We recently visited Sault Ste. Marie, ON to host an information session to get the community excited about National Youth Arts Week 2014!

On a blizzarding day, 30 young artists gathered in 180 Projects, a community arts complex on Gore Str. and home to 360 SMAC - the Sault Media Arts Collective.

As the former community coordinator for National Youth Arts Week in the Sault in 2012, I was really excited to recap the work we all did that year to a new audience of young artists, arts promoters, and interested adults from the Algoma Fall Festival committee, and local research group Nordik, based out of Algoma University. The growing number of people interested in connecting through the National Youth Arts Week movement excites me with the possibilities the future holds.

During our info sesh Lisa Viseau-Allen, the new executive director of the Arts Council of Sault Ste. Marie & District presented the recently approved “Youth Arts Committee,” which boasts a fluid structure, design determined by its youth membership, and voting power on the Arts Council’s board of directors. Youth at the meeting were encouraged to sign-up to this ad-hoc committee to collaborate in the spirit of supporting their own artistic endeavors, and create programming for National Youth Arts Week 2014!

Also present were members of the Ears and Eyes - Sault Music and Art Community, a 100% youth-led and created collective of artists, musicians, and promoters.

Being witness to all of the inspiring collaborative projects taking place in the Sault, inspired our latest Youth Arts Toolkit: How to Create a Youth Arts Collective

Written by: Rihkee Strap, Program Coordinator for National Youth Arts Week and former Community Coordinator of Sault Ste. Marie.