HEAL
The HEAL program will return in Scarborough and Markham in early 2025. Follow us on Instagram for updates!
Join us for the HEAL Album Listening Party on Saturday, February 1st. Free and all are welcome. More info here!
HEAL (Health Empowerment & Arts Leverage) is a specialized arts-based program to explore youth voice and build resiliency and wellness. Participants ages 13 to 29 will receive ongoing support and positive mentorship from visual and performing artists and facilitators. Youth are guided through weekly workshops to unpack experiences, difficulties, and trauma and create original songs, poems, and spoken word pieces as a way to learn and grow towards wellness through creative expression.
This program is free and is hosted in a safe space with trained trauma-informed arts facilitators. Workshops take place in Scarborough (Toronto) and in the City of Markham (York Region). All youth from those areas are welcome to participate; no previous artistic experience is necessary to join the workshops. Activities occur in a variation of in-person, virtual, and hybrid formats.
In addition to the program, all participants will receive:
A free welcome kit (valued at $40)
Complimentary program materials
Program refreshments at every workshop
Opportunity to connect with professional artists and record at Phase One Studios
Opportunity to showcase original works at the final HEAL showcase
For more information, contact:
projects@nextgenerationarts.ca
(437) 703-5553
OUR WORKSHOPS
SPOKEN WORD
Embrace the power of storytelling and learn to cultivate your own unique, impactful voice! HEAL spoken word workshops, led by Patrick de Belen, explores poetry and creative writing as a way of self-reflection, self-exploration, and healing. Engage in an act of healing through creative writing, poetry, and spoken word. Excavate your inner storyteller through the exploration of writing prompts, language, and poetry techniques.
PAINTING
Painting can be an outlet of self-expression when feeling anxious or joyful. HEAL painting workshops also create a foundation for a creative portfolio focusing on colour theory, perspective, and painting technique. The connections built in this workshop help youth connect to their community and prepare for a successful future.
Participants receive all necessary art materials to take part in painting sessions.
MUSIC AND SONGWRITING
Hip-hop artist Dan-e-o leads participants through the essential skills a songwriter needs to express themselves through music. Hip-hop music and songwriting sessions focus on musical theory, language skills, rhyming techniques, and songwriting tips, translating these skills into forms of coping and wellness.
Participants will write over lyric-free, original beats, and make connections in the arts industry through recording or performance opportunities.
PAST HEAL PROJECTS
Listen to the original music and spoken word tracks created by youth participants of the HEAL program. All songs and spoken word tracks were recorded, mixed, and mastered at Scarborough’s legendary Phase One Studios.
program funders
CITY OF TORONTO program PARTNER
york region program PARTNERS
