Story Planet Impact Report 2022–23

Impact Report 2022–23

DearFriends,

From dance to comics to exploring stories in nature, it’s been another wild, exciting year at Story Planet!

We moved back to in-person programming and saw immediately how the pandemic affected children in so many ways, especially when it came to their mental health. We worked hard to meet their needs, knowing that stories and art are a great way to process feelings. We’re lucky to have therapists and social workers who are part of our team and can offer guidance and support to our programming.

This year has also been an incredible time of growth in partnerships as we ventured into exciting projects with the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation, the Toronto Comics Art Festival, and more.

At the centre of everything we do are the kids, who continue to inspire us with their imagination, resilience, and amazing ways of looking at the world. We truly believe that if we can continue to give them a platform to share their voices, the world will be a better place.

LizHaines ExecutiveDirector

Our Mission

Story Planet is devoted to amplifying the voices of children and young people in Toronto's equity-deserving communities. Our creative writing programs inspire kids to imagine and write stories while building literacy, confidence, and self-worth.

We occupy a unique place at the intersection of the arts, social justice, and education.

(above) Students at Driftwood Public School in a Young Authors workshop; (below) A "story weave" is a favourite warm-up activity each student adds a sentence to the story

OurImpact

Jasoni showing us an illustration from her story "The Enchanted Forest of Dreams Come True," about a lost bunny helping a girl named Zyma, whose parents abandon her in a forest

Highlights

Hearingkidsyell"StoryPlanet!Story

Planet!"from across the yard when we returned to Driftwood school in the fall (we felt like rock stars!)

WatchingDriftwoodstudentsonstage at York University, dancing a piece choreographed by the National Ballet, and featuring a story and song created in our workshops then seeingLizonCTV being interviewed about the project

Spending a cold January day warming up withfriendsandsupportersat an Open House at Alien Art Market, our workspace, storefront, and social enterprise

Watchingkidsfollowtheanimal footprintsinto a magical forest at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, where we ran the kids' area, hosting a spectacular lineup of children's comic book authors and workshops

Driftwood students rehearsing for their April 21 performance at York University

Attending a school assembly at Firgrove to awardthewinnerofourNationalPoetry

Monthcontestand taking pictures with her proud parents afterwards

Launchinga"StoryTour"app in June, featuring more than 75 written and recorded stories set in the Jane & Finch community

Hugsfromkids(too many to count, all of them the best!)

(top) Kids drawing with author and illustrator Matt James after his reading at TCAF;

(bottom) Noelani and her parents and teacher after winning our National Poetry Month contest

SchoolsReached

All 10 schools in Toronto are considered high-priority schools by the TDSB when taking into account family income and education, learning needs, and other challenges.

The majority of students are visible minorities, and many are first generation Canadians.

Via satellite, we also ran programs at three schools in remote Indigenous communities through an organization called Connected North.

1,800 kM to story planet

2,300 km to story planet

Sample Workshops

This year we ran eight different school programs for grades 1–6, mostly in the classroom. (We also worked with one virtual class.) The following are among our core offerings.

CharacterMaker

Adrawing-basedworkshop idealforyoungerchildren

In groups led by artists, the class creates a family of characters and watches them come to life; on their own, they write vignettes about the new family!

StoryTour

Findinginspirationinreal neighbourhoodlocations

Students write and record stories set in their community, then add them to a "Story Tour" app for the public to explore and listen to

YoungAuthors

Anin-depthviewofthe creativeprocess

Over four sessions, students brainstorm, write, edit, and illustrate short stories and publish them in a class anthology

SongMaker

Storymakingthroughmusic, fromwritingtorecording

Students work in small groups with songwriters and musicians to compose lyrics and beats and perform and record their original song

Students celebrating the publication of their class anthology

StoryPlanet workshopsbuild:

fidence

nts gain confidence in themselves atives, thinkers, and students

ativity

nts find joy and empowerment in creative and imaginative racy

(above) Visual art is often a component of our workshops, allowing kids to convey ideas in a different way; (below) Our portable recording studio provides students with a multimedia creative experience

Books&MoreBooks!

After every program, the children eagerly await the publication of their class anthology. Having a tangible product of their hard work is a huge confidence boost. Here are just a handful of gorgeous book covers created by the artists who facilitate our workshops.

Artist credits: (clockwise from top left) Josh Rosen, KayGeni, Vincy Lim, dairysam, Patrick Pfeiffer, KayGeni, KayGeni, KayGeni

StudentEvaluations

Student feedback is essential to improving our programs and measuring how well we're fulfilling our goals of building confidence, creativity, and literacy in students.

Ilearned something about creating stories and characters/ creating songs and lyrics.

This program mademefeel good about my ideas and imagination.

