Friday, November 21, 2008

Closing House Day~! Let's pack it up and mosey on for now!

Hey everyone, we've officially set the Outside The Box "Closing House Day" for Saturday December 13th @ the Center!! This will the day for all the kids to get a chance to record their contribution to the Feist song they've been working so hard on!!

This program has been so much fun, and really fufilling. And we are excited to wrap it up and do it all again!

Also check out another article about OTB:

http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=127&csid2=844&fid1=34952

Thanks to all of the parents and teachers so far for all of their support.
Keep your eyes on this page as we update you on the next steps.

-OTB Team

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Yes, We Can!

Now, I know that an American presidential election doesn’t directly impact the arts funding of our Canadian government, but with the Barak Obama stepping into the White House I feel that his presence won’t be felt as largely in the tangible results in the world economy and policies in the coming years as it will be in the inspirational impact with the people of the world.

Michael is my 8-year-old cousin from Queens, NY that is officially the youngest struggling artist in our family. His aspirations are in the arts, specifically in theatre, and similar to many of the students in our "Outside The Box" workshops he carries the burden of living in a low-income community. So when I heard his view on the election I immediately thought about our kids.

I called his mother Wednesday morning and listened to her jubilant voice reinforce just how much this U.S. Election had given her hope. Chistine, his mother, told me about a conversation that her and Michael had that morning where she asked him what it meant that a black man had been elected President of the United States and he proudly responded, “It means I can be anything that I want!” I realized how Barak Obama's childhood mirrors so many children across North America that his accomplishment has taught kids to dream again.

If all the children in low-income areas on the planet (including Parkdale) of all colours, creed and race around the world have been impacted to the same degree as my cousin Michael then the historic November 4th, 2008 has already evoked that change and self-expression that Obama spoke of in the youth. Programs like "Outside The Box" will be even more necessary in the coming years.


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-Sway