Focus Media Arts Centre Blogs

  Focus Media Arts Centre’s Documentary Program is equipping youth with the skills, confidence, and support needed to tell powerful stories about social justice and issues impacting young people today. Through this hands-on program, participants are guided through the full documentary filmmaking process —from developing initial concepts and story ideas to producing and editing a final film. Youth receive training in camera operation, audio recording, video editing, and storytelling, while also learning how to research topics, storyboard their ideas, and pitch their projects. With access to professional equipment and dedicated mentorship, participants are supported at every stage of their journey. For many, the program is not just about learning technical skills, but also about building confidence and finding their voice. As one participant, Tracy, shared in her reflection, the experience was “an amazing eye-opening experience” that introduced her to the world of film...

Zahra Oman reflects upon the Changing Culture Course: a partnership between Focus Media Arts Centre and U of T involving U of T students and residents of Regent Park.    "This course brought me happiness I didn’t expect to find in school. For the first time in my academic journey, I could fully intertwine my lived experiences in Regent Park with my academics and share them in a way that felt authentic and deeply meaningful. It wasn’t just about doing research or producing media; it was about telling a story that’s mine and my community’s in a space where people were ready to learn. It was a space where my voice and knowledge felt valued. Before this class, I often thought I didn’t belong at U of T. I used to rush home after lectures and back to my community, where I felt most like myself. But this course changed that. For the first time, I wanted to stay. I looked forward to each class because it felt like a place where I was seen and my experiences mattered. It reminded me ...

  Students from the Urban Studies program at the University of Toronto recently partnered with Focus Media Arts Centre through their URB236 course to explore the ongoing Regent Park revitalization while building hands-on, community-focused journalism skills. Focus Media Arts Centre played a central role in supporting this work by providing students with comprehensive training and mentorship across the full interview production process. This included guidance on how to identify, approach, and coordinate with interview participants, as well as hands-on training in the use of professional camera and audio equipment. Students were also supported in developing thoughtful, community-centred interview questions and ethical storytelling practices, ensuring their work reflects the voices and experiences of residents with care and respect. With this support, students are producing a series of short videos examining key issues in Regent Park, including community consul...

The 2025 Engaged Journalism Conference was held at The Metropolitan University, bringing together journalists, educators, and media practitioners to explore the successes, challenges, and funding strategies behind community-based journalism initiatives. The event was co-organized by Gabriela Perdomo Páez of Mount Royal University and Magda Konieczna of Concordia University, with Anita Li of The Green Line serving as co-host. Participants included representatives from news organizations across Canada and the United States, each sharing insights into how their outlets serve local communities. Among the featured organizations was the Focus Media Arts Centre, represented by Dawar Naeem and Tyrone MacLean-Wilson, with Executive Director Adonis Huggins delivering a keynote presentation.   Huggins traced the roots of the Focus Media Arts Centre to its beginnings in Regent Park, Toronto, where it emerged from a grassroots effort to challenge the negative stigmatization of the neighborhood...

In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, we hear two reports by student groups currently working at Focus Media. Each summer, youth community members are welcomed into the Centre, given access to multi-media technology and encouraged to create content with a local community news emphasis. on today’s show, one group interviews Liberal Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre, Marci Ien, about homelessness in the community; and another group presents a report on the state of maintenance and general safety in St. Jamestown residential buildings. In addition, we’ll hear a migrant worker tell his story of being wrongfully repatriated to his country of origin, unfortunately an all-too common occurrence in Canada.

  In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, we present excerpts from two community current events radio shows created by summer student staff at the Focus Media Arts Centre in Regent Park, including excellent interviews with a person with disabilities and a community youth worker; we’ll hear the question/answer segment form a recent online forum in which local community members engaged with representatives from organizations collaborating on phases four and five of the Regent Park revitalization; and David Wall speaks to Lori, a Windsor - based nurse who volunteers supporting migrant workers in Leemington, Ontario. 

In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, journalist Nea Maaty discusses the efficacy of online learning during Covid with educator Thorn Rox Hayward and students of St Jamestown’s Rose Avenue School; Professor Ian Williams continues his interview with award-winning poet, academic and memoirist Jordan Abel about his latest hybrid memoir, Nishga; and David Wall speaks to York University Psychology Professor Michaela Hynie about the social determinants of mental health in refugee and migrant populations.    

In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, David Wall speaks to Nadjla Banaei, a Client Care Coordinator at the South Riverdale Comunity Health Centre about her ongoing advocacy for Ontario’s uninsured; we’ll hear an interview with project leads Denise Soueidan O’Leary and Thomas Linder about the Community Wealth Feasability Project, a research initiative exploring the potential for the development of a new sustainable economic model for Regent Park; and the people at Focus Media in Regent Park answer important questions on the minds of many about the Covid vaccine.

 In theis episode of Radio regent News and Views, Journalist Georgie Alford talks to Rowena Pinto, Chief Program Officer of Unicef Canada about a number of issues, including systematic racism, gender inequity and Child Marriages; and David Wall welcomes activist Gabriel Allahdua back to the show to continue their discussion about the struggles of migrant workers in Canada, this time focussing on the specific effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, we present a report on the COVID testing going on in St. Jamestown, Toronto, at the The Corner, a community hub in the area. In the report, we’ll hear interviews with Doctor Warda Iqbal, a family physician at the Sherbourne Health Centre and Shova Adhikari, a St. Jamestown area Community Engagement Facilitator; We’ll also hear an excerpt from a webinar, first presented by The Leap, a Canada based, internationally recognized organization dedicated to examining and acting in light of the climate crisis and its intersectionality with multiple issues. The webinar, hosted by Leap founder Avi Lewis, is entitled From Scarcity to Sovereignty: Food in a Time of Pandemic and features Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved, film-maker, academic; Dawn Morrison, Secwepemc Nation, Founder/Curator of Research and Relationships of the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty; Evelyn Encalada Grez, Co-Founder of Justicia/Justice for Mi...

