7th Gen is a dynamic Aboriginal youth arts program operating within Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. Since 1995 we have operated as a youth arts group. Drop-in art space, community projects, where professional Aboriginal artists, mentors and elders provide quality and accessible programming in a culturally supportive and safe environment. Most programming centers around community workshops, drop-in art hours for youth, as well as public and private arts commissions.
Monday, December 13, 2010
This week @ 7th Gen - Dec. 13-17th
Tuesdays – Regalia from 5-8PM @ 1 Wood St. (youth drop-in)
Wednesdays – Studio open 10-6PM; Media Workshops with Keesic Douglas from 3:30-5:30PM
Special Event:
This Friday from 10-3PM we are silkscreening at SKETCH (580 King St. W.) http://www.sketch.ca/
I will be coming to 30 College St. at 9:15 and taking people over no later than 9:30.
Tokens and lunch are provided.
COME TO 30 COLLEGE ST. FIRST TO GET YOUR IMAGE READY BEFORE FRIDAY! We are open Wednesday and Thursday this week to help with your images. They need to be black and white, with little to no grey tones. Think design. They need to fit inside an 11x14” frame.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Current Programming
Here is what is curretly happening at 7th Gen:
I (Liz George) am working here a couple days a week for now until we find more funding to bring programming and staff to capacity again. Although other Coordinator Amanda Strong is not curently an employee here, she is being hired on a per-workshop basis and has expressed continued interest in working with 7th Gen in the future.
Volunteers are appreciated during this time, if you would like to donate your time teaching a workshop or helping us with promotion, etc. Currently I am still writing grants and looking into additional partnership opportunities - thanks to everyone who has come forward during this time (SKETCH, OCADU, AGO, Tecumseh Collective, ANDPVA, etc.)
Our schedule is as follows:
Open Studio:
Located @ 30 College St.
Mondays 10-12; 3-6PM
Wednesdays 10-6PM
Regalia Plus:
Located @ 1 Wood St.
Tuesdays 5-8PM (plus some additional days, call for information)
Youth Drop-In Workshops:
Located @ 1 Wood St.
SKETCH Partnership:
Meet @ 1 Wood St. for 6PM, TTC to SKETCH @ 580 King St. W. Floor 2
Mondays (starting December) 7-9PM
We will be starting this in December! Come by so we can all get acquainted with our friends.
Silkscreen Workshops @ SKETCH
Meet @ 30 College, TTC to SKETCH @ 580 King St. W. Floor 2
Special event days TBA, 2 sessions at SKETCH to silk screen your personal items and T-shirts to sell. Call for more information, or e-mail 7thgen@gmail.com.. the dates will be in early December
Media Night:
Located @ 30 College St.
Explore media projects with artist Keesic Douglas. Youth will have a chance to work with photography, film, and other forms of digital media.
Craft Tables:
Located @ 30 College St.
Come and sell your work at a table @ 30 College St. Donations toward our fund-raising are welcome!
Thanks to everyone for supporting us, I will post some pics from Monday nights screening later! It was a blast :)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Status Update
This post is to address the recent events here at 7th Gen and to let the community know about what is happening with our program.
At the end of August, we were notified that our funding proposal to cover 7th Gen salaries as well as programming costs fell through with the ALFDC, and we were left without funding from the beginning of July. Thankfully Miziwe Biik was able to fund salaries until the end of September, but it sounded as though this was the end of Amanda's and my time at 7th Gen for a time. We had started to plan a contingency, as we needed to ensure that things did not just disappear into thin air, and were planning on volunteering on a weekly basis while finding other employment.
As of last week, we were offered our same positions to continue past the end of the month. Native Child & Family Services pulled through and generously offered to go out of pocket on our salaries to keep programming running until a solution is found! Not out of the woods yet, but not as dire as originally thought.
Currently we are cleaning our space to open it again for next week and new programming. Please stay tuned for more, we are hoping to keep our blog and internet activity updated on a regular basis from now on.
I would also like to thank those who supported us through this time and encouraged us that 7th Gen programming was appreciated, and that they were willing to help us fight for the program. This part meant the most to me personally, and I am truly thankful for the support and affirmation.
Chii miigwech, more to follow
~Liz
Monday, June 14, 2010
Fundrazors!!
Express U show tommorow !!!
Friday, June 11, 2010
7th Gen Youth Advisory Meeting
Work out 7th Gen’s mission statement and mandate
Determine 7th Generation programming during the summer
Find out what you guys want to see
Work with connections you all have in the community
Discuss the upcoming Trillium Grant (and what space you guys want to have the program in!)
Partnerships
SUPPER and tokens provided! Let us know if you have any dietary restrictions J And please let us know if you are coming, bringing friends, etc… I will be making a Facebook in the near future
We will be meeting at 30 College St. from about 5-7PM – come to the 7th Gen office for 5 please, as the building closes its doors at that time!
Chii miigwech, hope to see you all out there!
Liz George
7th Generation Image Makers
416-969-8510 Ext. 3507
RECEPTION : 7th Generation Image Makers & Media Creators Exhibit
NCFST's Smoking Cessation Program- Dance, Handrum & Poetry performance
Red Slam Collective with guest artists
Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Time: 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: City Hall
Street: 100 Queen St., West
City/Town: Toronto, ON
Friday, May 28, 2010
7th Gen Fundraising
Yesterday we made $115 and we will be sitting at the table outside again this afternoon. If you have anything that we would wish to donate then Come On Down! or if you would like to meet us or come and buy something at our craft table in support then Come On Down! Downtown Yonge & College!
7th Gen
Friday, April 23, 2010
HST Rally
We were fortunate enough to take the time to create some signs and spend a full afternoon supporting the HST Rally at Queens Park yesterday with the hopes of amendment. Before we went we were putting some thought into what we should say on our placards. I looked at Sam's painting on wood of Sitting Bull which also has some strong quotes of his on it. Inspired by her painting I took the picture she painted of Sitting Bull and traced it and put on bristol board with the word Change? and the quotes:
"I wish to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle, our rights... Only seven years ago we make a treaty by which we were assured the Buffalo Country should be left to us forever now they threaten to take our tribal land?" - Sitting Bull
And Liz made a placard that said: "Someone call the UN First Nations treaties disrespected again." "Sorry's just a word turn it into action, from one nation to another uphold the treaties"
Good thing we took to the streets because there was not much media attention. I mean there was a helicopter flying over head and I seen cameras there, but when it came to the news coverage it was barely noticed.
This morning when I dropped my son off at daycare one the E.C.E. students asked "What's happening with the HST and the native people? I was walking home from work and seen the protest. Are they taking those rights away? I wasn't even aware of that, there's been no public mention" I then told him that yes that is where things are at right now, but also that since the foundation of this country treaties were made and broken. I also mentioned that we are not only worried about HST but of more since this country is billions of dollars in debt.
And lets not forget, yesterday was also Earth Day. Most of our protests have to do with protecting the earth and humanity, which sometimes goes unnoticed because of attention to a broken treaty.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Spring Fever!
Lena
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Express U Success
The photographed images will continue to be showcased in the foyer at Native Child and Family Services until this Monday April 19th and have already been invited to exhibit at City Hally from June 14th to the 25th.
The show is entitled the ExpressU and the first showing was at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto for Macaw Hawks Youth Social on March 27th 2010.
This is all so exciting considering the photoshoot was in the beginning of March and we were all working in Photoshop on our images in mid March. Which is why we just only had time to update you now in our blog.
Congratulations!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
WinterFire
Upcoming Events
- Macaw Hawk Youth council social Saturday Feb 27, 2010 4-8
- Youth Adversary Meeting: Tuesday March 2, 2010 5-7pm
- Summer mural & video projects
- Grants
- Ways to get youth aware in projects
- Winterfire Harm Reduction Conference
- Drum Making – Sign Up during Drop In hours wed-fri 1-5pm
- Moccasins- Sign Up during Drop in hours wed-fri 1-5pm
- Join Anishnawbek Youth on Facebook
Attention Youth!
