What is Project Crea?
Project CREA is an arts entrepreneurship and community-building mentorship program that supports Toronto-based Latin youth to pursue and maintain collaborative, healthy, and sustainable creative practices.
Artist mentors, Camila and Laura, will work one-on-one with mentees to develop a personal project that will be part of a final collective showcase. Mentees will receive an honorarium of $200 for the development of their project.
Who
This program is for Toronto-based youth creators OR artist duos (Between 18 and 29 years old) who self-identify as Latin/e and are interested in learning about collaborative creative practices and gaining arts entrepreneurship skills*.
When
Running Saturdays 2 pm - 4 pm from February 10th to March 30th, 2024, the selected mentees will be part of weekly group meetings facilitated by Creato team members and Mentors
Where
This program will run in a hybrid format with online sessions taking place via zoom and in-person sessions to be held at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Toronto, ON.
*What do we mean by arts entrepreneurship?
Artistic professional development in collaborative-based creative practices, centering community and engaging with others, building a network, communicating your practice to others, approaches to managing projects, finances, freelancing, and grant-writing.
With the guidance of mentors, Camila and Laura, creators will develop (or continue) an independent creative project of their choosing and collaborate in the conceptualization of a final showcase event.
Who are the mentors?
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is a Venezuelan-born interdisciplinary artist currently based in Toronto working primarily in textiles, digital art and community arts. Their recent work is centered on sustainable textiles, and interview-responsive community projects, such as the Clothing Clinic at the Oakwood Village Library and Arts Centre through which members of the community got their clothes mended in exchange for a conversation. They also have eight years of experience as an art educator to diverse individuals and have taught workshops and courses at Lakeshore Arts, the Bata Shoe Museum, the Textile Museum, Workman Arts, East End Arts, Toronto Fringe, Eyelevel Artist-Run Centre, Bricks and Glitter, Xpace Cultural Centre, Koffler Gallery, OCAD University, NSCAD University, and independently through various grant-funded programs at the Oakwood Village Library and online.
See their work.
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is a Colombian-born, Toronto-based community-engaged artist, facilitator, and graphic designer. She has worked as a community artist as well as an arts educator, and through other collaborative and independent projects, primarily working with communities and individuals with migratory experience. In design, she has worked with studios as well as other freelance clients and design education programs. Laura is interested in using art and design as tools for education, participation, and mobilization, as well as exploring how the arts can support community-building, strengthening our connections between each other and the world around us.
See her work
Final Showcase
The final showcase is a learning opportunity for creators to directly apply arts entrepreneurship skills and apply them into a collaborative creative showcase.
The shape of the showcase will take form according to the mentee’s interests, explorations, and ideas. They will lead the conceptualization of their final showcase while program staff provides roadmaps and support to present a public exhibition at a gallery, or alternative venues, run a screening, create a printed publication, host an IRL or virtual Block Party, etc.
Project Crea 2021
Take a look at the Project 2021 archive page and learn more of what went on during the pilot year of this program!
FAQs
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You can apply by submitting a Mentee Application Form. If you have any questions about the application process, please feel free to contact us at info@crea-to.com.
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Artist duos are made up of two artists/creators who have worked in collaboration or are seeking to work together.
Artist duos that participate in Project Crea will be developing, in collaboration, a project and will receive one honorarium of $200.
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Although we believe anyone - at any age -- can be an emerging creator, the funding for this program is restricted to serving youth defined to be under 29 years old.
If you have any questions about this or are experiencing systemic barriers to mentorship or professional arts opportunities, and would like to connect, send us an email to info@crea-to.com
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We welcome applications by anyone who self-identifies with roots in Latin America and the Caribbean Diaspora.
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As part of the mentorship, mentees will receive guidance from mentors and program staff as they develop a creative project of their choice.
The personal project can be a work in progress or a new one mentees wish to develop. This personal project can be in any medium(s) of their choice.
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The in-person part of our programming will take place at Toronto Metropolitan University, downtown location.
The spaces we will be using feature elevators and accessible/ gender-neutral washrooms.
We encourage you to let us know in your application if you have any additional accessibility or accommodation needs in order to participate— ASL interpretation, captioning, visual descriptions, etc.
Support of this program has been provided by:
