Welcome Shaunga, Alvis, Kike, and Raz!

We're delighted and honoured to welcome Shaunga Tagore, Alvis Choi (aka Alvis Parsley), Kike Olajumoke/Kiki Mako-Joules, and Raz Rotem. 

Kike, Alvis, Raz, and Shaunga are joining Red Dress Productions' artistic team as interning emerging community artists working on Promise in the Park: The Winchester Park Public Art Project.

Raz Rotem is an interdisciplinary artist and educator living in Toronto. Raz is a graduate of OCADU Sculpture and Installation department, a member of the Toronto Guild of Spinners and Weavers, and a recent graduate of Humber College Child and Youth Care program. As an artist Raz is interested in storytelling, myth, and legends as expressions of human longing for meaning, belonging and transcendence. Raz's involvement in community arts initiatives stems from a belief in the power of the arts to foster personal and social wellness. He is a Lead Artist for Weave (We Are a Part of the Fabric), a fibre based community-art project, which is a collaboration between the FibreWebs Collective, Supporting Our Youth (SOY, housed at the Sherbourne Health Centre) and SKETCH working arts. 

Kike Olajumoke/Kiki Mako-Joules is an artist-in-‘self’ training, currently attending at the Ontario College of Art & Design. Kike’s work consists mainly of self-portraits and more recently, artivist portraits of the world she see around her. She has often found a paintbrush to be dissociative from her desire to be as physically connected to the work she make as possible, and so her primary medium of expression has been through charcoals, pastels and oil sticks, replacing the paintbrush with her fingers whenever possible. Her pieces are infused with sculpture, photography, wood, textiles, found objects, and whatever it takes to come together in a symphony of creation and telling. Kike calls herself an artist-in-‘self’ training because: “ I am still trying everyday to find myself and my story through the magic of art and it is through this journey that I continue to find ways to connect this self to all the stories and issues that are inextricably linked to me in this world.” 

Alvis Choi (aka Alvis Parsley) is an artist, performer, writer, and researcher based in Toronto. Alvis’ work was presented at the SummerWorks Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Rhubarb Festival, Jane’s Walk, Radical Queer Semaine (Montreal), Meow Mix (Montreal), Pervers/Cité (Montreal), and Qouleur (Montreal) among others. Alvis serves on the Programming Committee of Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and the Working Collective of Whippersnapper Gallery. They were selected as a finalist of Toronto Arts Foundation's Newcomer Artist Award and have received grants and mentorship from Diaspora Dialogues, Neighbourhood Arts Network, Vtape, Jumblies Theatre, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin) and the British Council. Alvis' curatorial work was presented at Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, Chapter Arts Centre (Cardiff), Seoul International New Media Festival, Estonian Academy of Arts, Arad Art Museum, National Centre for Contemporary Arts (Saint Petersburg), the Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design (Brisbane), Osage Gallery (Hong Kong), and Videotage (Hong Kong) where they served as Assistant Manager from 2009 to 2011.In 2014, Alvis is doing a residency at lemonTree Creations. They also have projects and performances at the Art of the Danforth, Mayworks Festival, the Heels on Wheels Roadshow, and Encuentro 2014.  www.alvischoi.wordpress.com

Shaunga Tagore / Scorpio Rising: performance artist, community organizer, and intuitive counsellor through astrology and tarot. superqueero cis-femme of colour storyteller and healer. currently working on a collection of poetry and interlinked solo show: The Erasable Woman: A One Woman (Burlesque) Show. as an interdisciplinary artist she uses dance, theatre, burlesque, poetry/spoken word, music, and film to craft and share her stories. she trains and collaborates with ILL NANA/DiverseCity Dance Company and co-organizes the community driven workshop and showcase series Unapologetic Burlesque: Queer. Anti-Racist. Consensual. Not Your Average Burlesque. www.shaungatagore.com 

Thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council for funding support, and to our many community partners for Promise in the Park: The Winchester Park Public Art Project.

Welcome to Ms Finnikin!

We're pleased to welcome Andrenne Finnikin to join our team as community arts (youth) apprentice on the Everyone. Everywhere. mural project! 