The 7th Generation Image Makers are looking for youth ages 18-29 to create self-portraits using photography and new media.
What could you do with the theme:
“To Be Me”
“Vanishing Indian”
“Urban NDN”
Come with your ideas to talk out and finalize the project on Saturday February 27th, 2010 during the Youth Social by the Macaw Hawk Youth Council 4-8PM at the Native Canadian Centre (16 Spadina).
We will be meeting at 5PM to talk about the project and get your amazing ideas – BE THERE!
From there, we will figure out a schedule that works and help you create your vision. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!
For more information or to RSVP for the project, please contact 7th Gen at: 416-969-8510 Ext. 3507
Drop In Hours
Several new announcements:
- Butting making~come by to the drop in and make buttons
- Jewelry
- Crafts
- Traditional bead work i.e Missions, medicine bags
LivingEathliving
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday night's Art Show Jan 25
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
OCAD Portfolio workshop!!!!!
We will be hosting an OCAD Portfolio Workshop for all Aboriginal youth interested in attending OCAD (or any other post-secondary art institute) on TUESDAY FEBRUARY 9th
from 4-7PM!!!
Please bring a portfolio, artworks, or images of your work to discuss with the OCAD representatives that will be there. This is a workshop with Nisq'a artist Luke Parnell and an admissions professional, so between the two of them your questions should mostly be answered!
For those wanting to apply to OCAD for the 2010 school year, the OUAC deadline is FEBRUARY 1ST. Portfolio workshops will not be conducted until mid-February.
To view admission requirements, check out http://www.ocad.ca/prospective_students.htm
For advice on how to prepare your portfolio, click here
Please RSVP to egeorge@nativechild.org so we can get a handle on numbers.
Miigwetch!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Youth Meeting
- Programming
- Scheduling
- Ways to Partner with Partner with Organization
- Fundraising
- Volunteers
- Mural Sites
Please join us for food and discussion @ 30 College St.
(If you cannot make it, email your input to egeorge@nativechild.org
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Lena Recollet- Arts Mentor
But enough about them, I'm blogging to blog about me and 7 Gen. Well, I'm an alumni of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre. I'm a poet and vocalist in the new group Red Slam Collective. Former resident artist of Red Pepper Spectacle Arts from 2003-2009. And emerging playwright, my first short film acted in, directed by and written by me "Eggs Instead" received the Cynthia Lickers Sage Award for Emerging Talent.
I live my life enjoying what I do. Let's face it life isn't perfect and it takes a lot of hard work to succeed in this world. If you love what you do it makes the obstacles a little bit more manageable, we have just a little bit more energy when lack of sleep is required. Being a mother also means being happy for my child and well kids are observant and it's just wrong to lie. So I try my best to stay true to work that I enjoy.
Speaking of which, on Mondays from 6-8: I will be working with Marie Gaudet mentoring children on youth on creating thier own educational short theatre presentations about tobacco. Come on out, or tell people about it. Also, read our Drop In blog and come by and work on something. We also have proposal forms to fill out if you have a workshop in mind you'd like to participate in. Make it Happen!!
Lena Recollet-Arts Mentor
Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Art Drop-In
1-5PM each day!
Do you have an art project you can't seem to finish? Drop in and our Art Mentors can give you a hand! We have materials and experience to help you with your personal projects!
Bring your portfolio by for advice
Make a medicine bag or traditional craft
Paint a work for the art show
Sketch, draw, doodle
Talk with other artists about your work
Get tips on different media
And MORE!
Office hours are also posted for you to come in for personal advice or arts mentorship! We are here Monday to Friday, so stop by and visit us :)
Welcome!
This site is by the 7th Generation Image Makers, to provide information about upcoming events, partners, support and links to our YouTube and Vimeo content, and overall information about our programs and who we are.
Please feel free to browse what we have so far, we will update the site regularly (and keep in mind we are still under construction)!
Miigwetch, nia:wen,
~7th Gen team