed there was any "shame" involved with online dating. Some had said yes, reasoning that it seems as if a person wasn't able to find romance in the real world and would likely not want to share "how they met" for fear of embarrassment. Another had mixed feelings on the concept, expressing experience with online dating and having met some real ly great people in the process, but also bad experiences. They concluded that it really is what a person makes of it. Another believes that online dating bare...

Hello it’s Jacob from Catch De Flava and on the day of Tuesday February 14th I and my uncle George Sawision former individual Green Party politician did a 30 minute segment on marijuana crackdown issues in the city of Toronto. My uncle has been an activist in the Conservative and Liberals to protect confidential rights and to bring information to voters to be informed before elections. Everyone wants to know where to buy marijuana, know to legally use it, and why isn’t it legalized yet? The age limit of marijuana use is 18-25 years of age and police are applying the judgment of an older law arresting users for either the medical or recreational use. Individuals or gangs are redistributing this legal or illegal product which is frustrating the police as violence and illegal activities are occurring within the city of Toronto. The government is still discussing and studying while time is passing and the problem is they are dealing with more important issues rather than worry about lega...

This week on Radio Regent Louie March from Zero Gun Violence Movement informing us about the movement’s engagements and participation in various communities in Toronto. He also shares few details about the meetings and discussions about the developing strategies to address gun violence concerns in the communities. By spreading awareness positivity and unity among the communities he hope to see an improvement and end to the gun violence. By: Tavianne Jackson Listen to the show here: Download MP3

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