Andrenne Finnikin also known as Dreena is an up and coming Toronto based artist. Through the years she has explored numerous medias such drawing, painting, African drumming, photography, dance and drama. Working as an arts educator for Arts for Children and Youth has given her the opportunity to work with a diverse group of artists across Toronto. She has devoted over 5 years in the community arts field and continues to grow as an artist. Andrenne has showcased her work in City Hall, Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, AWOL Gallery, Papermill Gallery and The Harbourfront Centre to name a few. This Fall/2013 Andrenne will be hosting her first independent art exhibit.

Youth Apprentice Employment Opportunity

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY for Youth

Community Art Apprentice Position

Project runs: mostly in September and October 2013 with a few hours in August

Flexible/variable hours: afternoons, evenings, weekends

Remuneration: $15/hour for a total of 50 hours over the course of the project.

Red Dress Productions is proud to steward the creation of “Everyone. Everywhere.” A Mural Recognizing Personhood Before the Law.

Everyone. Everywhere. is an Arts Etobicoke community engaged mural initiative in partnership with Amnesty International’s Project: Urban Canvas, Creative Village Studio, and with the generous support of the City of Toronto’s StreetART program.

One equity-seeking youth will be hired as Community Art Apprentice to work directly with the lead artists to create a safe and welcoming project environment, help maintain the studio and mural site, and contribute to technical elements of mural production.

Applicants don’t need any prior experience, training, or education in community art or visual arts, but must be interested in community art, be a reliable team member, and be prepared to learn and accept direction in an applied learning environment. Additionally, applicants must:

·      Be under 25 years of age;

·      Have an ability to work with a diversity of community members;

·      Be interested in learning about community engaged art, and particularly paint and mosaic mural;

·      Be comfortable working as part of a team;

·      Have good work habits: punctual, reliable, and conscientious;

TO APPLY:

Please submit an email application to <reddressproductions@gmail.com> with the following attachments:

1) A brief letter of interest telling us why you’d like to work on this project and what you hope to learn

2) Your resume, including the name and phone number of two character or employment references

The subject line in your email should be titled “Hiring Committee – Community Art Apprentice”. Emails with a different subject line may be deleted accidentally without being considered.

NO EMAIL OR TELEPHONE INQUIRIES PLEASE.

The application deadline is Monday, August 19 at 4 p.m.

Late applications will not be considered.

Red Dress Productions encourages applications from members of all equity seeking groups. Short listed applicants will be invited to an interview on Wednesday August 21, at 1pm.  Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer alternate interview dates; candidates must be available on August 21 from 1p.m. to 3p.m.  in order to be considered for the position.

Introducing Youth Apprentice Domanique Grant and Youth Leaders Dorian Johnson and Emily Jones!

We're pleased to introduce you to Domanique Grant, who will be apprenticing with Red Dress Productions on the Bleecker Coop Memorial Project.


While emerging as a singer-songwriter, Domanique Grant's additional work as an actress, dancer and advocate, combined with her studies as a double major in Theatre and International Development at York University,  has set her apart as a young multidisciplinary using her versatility in the arts to help mobilize young people across Canada by using art to promote social change. At the age of 21, Grant is the youngest ever President of Atkinson Housing Cooperative, the youngest Vice-President of the Coop Housing Federation of Toronto and the Fine Arts Director for The York Students Federation. She has been featured in The Toronto Star and the Toronto Metro, with commendations for her work in the community.


We're also delighted to introduce distinguished youth leaders Emily Jones and Dorian Johnson! 


Emily writes: "I was proudly born and raised into the Bleecker Street Coop. I am a musician/songwriter and spend majority of my time working towards making my beloved hobby into a career. I have always been involved with different projects in the co-op, but I have never taken a leadership role such as this one. Therefor, I am eagerly looking forward to being involved with this project. I feel that I have a lot to learn, yet also a lot to teach. I am so thrilled to be a helping hand in our co-op's beautiful mosaic piece, and I can already tell that it will be such a great representation of not only Bleecker Coop, but of all the amazing housing we have in our city."


Dorian writes: "I have been actively involved in my community through school teams and clubs such as the Heritage Club and Peer Leading, which aim to foster a positive space for all students. I have also been involved in cooperative housing as a youth representative in numerous national conferences as well as the recipient of the 2006 Youth Award from the Coop Housing Federation of Toronto, and I now serve as the Treasurer on the Bleecker Street Coop Board of Directors. Growing up in Bleecker Street Coop, I have been surrounded by a supportive community which positively influences our members to actively involve ourselves in our own social development. Community leaders such as Diane Frankling have instilled a feeling of pride in the community at large which has contributed to amazing improvements within the co-op and our community at large. It is these values that drive me to commemorate the great work Diane and the community has done, in creating such a wonderful place to raise our children. I believe it is critical that we continue to strive towards creating a positive community and this project as well as previous mosaics are amazing and creative representations of the possibilities of such community collaborations."

