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1 ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM REPORT: NOVEMBER 2011 FIRST LEADERSHIP LIMITED

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM REPORT NOVEMBER THE FINAL REPORT & EVALUATION PROCESS 10 ARTREACH IN A NUTSHELL 12 SUMMARY OF ARTREACH SURVEY FINDINGS 13 SUMMARY OF THEMES FROM THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE STORIES 15 I. HISTORY OF ARTREACH TORONTO: WHY AND HOW WAS IT DONE? 15 II. INTERGOVERNMENTAL ROUNDTABLE OF ARTS FUNDERS AND FOUNDATIONS (IRAFF) 16 III. THE YOUTH ETC FUNDERS COLLABORATIVE DECISION: KEY DATES 16 IV. GRASSROOTS YOUTH COLLABORATIVE (GYC) 17 V. THE FUNDERS COLLABORATIVE 18 VI. OPERATIONALIZING ARTREACH TORONTO 20 VII. THE ADMINISTRATIVE PARTNER ROLE 23 VIII. THE PROGRAM MANAGER ROLE 26 ARTREACH TORONTO: THEORY 26 I. ARTREACH THEORY OF CHANGE 26 II. ACCOMPLISHING THE ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM GOALS 27 III. ACCOMPLISHING THE FUNDERS COLLABORATIVE GOALS 28 IV. THE MAGIC OF ARTREACH TORONTO 30 V. LESSONS FOR LEARNING ARTREACH AND THE FUNDERS COLLABORATIVE 37 OBSERVATIONS AND LEARNINGS 42 CONCLUSIONS: WHAT HAS ARTREACH BEEN WORTH? Recognition goes to the ArtReach Evaluation Subcommittee members for their immense contributions from 2007 to The members include: Margo Charlton (Toronto Arts Council); Kelly Wilhelm, Alexis Andrew, Claude Schryer (Canada Council for the Arts); Denis Lefebvre, Violetta Ilkiw (Laidlaw Foundation); Michelle Smith (United Way Toronto); and Steven Campbell (Ontario Arts Council).

3 ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM REPORT ArtReach Toronto is a very successful example of an intergenerational, multi-sectoral partnership that led to a program supporting arts initiatives that engages youth (between 13 and 29 years of age) who have experienced exclusion in under-served areas of Toronto. During the past five years, well over 2,000 1 young people have been engaged in more than 90 arts initiatives and projects of varying lengths and types including visual arts, music, dance, theatre, writing and publishing, community collaborative arts, and multi-disciplinary arts including fashion design. Close to $1.5 million has been distributed to individual artists, youth-led and youth serving groups with an average grant per project of $10,000. The average cost per project participant was estimated at $675. ArtReach Toronto was created in response to identified needs. Over a period of more than twenty years, Toronto experienced increasing concentrations of newcomers settling in high-density neighbourhoods. As a result of this, there was a growing population of youth living in poverty that experienced exclusion and disengagement with multiple barriers to employment, educational attainment, civic participation and cultural participation. Youth groups pointed to the frustration experienced by their members in trying to access grants for the arts from mainstream funders. 2 The idea of ArtReach Toronto was formed in December 2004, at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Roundtable of Arts Funders and Foundations (IRAFF), at which the topic of youth engagement through the arts dominated the discussion. Subsequent meetings between arts funders and the City of Toronto s Community Safety Panel reinforced the need to increase meaningful and relevant arts opportunities for excluded youth in the city. In response, a subcommittee of IRAFF, Youth ETC, was formed to develop new approaches to funding. The Funders Collaborative that was created with 11 members was an outgrowth of the IRAFF subcommittee and involved organizations 3 from three levels of government, community organizations, foundations and arts councils. At the core was the idea that arts funding needs to be directly accessible to youth by placing the ownership of projects in their hands. Accordingly, the Funders Collaborative members provided oversight and contributed close to $2.2 million to ArtReach Toronto for granting and administration over a five year period ( ). 1 Project reports indicate that 1,500 young people were consistent participants and approximately 2,000 were involved sporadically. 2 Next Generation of Artistic Leaders and Arts Audience Dialogues (2007). 3 Members of the Funders Collaborative were: The Department of Canadian Heritage, United Way Toronto, Laidlaw Foundation, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Community Foundation, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Ministry of Culture, City of Toronto Cultural Services and Toronto Community Housing. The JW McConnell Family Foundation has contributed funds but has not become part of the Collaborative. ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM REPORT NOVEMBER 2011 FIRST LEADERSHIP LIMITED 3

