Unity is a 3-year, youth-led project that unites Indigenous and settler emerging artists with K-12 students in the process of dialogue, creation, and community engagement.
Forming a relationship with water; the artists will create a platform combining contemporary art practices, with maker experiences, that seek to introduce, deepen and unify Indigenous and settler cultures and communities.
Prioritizing schools with significant or uniquely indigenous populations, UNITY’s goal is to nurture dialogue and cultivate opportunities to connect to local water bodies from an individual, social and community perspective. Ultimately building an understanding on how we perceive our natural and cultural connection to water.
Timeline
YEAR ONE
In Year 1, the focus will be on high school students, aged from 13 to 18 years old, in 5 selected communities. They will be working with the emerging artists commissioned to create a participatory, dialogue-centric and arts-based piece.
YEAR TWO
In Year 2, the focus will shift to include elementary school students, with mentorship from selected high school students who participated in year 1.
YEAR THREE
In Year 3, the project will move outward into each of the five communities. UNITY will directly engage 10,000 youth in the project, with an additional 30,000 more engaged through community events, national virtual showcases, workshops and social media engagement.
CommunitiesInvolved
Over the 3 next years, UNITY will engage over
10,000 youth across these 5 regions!
Communities Involved
Over the 3 next years, UNITY will engage over 10,000 youth across these 5 regions!
- British Columbia
- Manitoba
- Ontario
- Quebec
- Nova Scotia
OBJECTIVES
- To engage school-aged youth in a process of dialogue, community engagement and action towards Reconciliation in 5 communities from Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and British Columbia.
- To foster individual and collective volunteer work and allow the Youth Advisory Board (YAB) and the Youth Ambassadors (YAM) to demonstrate leadership and to play an active role in Reconciliation and the regional water history and culture.
- To build the skill set of 150 YAB and YAM members by training and mentoring youth in cultural practices, leadership, communication, interdisciplinary work, problem-solving, outreach, education, arts-based dialogue approaches and partnership building. Youth will be engaged through the design, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the project.
UNITY Workshops
FREE in-class or virtual workshops for Grade 4-8
Virtual or in-person workshops offered by our Youth Advisory Board members. Your students will be able to take part in UNITY and learn about five incredible communities across Turtle Island, as well as their local artist(s)!
WATERLUTION STATEMENT
Waterlution designs water-centric projects that offer creative water-focused public engagement and education opportunities and give youth multiple opportunities to receive training, develop transferable skills and gain leadership experience/innovate by designing multidisciplinary and creative approaches to water awareness. Our organizational values are Respect, Lifelong learning, Inclusiveness, Kindness, and Empathy. Youth Advisors will need to share these values to be part of the volunteer team.
Waterlution welcomes and values diversity and diverse knowledge and perspective. We encourage applications from underrepresented groups. This includes Indigenous People, members of a visible minority group, women, LGBTQ2S+ and individuals who face accessibility issues.
This project is partially funded
by the Canadian Government