Working as a Community-Engaged Artist in an Anti-Oppression Framework

by Heidi Cho


Art has always scared me. Just the thought of picking up a paintbrush can induce a panic attack. Where does all this overwhelming pressure to create a unique million-dollar art masterpiece come from? Historically, art has been constructed as a privileged practice belonging to a select class of ‘chosen’ people born with innate artistic talent. Despite my apprehension, I remained drawn to artistic expression and the possibilities that it held for social justice and community mobilization. I went to art school with big expectations but quickly became frustrated navigating through the art world that seemed to favour the work of able-bodied rich white dudes. As a young queer emerging artist of colour, I found myself at a loss to connect with mainstream ideas of what art meant and whom it was really for. I felt alienated from my peers who argued that art was a neutral form of expression, detached from power and politics. How could art be separate from politics when it seemed that only the privileged few had access to artistic representation and expression?

When I inevitably dropped out of art school and moved to Montreal, my friends encouraged me to seek out a collectively run anti-oppressive studio space called the Ste Emilie Skillshare. At the Ste Emilie Skillshare, I experienced how anti-oppression could be applied through community-engaged art. I learned how anti-oppression, through art, could act as a practice to rebalance power within marginalized communities through exposing hierarchies of power and systemic interconnections of struggles. The pay-what-you-can studio space continues to be run by radical queers and people of colour who are passionate about the role of art within social justice movements. It was so inspiring to experience how various forms of art production and representation could be shared in a non-hierarchical, anti-oppressive framework. It was there where I began to challenge rigid notions of art expression and how access to art is inextricably linked to systemic oppression.

My recent involvement with anti-oppressive community engaged art has continued in my art apprenticeship with the community-engaged mosaic project at the 519 Community Centre, in downtown Toronto. Led by artists Anna Camilleri and Tristan R. Whiston of Red Dress Productions, the goal of the project was to create a new large-scale public artwork mosaic that visually celebrates and represents the 519’s diverse communities—and that is community-engaged from beginning to end, including 11 community meets where we brainstormed, mapped stories, and sketched together, and then built together for several weeks in a open studio. The outdoor placement of the work is significant: it challenges the ways in which art is often privately created, and consumed.

It was amazing to see how community-minded anti-oppression was integrated within every aspect of this project. From the community consultations, to the materials used, it taught me how anti-oppression within community-engaged art should not only be visible in the final art piece but throughout the production as well. I appreciate how a diverse group of people of varying ages, abilities, and skills were able to take part in the project. The use of mosaic art in the project really encouraged the full participation of all community members regardless of their artistic backgrounds because the medium very flexible. It was amazing to be a part of intergenerational community members creating relationships with one another, and collectively their own communities. This approach contradicted everything that intimidated me about the art world before.

During open studio hours, we worked to create a working space that was anti-oppressive and did not echo dominant hierarchies of power and privilege. There were challenging moments when certain folks failed to recognize their privileged locations and how their words or actions might negatively affect the dynamic of the group. Learning how to deal with this in real time (not after the fact) so that all participants felt safe and included taught me that anti-oppressive community engaged art isn’t simply about creating art with/in marginalized communities. It’s also about creating dialogue across difference, and challenging entitlement and privilege.

All in all, the role of anti-oppressive community-engaged art continues to teach me how the intersection between art and social justice should always coincide. In my own life, it challenges me to locate myself within the art that I create and the viewers I make it for. The importance of community-engaged art has also shown me how activism can happen in a variety of ways that don’t necessarily involve a megaphone.

Community-engaged public art is radical. It disrupts capital-driven privatization of public spaces, and it contributes to the revitalization of neighbourhoods through a legacy of collaborative art making that authentically connects community members with their neighbourhoods.

519 Mosaic Apprentices

We're happy to be joined by community art apprentices Heidi Cho, Tamara Perez Mucino, and Rafaela Dominici Vidinha!