4 THE ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM There is very compelling evidence showing that ArtReach Toronto has delivered to a very high degree of completion against its established pilot project goals. For example: 3 NEW YOUNG LEADERS WERE NURTURED AND DEVELOPED AND HAVE CARRIED ON WITH THEIR WORK (502 YOUTH LEADERS WERE IDENTIFIED). 3 STRONGER YOUTH-LED ORGANIZATIONS RESULTED ($1.2 MILLION WAS GRANTED TO 80 YOUTH LED GROUPS). 4 CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOPS FOR YOUNG ARTISTS AND LEADERS ARE CONTINING (46 WORKSHOPS WERE DELIVERED WITH 1,042 YOUNG PEOPLE ATTENDING). THIS CONTRIBUTED TO THE INFORMAL NETWORK AND PEER MENTORSHIP OF YOUNG ARTISTS AND ARTS GROUPS. ALSO, MANY ARTREACH GRANTEES PARTICIPATED AS WORKSHOP FACILITATORS. 4 YOUNG ARTISTS HAVE LEARNED HOW TO THRIVE IN A CREATIVE PROCESS AS WELL AS TO LEVERAGE NEW GRANTS AND SUPPORT ($1.05 MILLION IN FUNDING AND IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM OTHER SOURCES). 4 BROUGHT POSITIVE ARTS EVENTS TO COMMUNITIES. FOR EXAMPLE, EXHIBITS AT KING SUBWAY STATION AND DUNDAS SQUARE WERE VIEWED BY OVER 100,000 PEOPLE. 4 BUILT A REPUTATION FOR ACCESSIBLE GRANTS USING A STRONG, YOUTH-LED APPROACH. ITS BRAND AND MOMENTUM WAS DEMONSTRATED REPEATEDLY. FLEXIBLE ELIGIBILITY ENCOURAGED A WIDE RANGE OF INNOVATIVE AND DIVERSE PROJECTS. 4 COMPLEMENTED OTHER COMMUNITY ARTS FUNDING PROGRAMS BY SUPPORTING THOSE WHO NEEDED TO LEARN NEW SKILLS TO APPLY FOR FUNDING AS WELL AS THOSE WHOSE GRANTS WERE DEPLETED AND NEEDED A NEXT SUPPORT OPPORTUNITY Overall, the high engagement grant-making approach has demonstrated the ability of many community partners to come together to provide meaningful learning opportunities for grantees and their groups. YEARS-LATER GRASSROOTS TEMPLATES BOARD PLANNING INSIGHTFUL UDNERSTANDING REPORTS ENGAGING MOTIVATIONAL PERSPECTIVES TRANSPHOBIA MEET-PEOPLE OTHER-GROUPS INSIDER NECESSARY GAINED RESOURCES GRANTS-CALENDAR SKILLS EVALUATION STRATEGIES SUPPORT LEARNED ORGANIZED EVENT-PLANNING NETWORKING MEET-REQUIREMENTS INSIDER HOW-TO INDIVIDUALLY TOOLS FACILITATING BUDGET FINANCIAL-MANAGEMENT PRIORITISE IDEAS GRANT-WRITING INITIATIVE UTILIZED LEADERSHIP-SKILLS FINANCIAL-PLANNING BEST-PRACTICES PROJECT-MANAGERS COMMUNITY-ORGANIZING RAISING-FUNDS BUILD STILL-UTILIZING-INFORMATION CHARACTER Cloud depiction of skills developed in Capacity Building Workshops. BEST-UTILIZE COMMUNITY-MEMBERS BUSINESS-PLAN DEVELOPMENT HELPFUL VALUABLE-TOOLS MANAGE-FUNDS AWARENESS SHAHINA OTHER-ORGANIZATIONS EVALUTION CONNECTING YOUTH PROCESSES CREATIVE NEEDED YOUTH-SECTOR LISTS-OF-FUNDERS OTHER-FOLKS INCREASED KNOWLEDGE DOCUMENTATION PROVIDED OPERATIONAL MEET TOOLS CONNECTIONS QUESTION-TIME DISCUSSION HIGHEST-LEVEL PERTINENT MEET-EXPECTATIONS CONFIDENT UNDERSTAND BETTER INFO ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM REPORT NOVEMBER 2011 FIRST LEADERSHIP LIMITED 4

