Arts for Children of Toronto was established in 1995 as a charitable organization to ensure that children from all communities would have the opportunity to develop their artistic talents, regardless of their financial circumstances. Since then, AFC has raised about $300,000 which has allowed 450 children who could not afford the tuition or manage the transportation to attend classes at the Avenue Road Arts School on scholarship. As well, it has funded a growing and much-needed outreach program that has reached 1,200 children in inner city schools and community organizations. "My goal is to reach at least as many children in underserved communities as the Avenue Road Arts School has reached in its own community," says Lola Rasminsky, Executive Director of AFC and Director of the Arts School.

AFC was recently awarded an $8,000 Arts Education Project Grant by the Ontario Arts Council to continue with this valuable work. Continuous funding from individuals, corporations and foundations is needed in order to sustain this effort. If you have a child at the Arts School or have had one attend arts classes in the past, you are certainly witness to the positive impact that it can have on a young person. Any donation you make will allow another deserving child to experience the confidence-building effects of artistic expression.

Arts School instructors, teachers, parents and social workers continuously provide positive feedback about the many scholarship students whose lives have been touched by attending an arts class. Since September of last year, AFC has sent artists/instructors to an Aboriginal Head Start Centre, Growing Together, (an agency that works with immigrant mothers and their children), and a Breakfast Club at an assisted housing development at St. Clair and Runnymede. In addition, our artists/instructors have offered five-day workshops in several inner city schools.

Please use the donation form inside this newsletter and help give children beneficial and creative arts experiences. Arts for Children of Toronto thanks you in advance.

For more information on Arts for Children of Toronto, call Lisa Phillips at 416-961-1502, ext. 302 or e-mail her at lisa@artsforchildren.org. The Web site is www.artsforchildren.org.

Outreach Update:
King George Public School Outreach Program Takes Flight!

Arts for Children of Toronto is proud of how its Outreach Program has developed over the past year. More and more children have had the opportunity to experience the arts because of this program, and the benefits are clear.

King George Junior Public School is one of many recipients of the Outreach Program this winter, having five different classes at the school (two of which were special education) experience visual art and drama over a five-day period.

Many of the children come from low income families and, were it not for Arts for Children, might never be exposed to working with professional artists. Some of the students with whom we worked refused to go out for recess because they were so engrossed in their workshops. According to Nadia Cheluk, principal of King George, "Students who usually have difficulty focusing in class were now silent, interested, focused and totally engaged for the full day. They saw themselves as being successful and took pride in their achievements."

It has been gratifying for the staff and artists at Arts for Children to see the results of months of planning and hard work. Ms. Cheluk is inclined to agree; "It truly was an experience and a memory that the children will be able to carry with them for the rest of their lives."

Yes! I would like to support Arts for Children of Toronto

Each contribution will ensure that a deserving child will gain a valuable experience in the arts either through our Outreach or Scholarship Programs. Find out how to make a tax-deductible donation though our Web site.

Audrey Mah

When Outreach Coordinator for Arts for Children, Julie Frost, selects an artist/ educator to conduct arts workshops in under-serviced schools across the GTA, she looks for artists who are not only accomplished in their own art form but also have a considerable amount of experience conducting workshops in a school environment. "I look for instructors who have first- hand experience sharing their creativity with young artists and who are able to break it down to a language that these young artists can understand," says Julie. When Julie started putting together a roster of artists to participate in AFC's outreach programs, Audrey Mah definitely fit the bill.

Audrey graduated from the University of Waterloo where she studied Fine Arts, as well as from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Her art work consists of both functional and nonfunctional pottery. Audrey has exhibited her work in Canada, Mexico and California. In Toronto, her ceramic pieces have been exhibited at Designers Walk, as well as the Gardiner Museum of Ceramics.

Audrey has conducted numerous pottery workshops for AFC at such schools as Keelesdale Junior Public School, Bala Avenue Community School and King George Junior Public School. Her teaching experience extends to the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramics. She has been awarded numerous Artist in the School grants from the Ontario Arts Council.

Audrey is very interested in the kind of work that she does for Arts for Children because she feels that "children who are in inner-city schools do not have the opportunity to work with an artist or to work with clay. They are so very keen and eager to learn, that it gives me great satisfaction to teach them."

Audrey feels that one of the many challenges that she faces as an artist in this type of setting is to help the child realize their hidden creativity that, in many cases, they didn't even know existed. The type of outreach programs that AFC organizes are so important because "they give the students involved a sense of self-esteem. They are able to express their life experiences into art," says Audrey Mah. Arts for Children looks forward to having Audrey conduct many more positive and creative arts experiences with children in various communities.

To date, Arts for Children of Toronto has conducted more than 20 workshops in under-served communities and has reached 1,150 children.