Nia Centre's September 2015 Newsletter

be. belong. become.

September Newsletter As some gear up for back-to-school, Nia Centre for the Arts gears up for some exciting programming this month. Our award-winning Art of Facilitation course is accepting applications, we are launching a new Lunch 'N' Learn event, we're prepping for our first ever HBC Giving Day plus we are celebrating accomplishments and events from Alumni, friends and key partners. Read on to see how you can be involved with Nia Centre this September.

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Welcome Mark Stoddart

Nia Centre is proud to officially welcome Mark Stoddart as our Creative Lead for the be.belong.become campaign. Over the next six months, Mark will design various mediums to convey the ideas and ideals of be. belong. become.

Mark Stoddart’s work has been exhibited at several galleries and private events around

Toronto in recent years. His portfolio of paintings and design has received widespread acclaim including a feature on BRAVO TV’s series Star Portraits. His collection of work combines a passion for music and sports with a spirit of social activism and a commitment to “educate, empower and unite.” His repertoire includes working on clothing and digital design for prominent clients such as Much Music, Cadbury, Nike, Converse, BMG and Universal Music. Additionally Mark is the founder of L.I.W.I. the acronym for LIVE IT WEAR IT a Toronto based clothing company. Since 2006, Mark has spent much of his time developing the 40@40 Collection, a collection of 40 paintings of significant Black musicians and athletes Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Satchel Paige, Fergie Jenkins & Dr. John Carlos.

Art of Facilitation Nia Centre Programming

The Art of Facilitation is a train-the-trainer workshops series for youth (13-29 years) that infuses popular education techniques with the presentation and facilitation skills needed to engage diverse youth audiences. These interactive and engaging

workshops will train you in the areas of facilitation, workshop planning, presentation skills, and creating safe and inclusive spaces. In addition to this training, you will receive feedback on your facilitation style/approach and receive a certificate of completion!

So whether you have facilitated before or have never transferred your skills to an audience, The Art of Facilitation will assist you in creating an engaging workshop experience that everyone will love. *In order to participate in this program, you will have to complete the application form AND attend 5 mandatory facilitator training workshops at the Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street W.)* Dates: Saturday, September 26, 10:00am-4:30pm Saturday, October 3, 10:00am-4:30pm Saturday, October 10, 10:00am-4:30pm Saturday, October 17, 10:00am-4:30pm Saturday, October 24, 10:00am-4:30pm Wednesday, October 28, 6:00pm-9:00pm

To apply please click HERE and fill out the application form.

Space is limited so apply early -- application deadline is Monday, September 14!

For any questions about the program please contact Letecia Rose at lrose@niacentre.org or visit the AOF Page here.

Giving Day Support Nia Centre

Want to support Nia Centre but only have $5? That's plenty. This September Nia Centre for the Arts is part of HBC's Giving Day, an excited event taking place at Yorkdale Mall.

Purchase a $5 ticket and you get up to 20% discount on anything in the store September 17th. Plus ALL the funds go to Nia Centre for the Arts and our be.belong.become campaign. Give it up! Click here to donate.

Lunch & Learn Hungry for knowledge?

Do you want to get in on the creative secrets of Toronto artists, entrepreneurs and innovators? Come out to one of our bi-monthly lunch sessions "Lunch 'N' Learn" for an opportunity to network, hang out and learn.

Look out for more info in October either online or in our upcoming newsletter.

VisualEyes Summer Camp Recap

Visualeyes is a six day Film & Video Camp for young Black women between the age of 14-29 living in the GTA that ran from Aug 17-22. Led by multi-disciplinary artist and Scratch & Mix mentor Ella Cooper, this program was dedicated to supporting the development of emerging filmmakers and video artists, providing training in direction, cinematography and editing as an introduction to short documentary film creation, video art and dance film.

The camp included guest speakers from​​established artists ​working in the field and hands on training in a fun camp style environment and ​lead by experienced facilitators and local filmmakers. Participants created a short self reflexive film piece using their preferred filmmaking style to create short, one-minute films that celebrated their individual life stories and the issues most pertinent to​them.

The films created will be showcased in a community screening in late October, 2015.

Aden Abebe

Nia Centre New Staff

Welcome Nia Centre's new Project Manager, Program and Brand Development Aden Abebe.

Aden Abebe is an artist, photographer, brand developer and community strategist living in Toronto, Canada. Aden’s passions lie at the exact intersection of art and social justice.

Community focused and community inspired, she pursues art as a means not an end, and always has a greater vision for where her art can take her and her community.

Possessed Feature Alumni Exhibit

Scratch & Mix participant Anique J Jordan is showcasing her solo exhibit: Possessed from August 31st to September 17 at Crossroads unGallery, 4700 Keele Street, Faculty

of Environmental Studies at York University.