5 MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE STORIES An additional source of data was collected from three longer term projects by means of focusedinterviews of 18 ArtReach project participants. They were asked by interviewers 4 to describe what had been significant for them in their ArtReach experience. Members of the Evaluation Sub- Committee reviewed all Most Significant Change stories and discussed the wide range of themes that emerged. One young story-teller spoke about the role of adult allies in her ArtReach initiative and how institutional change at a school was achieved as a result of a poetry project. Some spoke of addressing structural inequities for young women through the projects. Others identified importance of having a space to engage in and display art. Many spoke about increases in confidence, ambition, connections and leadership abilities often linked with mentorship from experienced young people. Several story-tellers described the significance of finding one s ethno-cultural voice and cultural identity while overcoming struggles to find one s way to achieve positive outcomes. Finally, the importance of experiential learning through the projects and youth-led group experiences for building skills and confidence was a common theme. THE FUNDERS COLLABORATIVE All evidence collected confirms that many of the goals of the Funders Collaborative were achieved to a high degree. In particular, the fact that ArtReach Toronto started from recognition of longstanding community needs and progressed through creative ideas, to a dynamic, successful project engaging so many excluded young artists producing a wide variety of products, is a spectacular achievement. The partners while contributing money, time and expertise to ArtReach Toronto, had different mandates and strategies. This made the process very challenging at times requiring significant time and energy to address different perspectives. Yet as a collaborative they recognized the power of arts and culture to engage youth with diverse backgrounds and experiences from vulnerable communities in meaningful ways. Collaborative partners also saw the potential for this engagement to influence their social and economic outcomes. The Funders Collaborative clearly demonstrated: 3 COLLABORATIVE APPROACHES USING A NEW STRUCTURE AND PROCESSES FOR WORKING WITH YOUTH AND YOUTH-LED ORGANIZATIONS. 3 SHARED RISK AND AN ABILITY TO CREATE A POOL OF FUNDS FOR RE-GRANTING. 3 WORK TOWARD A BROADER VISION THAT ALLOWED PARTNERS WITH DIFFERENT MANDATES TO FIND COMMON GROUND AND PUT ASIDE ANY DIFFERENCES IN ORDER TO TAKE ACTION. 3 IMPORTANCE OF SELECTING AND MENTORING A PROGRAM MANAGER FROM THE YOUTH-LED ORGANIZATION SECTOR WHICH PROVED TO BE A MAJOR STRENGTH THAT PROVIDED BOTH TRACTION AND RESULTS. 3 WISDOM OF APPOINTING A FUNDER-PARTNER WITH DEEP EXPERIENCE IN YOUTH ENGAGEMENT AND THE ARTS AS ADMINISTRATIVE PARTNER GAVE ALL PARTNERS CONFIDENCE THAT GRANT DISTRIBUTION AND OVERALL MANAGEMENT OF THE PROJECT WOULD BE SOUND 4 May Al-Abdullah, Kate Fraser and Seema Jethalal. ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM REPORT NOVEMBER 2011 FIRST LEADERSHIP LIMITED 5

6 Original intentions our objectives were met regarding youth. We did not meet the shift aimed for in (our own) institutions. We did not shift practices significantly of those around the table. There was no significant will behind this aim. There was no serious plan for doing it. Focus was on the former. Most informants agreed that the progress involved influencing their own organization to adopt new strategies, policies and procedures was less successful. As one stakeholder summarized: ARTREACH EVALUATION LEARNING CIRCLE, MARCH 2009 There are valuable lessons still to be learned from the ArtReach Toronto experience. Some lessons remain open to debate. But the important themes are the power of the arts for engaging excluded youth, trust in youth-led initiatives, intergenerational learning, multi-sector collaboration, positive youth development, the importance of space, innovation and experimentation, governance, capacity building, shared values and facing the tough questions early in this type of process. In summary, ArtReach has demonstrated the value of trust in the ability of excluded youth to make responsible, innovative and growth-enhancing choices. The outcome data supports this proposition. The Funders Collaborative process in developing ArtReach Toronto illustrates additional value. While stakeholders are generally critical of the short-comings of the governance process, they admit that the overall accomplishments have been significant. Members of the collaborative reinforced their belief in young people and the role that the arts can play in their development. While the road ahead is uncertain, young people developed the confidence and drive to carry on with ArtReach as their own. ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM REPORT NOVEMBER 2011 FIRST LEADERSHIP LIMITED 6

7 ARTREACH SUMMARY FINANCIALS FUNDS CONTRIBUTED FUNDS DISTRIBUTED FOR GRANTS $2.2M $1.49M ADMINISTRATION $265K INITIATIVES 5 $436K LEVERAGED RESOURCES $1.04M YOUTH ENGAGED TOTAL YOUTH 1,500 CONSISTENTLY AND 2,000 OCCASIONALLY YOUTH LEADERS 502 GRANTS TO YOUTH-LED GROUPS $1.2M PROJECTS total multi-year youth-led projects grants Projects in priority neighbourhoods CAPACITY BUILDING workshops 46 1,042 youth attendants 5 Initiatives included a portion of program manager s and coordinator s salaries, workshop costs, tool kits, special events, communications and outreach, strategic planning and evaluation. ARTREACH TORONTO GRANTING PROGRAM REPORT NOVEMBER 2011 FIRST LEADERSHIP LIMITED 7