Impact Report 2024
DearFriends,
A year of stories, truly. This year, we turned stories into dance, recorded the beautiful voices of kids telling their stories, heard stories from as far away as Nairobi, and even created a new fundraising story for Story Planet called Lob for Literacy!
This year has also shown us how important it is to support students’ emotional needs in partnership with their literacy needs. The fallout from the pandemic is very evident in the classroom, and our world continues to hold uncertainty and loss for many of the kids we serve, as well as for our team.
The work we do, while rooted in literacy, offers branches to communication, connection, and confidence. As we look to the future, we want to equip students with the tools needed to engage in this powerful medium of expression and sharing: stories.
Here’s to a year of our planet: learning, growing, and building deeper connections.
With Gratitude,
LizHaines ExecutiveDirector
OurMission
Story Planet is dedicated to igniting the powerful voices of young people in Toronto’s equity-deserving communities. Our creative writing programs inspire children to imagine, write, and share their unique stories, fostering literacy, confidence, and a strong sense of self-worth.
We stand at the vibrant crossroads of the arts, social justice, and education.
Above:KayGeni leads a “story weave,” a favourite warm-up activity
Right:Participants in our After-School Writing Club write letters to students in Nairobi
Bestof2024
Welcoming more than 30 newvolunteers students, artists, writers, and more
Launching our Story Tour audio storyappand book—complete with a book signing! featuring stories taking place in the Jane & Finch community
Developing our relationship with TheNationalBallet’s YOU dance community program we melded poetry, music, and dance in an unforgettable program
Welcoming hundreds of kids for two days of author workshops, readings, and more at the Toronto ComicArtsFestival
Hosting a fun and successful event,Lob forLiteracy, which raised nearly $15,000 for our school programs
Engaging in program exchanges with students in Kenya and the Bahamas, giving kids in Toronto the chance to create and write across borders
Adapting our most popular online pandemic-time program, CityMaker, for the classroom— it was even better with the addition of hands-on building
SchoolProgramming
THIS YEAR, WE delivered 117 free workshops for schools where students face a range of barriers to success. Most children are from visible minority backgrounds, and many are first-generation Canadians.
For the second year, we also ran online programs for remote Indigenous communities through Connected North.
Finally, we connected with students in Kenya and the Bahamas. These global exchanges with kids in Toronto created a vibrant community of young storytellers, united by their love for creativity and sharing their unique voices.
VirtualPrograms in Northwest Territories, Nunavut
ProgramsBeyond Toronto in Hamilton, Winnipeg, Kenya, the Bahamas
ProgramHighlights
StoryDance
PoetryMeetsDance
We teamed up with The National Ballet for a two-month project at Driftwood Public School. Students started with poetry and lyric writing workshops, then recorded an original song, “The Internet,” and rehearsed a dance. The finale was a performance at York University!
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TOSEECLIPSFROMTHE PERFORMANCE
CityMaker
CollaborativeWorld-Building
In this four-week program, students invent an imaginary city together, designing buildings and neighbourhoods and writing stories about its inhabitants. They decide on a transformative event
A cotton candy flood? A citywide staring contest? that changes life there forever.
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TOGOINSIDETHE CLASSROOM
360Stories
LaunchingScarboroughWriters
This immersive four-week program, a collaboration with The Reading Partnership, brings together students from different Scarborough schools; this year, they met at the spectacular new Clark Centre for the Arts. The resulting anthology of their stories and poetry is celebrated in a public book launch.
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TOVIEW THELATEST ANTHOLOGY
BeyondToronto MakingGlobalConnections
We ran programs at schools in Winnipeg, Hamilton, Kenya, and the Bahamas, expanding our reach through our growing network of trained facilitators.
MyMonstersHoldMeSoft HealingthroughComics
Created by artist Vincy Lim, My Monsters is an online creative workshop for queer disabled youth using comics and zines as a way to heal from trauma
After-SchoolWritingClub ForEagerCreatives
This new program, run weekly after school hours, gave children a place to explore writing and storytelling in a flexible, drop-in format
SpecialPrograms
PROGRAMS OUTSIDE OF our school workshops in Toronto allow us to work with children in more focused groups. In keeping with our mission, these programs are designed for children facing various barriers to inclusion and are offered at no cost.
PublishedBooks
EVERY PROGRAM RESULTS in a published book of the students’ writing and art, with covers drawn by the artists leading the programs. Each child receives a copy, as well as the classroom and the school library.
Longer programs may also end with a book launch, complete with readings, an author Q&A, and a book signing!
A Traveller’s Guide to Toone Ville
The
By Mr. Ahmad’s Grade 4 Class at Driftwood Public School
The Amazing World of Ms. Rodrigues, with a Chicken
By Ms. Rodrigues’s Grade 4/5 Class at Firgrove Public School
Jumbled Up Stories
By 18 Young Scarborough Authors
A Story Tour of Jane & Finch
By Nearly 100 Students from the Jane & Finch Community
Evaluations
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.
Ihadfun creating and writing in this program.
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.
Partners
THIS YEAR, WE collaborated with like-minded organizations large and small, in Toronto and around the world.
Forfiveyears,we’veco-led360Storieswith TheReadingPartnership,turningstudentsin Scarboroughintopublishedauthors.Pictured belowisourmostrecentcohortattheirbook launch!
WeexpandedourworkwithTheNational BalletofCanada’sYOUdanceprogram, guidingstudentsfrompoetrywritingto performingonstageatYorkUniversity.
TheCanadaComicsOpenLibrarysharesour spaceat986Bathurst,brighteningour shelveswiththeircollectionofcomicsand graphicnovelsforallages.
ThroughConnectedNorth,werunonline programswithremoteIndigenous classrooms.
TCAFKids,runbyStoryPlanet,drew thousandsofvisitorsforworkshopswith authorsattheTorontoComicArtsFestival. AsafoundingmemberofWritingOurWorld, weconnectwithmorethan15international youthwritingcentres.
We’vebegunworkonanimmersivescriptwritingprogramwithTarragonTheatre, launchingnextyear.
Financial information is forecast for our fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. Once audited, these numbers will be adjusted accordingly.
In FY2024, Story Planet saw large increases in funding from foundations and individual donors. The amazing funders who made our work possible this year are:
J.P. Bickell Foundation
Toronto Arts Council
Charles Ivey Foundation
Auxilium Foundation
Robert Kerr Foundation
Paul Barber Foundation
Lewitt Family Foundation
Arthur and Audrey Cutten Foundation Bombardier Foundation
LookingAhead
As we look to next year and beyond, our central, guiding questions are “What do kids need to tell their stories?” and “How do we best support those needs?”
With that in mind, here are our priorities for the coming year:
Mapping our journey for the next three years, focussing on identifying and meeting the needs of the kids we serve
Providing professional development and ongoing support for program facilitators in
in the area of social-emotional learning and its powerful ties to literacy
Expanding our Board of Directors, with a focus on fundraising
Improving our operational and communication processes
Ensuring we have impactful, replicable programs that support the literacy and creative needs of the child