"Possessed is a collection of 3 photography series that speak to the things that haunt us as black people, the things that haunted my dark skinned little girl self, the memories that haunt the women and elders in my family, and the ancestors that remember for us the haunting they endured crossing the middle passage. The images in this exhibition are the visual component to a final Masters of Environmental Studies Portfolio entitled Possessed: A Genealogy of Black Women, Hauntology and Art as Survival." — Anique Jordan

Conversations In Flux Feature Artist Exhibit

Arts researcher, interdisciplinary visual artist and an award winning arts educator Charmaine Lurch is launching her latest exhibit Conversations In Flux: Visible presence unfolding in time and space, at The Lower Gallery, Toronto Centre for the Arts, September 17, 2015 Conversations in Flux consists of three multimedia, multidimensional sculpture and paint installations, used to animate evidence of a visible black

presence in North American Landscapes. The objects, constructed with wire and paint, are bent and shaped into various forms depicting black populations inside and outside of hyper-visible and invisible states of blackness.

“My concern as a visual artist in the area of visibility requires that I examine how black subjects maneuver between the points of hyper-visibility and invisibility, to get from one point to the other, you have to move”, said Lurch.

“Marking visibility and making art requires me to envision the black subject visible in time and space." — Charmaine Lurch

Ali Mustafa Memorial Award An Award for People's Journalism

The Ali Mustafa Memorial Collective is pleased to announce the inaugural Ali Mustafa Memorial Award for People’s Journalism. The award honours Ali’s life and work by supporting other freelance journalists documenting causes or issues related to struggles for social justice.

Ali Mustafa was a freelance photojournalist whose images from Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Brazil and his native Toronto captured both the resilience of ordinary people in conflict zones and the spirit of resistance and revolution. Reporting from the front lines, Ali’s work was featured in The Guardian, Le Nouvel Observateur, Journal du Dimanche, Les Echos, and The Times of London. On 9 March 2014, Ali was killed in Aleppo by an explosion from a barrel bomb dropped by a Syrian government aircraft. Ali was photographing the

destruction and helping those who had just moments earlier been hit by a barrel bomb. Ali was only 29 years old at the time.

The Ali Mustafa Memorial Award for People’s Journalism seeks to remember Ali, pay tribute to his craft, and offer assistance to other freelance journalists who lack institutional support. Ultimately, the award seeks to honour Ali’s unwavering belief in a journalism that both popularizes and contributes to social justice struggles around the world.

Applications for the inaugural award will be accepted starting on 1 September 2015 until 1 November 2015. Please visit rememberingalimustafa.org to find out more about the award and how to apply.

Questions about the award, including media interview requests can be directed to: AliMustafaAward@gmail.com

Words By the Water Feature Literary Event

The Words by the Water Literary Festival is a three-day festival that celebrates young people, community and the literary arts in South Etobicoke. The festival promotes the artistic endeavors by young people in the area of the literary arts including creations of poetic anthologies and a panel discussions on how to make a living being a literary artist.

Click here for the Facebook Event Page for more information

Events SEPT 9 - 19 CARIBBEANTALES FILM FESTIVAL The CaribbeanTales Film Festival celebrates the talents

of established and emerging filmmakers of Caribbean heritage who practise their art across the Caribbean Diaspora worldwide. The Royal, 608 College Street.

SEPT 13 OH NINA: A TRIBUTE A musical tribute to the late great Nina Simone. Holy Oak Cafe,1241 Bloor Street West, 9pm.

SEPT 17 NIA CENTRE AT GIVING DAY

Join Nia Centre at Hudson Bay's Company Store in Yorkdale for Giving Day an in-store event with proceeds going towards Nia Centre's be.belong.become campaign. Tickets $5, all day, 3401 Dufferin Street.

SEPT 24 WRITING WHILE BLACK V

Whitney French Writes presents the fifth instalment of Writing While Black, a community writer's hub for black artists to create, critique and discuss their experience of writing while being black. 6-9pm, PWYC

SEPT 24-25 PERFORMANCES OF "A STILL CLING TO FADING BLOSSOMS" "AT A DISTANCE/& VERY CLOSE"

Artists Newsstand presents two theatrical performances on September 24 and September 25 at the Chester Avenue TTC Station newsstand kiosk. 6pm, FREE.

SEPT 26 #ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER: BLACK COMMUNITIES TAKE BACK THE NIGHT

The Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape and Black Lives Matter – Toronto are pleased to announce the 35th annual Take Back the Night happening on Saturday September 26th, 2015 at Scadding Court Community Centre (707 Dundas St. West), 6pm - 10pm.

SEPT 26 DRIFTWOOD MULTICULTURAL FESTIVAL

The Annual Driftwood Multicultural Festival promises to be an exciting event as they are partnering with the Black Creek Community Health Centre. 4401 Jane Street. 11am -4pm

SEPT 27 HEAL FROM ANCESTRAL ROOTS

Author, healer and workshop facilitator Zainab Amadahy invites Indigenous and people of colour in community to better understand genetic inheritance of trauma, methods of cultivating and deepening relationships with ancestors. 2pm to 5pm, PYWC

suggested $30.

Feel free to contact us to add your event to our newsletter listings: info@niacentre.org

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