Sheltered Dreams 2002
A healing arts project for at-risk youth
Rationale
Art reflects the society in which we live and addresses relevant issues in an attempt to mediate and challenge public values. In order to facilitate this, we build sites that publicly represent the beliefs about the order of the world and the individuals’ place in it – the most costly of these is the public art museum where we lead people through our constructs of a cultural universe. However, in order to reach the public that do not attend these institutions it is becoming necessary to find new ways of engaging people in dialogue about art within their own environments.
As a society we are charged with the responsibility of protecting and nurturing the dreams of our youth. Those at risk have had their dreams deflated and have become dispirited about their potential. The curatorial initiative Sheltered Dreams was designed to revive the aspirations of these youth while encouraging dialogue about art within everyday life.
Objectives
The objectives of Sheltered Dreams were two-fold. As this was a collaborative project the objectives were different for each stakeholder: the cultural institution and the participating school.
For the gallery the objectives were:
- To tear down the barriers created by the walls of our public art museum by creating an open-air exhibition
- To engage a group of teens in the practice and expression of art
- To increase the visibility of the Gallery within the community
- To engage the public in general in discourse about art
For Canada Way Education Centre the objectives were:
- To increase the self esteem of at-risk youth within the school
- To engage them in a project that enables them to make a positive contribution to their community
- To expose them to art in an environment that is safe
- To increase the acceptance of the school within the community
Format
Over a five month period in 2002 students from Canada Way Education Centre were taught, through an artist in residence program, a variety of photo-based techniques to create a work of art. Smaller projects were designed to allow students an opportunity to explore photography and create a final work of art. The use of disposable and instamatic cameras was integral as the students lost, or had stolen, the first cameras they were given. The instamatic cameras enabled the students to see immediate visual results, which was important given their limited attention spans.
Once the original work was completed, a four by five inch transparency was made and then these images were scanned and translated into a six foot by five foot poster. These posters were then installed in twenty-one transit shelters – each image was displayed in three different locations throughout the bus routes of the city.
Participants
Many of the students who participated came from families living below the poverty line. They had at one time lived on the streets or had just finished a period of incarceration at the Willingdon Youth Detention Centre. In general, they had been abused, had a low ability to function within a group, with a short attention span, drug and alcohol issues and needed supervision. They worked within a classroom setting with their teacher, the curator, and artist in residence. Mediation was provided by the principal of the school when necessary.
Evaluation
Sheltered Dreams was a great success both for the students and for the public in-general. Of the eleven students who participated eight completed the project. One had to drop out as she was kicked out of home and needed to focus on more important life issues. Two were asked to leave the project by the school administration for being disruptive. One student produced a work that was horizontal not vertical and despite efforts by facilitators to amend the design to accommodate the exhibit, he chose to leave it, resulting in it not being exhibited. This ratio of participation to completion was much higher than anticipated by the school staff. It was felt that the project was a success and met all its objectives.
The transit commission estimated that, given the number of transit users, over 100,000 people per day viewed the exhibition during the month of September. A further 6,000 student peers were involved in a dialogue as a result of a rotating exhibition throughout secondary schools within the district.