In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, journalist Dimitrije Martinovic interviews David Reycraft, Director of Housing at Dixon Hall in Regent Park, regarding the housing crisis in Toronto and how it’s being shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic; and David Wall has a discussion with journalist, activist, professor and music aficionado Avi Lewis about the events unfolding in the U.S. in the wake of last week’s unprecedented attack on the Capital, among other topics.

In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, we focus on volunteer activism in increasingly challenging times. We’ll hear two interviews conducted by Justice for Migrant Workers volunteer Fabio Heredia Casalins with people working with Food Share to bring highly needed resources to migrant workers and other marginalized communities; and we’ll hear a conversation between journalist Minerva Navasca and youth activist Dominique about the continuing importance of the Black Lives Matter movement and how young people are a vital part of the struggle.

 In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, journalist and Justice for Migrant Workers volunteer Fabio Heredia Casalins interviews food justice advocate Leslie Campbell about Foodshare, an organization dedicated to supporting populations facing food insecurity, including Canada’s migrant workers; journalist Dimitrije Martinovic speaks to Murshida Mueen and Ines Garcia, two Regent Park residents currently involved in the ongoing Evaluation Bench Mark process for the City of Toronto’s Regent Park Social Development Plan; and we’ll hear remarks made by Regent Park Neighborhood Association representatives Marlene DeGenova and Gail Lynch, City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, as well as Mitchell Cohen of the Daniels Corporation during a town hall held on November 24th, 2020, co-hosted by the RPNA and the Daniels Corporation. The town hall was arranged in the wake of a horrific anti-black racist incident that occured in June of 2020 on a Daniels construction site in Regent...

 In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views , journalist Ayesha Khan interviews Ayesha Amin, a community researcher with the SDP Employment and Economic Development Working Group, about the state of employment in Regent Park; we present a second excerpt from a recent online discussion featuring academic/writer/activists Naomi Klein, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Astra Taylor, regarding paths forward for America’s left in a post-Trump world; and journalist Minerva Nevasca asks the question “To Work or Not to Work; Youth Employment in a Pandemic.”

In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, we hear remarks from author, activist and academic Naomi Klein from a recent online discussion, entitled "Where Do We Go From Here?" exploring paths forward for the American left after the US election; journalist Dmitrije Martinovic interviews Andrew Lochhead, founder of a petition to rename Toronto’s Dundas Street; and migrant worker Paul tells a harrowing story of struggles he has faced over the last year in Leemington, Ontario.

In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, journalist Minerva Navasca talks to University of Toronto History Professor Max Mishler about the exclusion of curriculum reflecting the lives and histories of Black people, Indigenous people and People of Colour from Canadian classrooms; Journalist Fabio Herediac discusses police defunding and other issues with City Councillor Kristyn Wong Tam; and David Wall interviews Gillian, a nanny from the Philippines who has had a particularly harrowing time in Canada.

 In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, David Wall speaks to Joan, an activist and volunteer with Justice for Migrant workers about her important work delivering clothing and food to migrant workers in Leemington, Ontario; Ibby Albazz brings us a report about how environmentalism and activism around Climate Change have taken a bit of a back seat to COVID 19 concerns; Talha Hashmani and Masih K bring us part two of their report on the impact that COVID 19 has had on the world of human trafficking; and we hear a second excerpt from a recent conversation between author Johann Hari and writer/activist Naomi Klein about Donald Trump’s shock election politics.

 In this episode of Radio Regent News and Views, David Wall interviews academic and activist Salmaan Khan about the roots of racism in capitalist society and its connection to the legacy of migrant worker exploitation in Canada; Focus Media Arts Centre Video Journalist Dimitrije Martinovic visits an event at Moss Park in Toronto marking International Overdose Awareness Day; and we hear part of a recent online conversation between British author Johann Hari and writer/activist Naomi Klein about Donald Trump’s shock election politics.

In this episode of News and Views, journalist Minerva Navasca interviews historian Max Mishler about the origins of policing in Canada and their direct ties to systematic racism; David Wall interviews Meshell Theresa, a volunteer with Justice for Migrant Workers about the ongoing challenges faced by migrant workers in the country and how they relate to Canada’s overall failure to uphold basic human rights; and Talha Hashmani and Masik K report on the impact that COVID19 has had on the world of human trafficking. Listen to Podcast: https://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/newsviews/2020-10-02.mp3

In this episode, journalist Ella Coccimiglio discusses the Regent Park Community Pods Initiative, a network of local safe-socializing hubs, with two participants; Nate Gurarie interviews Maya Bryon of The Neighborhood Information Post about the Toronto Rent Bank Program; and David Wall talks to Toronto Central School Board Trustee Chris Moise about a number of topics, including the reopening of schools across the city and his plans for redistributing resources in different communities in the name of equity. Listen to Podcast: https://www.regentparkfocus.com/radio/media/newsviews/2020-09-25.mp3