This program inspiredme to create more stories/songs in the future.

Based on 109 total responses

TeacherEvaluations

said they were pleased with the level of their students' engagement 100%

100%

said the program inspired their students to be creativeand write 100% said the program helped their students gainconfidence

Whataspectsofthecurriculumdidthe programaddressmost?

Language and writing

Oral communication

Media literacy

Visual arts

Social skills

Mental health

Testimonials

Your team was able to help a student who has had a very negative experience with writing to become happy and excited about writing.

Your programs have the ability to capture the imagination of all students, especially the ones who have had a negative experience with literacy.

This expanded my imagination by 1000x!

I just wanted to thank you again for yet another amazing program. My students are literally writing stories for fun.

My students were very emotional yesterday. Students were literally crying because the program ended!

I had so much fun making stories and a song, this was the best workshop ever!!

I was amazed of how these grown ups didn't judge anything about our imagination!

Above all, Story Planet provided much need boost and positive writing experiences, which I believe my students will carry for the rest of the educational endeavors.

StoryCrew

From workshop facilitators to volunteers to our social media and communications team, our crew is ever growing! At the moment, our Story Crew consists of four core staff, 21 writers and artists who run our workshops, and 30 volunteers.

Representation is hugely important to us: kids should see themselves reflected in their leaders. Here are just a few of the amazing talents who make Story Planet run.

Bahamian born creator a storyteller KayGeni aims continue building genuin connections with her community through her work with a strong mess of self-love and acceptance.

Basmah Ahmed is a poet and registered psychotherapist with a belief in the healing power of nature. She facilitates Story Planet workshops and serves as a mental health consultant as we develop new programs

A Chinese-Canadian nonbinary illustrator and cartoonist, Vincy Lim's graphic memoirs and fiction focuses on themes of selflove, queerness, disability, and abuse

Tee Scott is a multifaceted creative, an up-and-coming artist in a duo called Unlisted Negros, and Story Planet's social media genius She’s currently living her dreams everyday, carefree and slaying.

Partnerships

2022–23 was a big year for making new connections and growing older ones. Having collaborators and advisers who are aligned with our mission and complement our skillset boosts the quality of our programming as well as our oublic profile and fundraising power.

The Reading Partnership

Canadian Children's Literacy Foundation

Scarborough Arts

The National Ballet of Canada

Canada Comics Open Library

Connected North

Building Roots

Toronto Metropolitan University's CJRU Radio

Kawartha Land Trust

Writing Our World, a collective of international writing centres

Michigan State University's Writing Center

Toronto Comic Arts Festival

Liz attending the launch of Lost & Found, a nationwide exhibition of kids' pandemic stories; Story Planet created the Lost & Found curriculum for the Canadian Children's Literacy Foundation

AlienArtMarket: ACreativeNeighborhoodHub

Story Planet's workspace doubles as a lively space for art, creative gifts, workshops, and an overall celebration of creativity and local artists. Stop in sometime!

CreativeWorkshops

Weranseveralsuccessfulpaidworkshopsforall ages,includingLetterstoLittleMe,which reconnectedadultswiththeirinnerchildthrough writingandartandaValentine'sComicMaker workshopforkids.

Art&MusicEvents

Intimateandinviting,thespaceisperfectfor hostingeventsthatcelebratecreativity. ImaginationStationwasamonth-longartexhibition inconjunctionwithScarboroughArts.AlienArt MarketAfterDarkwasasold-outeventfeaturing fourlocalDJsandmusicians.

CanadaComicsOpenLibrary

Thiswonderfulvolunteer-runlibrarycontains hundredsofcomicsandgraohicnovelsforallages, freetoanyonewitha$5yearlymembership!They arerentingshelfspacetohousetheircollection.

2022–23MajorFunders

Ontario Trillium Foundation

The Auxilium Foundation

Canada Healthy Communities Initiative

The McLean Foundation

The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation

Special thanks to Word-Play for their generous donation of $20,000.

LookingAhead: 2023–24Goals

Todevelopanimplementablestrategicplanthat

Establishes diversified avenues of funding, including novel partnerships with companies that can sponsor programming, monetizing our workshops and materials, and growing our social enterprise;

Fairly compensates and supports core team members with adequate pay, benefits, and days off; and Builds up teams of facilitators and artists who live in the areas we serve.

Tocreatemoreimpactnationallyandbeyondby

Co-organizing an international conference for 826 inspired writing centres in Edinburgh, Scotland (this planning is underway);

Growing our partnerships with like-minded organizations; and Involving a group of interns in a research project using the years of data we've collected from student evaluations to better understand the impact of the work we do, and sharing those findings with organizations that could benefit.

Toraisemoney,celebrateStoryPlanet,andincrease awarenessofourworkbythrowingacharityball!