Youth expressions
By planting trees today and developing tree stewardship programs, we are protecting urban ecosystems and long-term air, soil, and water quality for generations to come.
Read tree poems by local youths
Made In This World a pome by Theresa Pham
Summer Breeze by Sandy Gomes
GREEN expressions
GreenHere has secured funding from the Laidlaw Foundation for art supplies and staff to create an art based program aimed at promoting environmental awareness to youth by youth. The program is designed to allow youth in the Davenport neighbourhood to develop and promote strategies for long-term changes to the urban forest. Youth in the Davenport community, DPNC, and local artist Michael Brown are all part of the process of animating the community through vivid art-based murals in otherwise grey, bland areas.
Through the Green Expressions projects, neglected public spaces in the Davenport neighbourhood are redeveloped into cornerstones for community interaction. By improving these public spaces more community members will be drawn outdoors to reclaim them. The success of the projects will also invite new opportunities for art and culture in these public spaces. Local enhancement, community engagement, and increased recreational activities all lead to a culture of citizens taking care of and stewarding their common grounds. This allows community members to dream big, and strive for environmental and social changes in the neighbourhood.
The overall goal of the youth leaded initiative is to build and develop a mechanism that allows youth to become positive role models in their community for environmental change. At the same time, the project provides the opportunity to break down some of the existing stereotypes about youth in the neighbourhood. As a result of workshops and environmentally themed discussions and presentations the youth’s in the program elected to create murals in the neighbourhood, raising awareness and interest regarding air quality and urban forestry issues.
Lansdowne Ave. and Dupont St. underpass
In 2007, a local youth art team called Mural Xpress in collaboration with the Youth Engagement Program (YEP) designed and painted beautiful tree-themed murals at the Lansdowne Ave. and Dupont St. overpass. After a series of workshops and walks in the Davenport neighbourhood with the Youth program (ages 13-16) at DPNC, and a brainstorming with the Mural Xpress team and youth the 4 murals were formed. Inspired by the urban forest and the impact trees have on humans, the four murals are a colourful, simple depictions of what trees mean to the youth in the neighbourhood. The mural and the youths involved were later featured in the Toronto Star, click below to read the article.
Symington Ave. Dupont St. underpass
Once again Mural Xpress team worked with the community and local youths to create an environmentally themed mural located at Symington Ave. and Dupont St. The mural integrates themes of nature and the urban concrete environment, both familiar to the Davenport community. The images are thoughtfully selected and creatively illustrated along the busy neighbourhood street. The grey concrete with small and limited patches of green, and the 3D images of birds and hydro poles are all familiar sites in Davenport. The mural creates awareness and opens discussions to the environmental and social justice issues faced in this section of Toronto.
Wadsworth Park
Michael Brown, a Toronto artist with Harbourfront Centre worked with the DPNC youth group (ages 15-19) to create murals portraying the four elements (earth, air, fire and water) with an environmental theme. His discussion with the youth and their interpretation of the themes led to 4 separate murals exhibited at Wadsworth Park. The natural environment, energy conservation, and the human impact are recurring themes in the each of the murals.
The Mural Xpress team also worked with GreenHere, Pope Paul VI Catholic School and Carleton Village Public School to create a design for the wading pool at Wadsworth Park. Designs were submitted from each school and the best designs (4 in total) were interpreted into to a mural by the Mural Xpress team. Painting of the wading pool is scheduled for 2009. The improvements to the park act as a catalyst to build community engagement and increase recreational activities.
GREEN youth video
Trinity Square Video, DPNC, and GreenHere are working with local youths to film, produce, and screen youth videos with environmental themes with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Developing, producing, promoting, distributing, and screening, the video allows youth the opportunity to learn about film production as a possible career, and the environmental issues faced by residents in Davenport. The video project also increases the visibility of youth artists, and allows youth to identify and express issues faced in an open manner.
Symington Ave. and Dupont St. underpass
In the summer of 2009, the Mural Xpress team tackled the opposite underpass wall with YEP volunteers and a DPNC youth volunteer. The mural design was inspired by community multiculturalism, and depicts the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Africa, and Central America. With its vibrant colours and intricate details, the mural is a unique and engaging part of Davenport’s urban landscape.
