Divas

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Hey there, my name is Stephanie and I volunteer every Friday at Regent Park Focus with the Divas Girls Group. Our group is made up of about 15 girls who are between 9 and 14 years old. What we do varies week to week, but most weeks you’ll find us working on an art project, talking about issues that the girls are facing, taking part in workshops, dancing or going on field trips in the community. Our program is, for the most part, based on what the girls have identified as being important to them (health, relationships, finding creative ways to express themselves, dealing with gossip/rumors and identity). Some of the activities the girls have loved over the past year were: pumpkin carving at Halloween, learning a dance routine, designing and creating jewelry, trips to the distillery district and skating at Nathan Phillips square, and an outing to a restaurant where the girls got a hands-on lesson about healthy eating.

On April 26th, the girls took part in a political poster workshop that was part of the Mayworks Festival – a festival of working people and the arts. Favianna Rodriguez, a guest visual artist from Oakland, California came in to teach the girls about creating political art that is meaningful to them and relevant to their community. You can check out Favianna’s work at www.favianna.com and you can see some of the amazing posters the girls created in the pictures below.

In the next few weeks we will be working on photo collages, using photos that the girls took in the community. Some of the girls’ art work and jewelry will be on sale at the next Last Friday event, which is May 29th at 5pm. All the proceeds will go towards the camping trip we are planning for this summer. Hope to see you there!

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