Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

Drum Artz Canada (DAC) is committed to making music and arts programming accessible to all people regardless of age, class, race, (dis)ability or gender. With a range of educational programs headed by professional artists, DAC encourages creative expression, team building, youth leadership and self-esteem.

DAC:

• Coordinates activities that foster active participation in community life
• Provides accessible professional arts programming to people of all ages, with priority to low-income families
• Collaborates with other organizations
• Creates a safe and non-competitive social space uniting diverse people

History of Organization

Samba schools (large drumming groups) were born out of some of the poorest areas in Brazil, and originally represented a form of resistance against oppression, racism and class discrimination. As the trend gained momentum, samba schools eventually reached the wealthy, creating avenues of social interaction across class and culture.

Drum Artz Canada has adapted samba school principles for a Canadian context. The organization was co-founded in 2004 by Gili Zemer (nee. Gurvitz), entrepreneur, and Rick Lazar, Musical Director of Samba Squad. In its first year, the organization established its physical base of operations: a 5000 sq ft community centre in the Davenport Perth neighbourhood. DAC’s first program, Samba Kidz, began in 2005. Family, youth and leadership training programs were added in subsequent years.

Accolades and Accomplishments

Since inception in 2004, DAC has offered subsidized programs for hundreds of kids and families in underserved communities of Toronto. DAC has also built cooperative partnerships with like-minded community organizations such as Success Beyond Limits, The Boys & Girls Club and Art Heart. These partnerships connect DAC with youth and families, secure programming space, and enhance the artistic activities available to participants.

The Samba Kidz Performing Troupe (made up of kids and youth who have progressed through our programs to a performance-level ability) can be seen at events throughout the GTA. Each year the requests for Samba Kidz performances increase. In 2009-2010, the Kidz performed at 23 events, including high profile appearances at the Mayor’s Arts Awards Lunch, Salsa on St. Clair, Meagan’s Walk Parade, Muhtadi’s International Drumming Festival, the Easter Seals Telethon on CBC TV, and the Dundas Square Brazil Day celebrations. These performances are high-energy and inspiring for audiences, and offer the participants exposure to Toronto’s communities while developing their sense of civic involvement.

In 2010, DAC was named RBC’s charity of choice and also achieved the Environmental Award of Excellence by Green Toronto Awards for converting its community centre’s leaky tar and gravel roof into a green roof and garden patio. Most recently, Executive Director, Gili Zemer, was nominated for a ‘Cultural Champion’ award by the city of Toronto.

Programs

>Samba Kidz
>Samba Youth

Samba Kidz (ages 7-13) is a subsidized program that enriches the lives of inner-city children by engaging them in the arts. The Samba Kidz programs include world music drumming, steel pan, stilt-walking, dance, theatre and visual art. Programs take place in three different locations across the city. DAC is currently running a Winter/Spring session in Regent Park, a Spring session in the Jane-Finch area, and year-round programming at our community centre in the Davenport-Perth community.

Samba Youth (ages 14-18) is a multi-arts, after-school program currently held on a weekly basis at Westview Centennial High School in the Jane-Finch community and is expanding to Regent Park. With the guidance of local professional artists and peers, participants learn drumming, world music, visual arts and dance. Arts activities, leadership training, and academic & vocational coaching are integrated into the program, and the youth staff are former program participants.

Junior Staff/Leaders In Training (LIT) (ages 13-18) takes place each summer for 6 weeks, full-time. Young people engage in a structured program that focuses on critical thinking, conflict resolution, communication skills and consensus-based decision-making. LIT graduates assume leadership and Junior Staff employment positions at DAC, and become mentors for the organization’s younger members.

Learn to a new Beat (all ages) is DAC’s workshop program, which provides integrated music and visual art workshops for Ontario school boards, communities and businesses. DAC facilitates 2-3 of these kinds of workshops per month.

Samba Kidz

Founded in 2005, Samba Kidz is a multi-arts outreach program that provides young people aged 7 to 13 with professional training in world music, percussion, visual arts, theatre and performance. The Samba Kidz program is an enriching and non-competitive environment where all participants can excel in music and art while exploring and reflecting on issues and ideas that are important to them. Participants move on to perform at various events and festivals around the city. Through performance opportunities and community involvement, participants are able to see themselves as valuable members of their society who make important, positive contributions to their communities. The Samba Kidz program includes a youth leadership component, which develops the skills of the older members through special projects and responsibilities. The youth leaders participate in curriculum related to critical thinking, communication building, conflict resolution, consensus-based decision-making and reflection of their lived experiences. They are also given the opportunity to lead activities and mentor the younger members. The hands on learning opportunities that DAC offers not only prepare our young leaders with tools to think laterally and creatively, but also to apply their ideas to real life situations. Children and youth experience a wide spectrum of artistic areas, not seen in most other programs.

Program Impact

Since its inception, the Samba Kidz program has directly affected over 400 children and families and touching hundreds of people in some of Toronto’s most culturally diverse communities. Diverse communities have benefited greatly from the Samba Kidz program; improving intercultural communication skills and helping families integrate into the Toronto community.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

The arts help fuel innovation and creativity – critical components for a successful city. The arts help us commemorate our past, understand our present, and imagine our future.

(Toronto's Vital Signs ® 2010)

Participant Vignette

Ayden is a passionate 11 year old with a keen mind. He is also prone to extreme frustration and long periods of disengaging from his surroundings. Diagnosed with dyslexia plus phonetic decoding and auditory processing deficits, it is extremely hard for Ayden to sit still, focus on activities or communicate with others, especially adults. Desperate to find some activity that would engage her son both mentally and physically, his mother Annie brought Ayden to Drum Artz in the summer of 2009. “I thought music would help him find a way to communicate other than reading and writing. But we couldn’t find a program we could afford until we found Samba Kidz.” Ayden joined the Samba Kidz summer program and transformed over the course of five weeks. For the first time – ever – he slept through the night without nightmares, he started focussing on activities longer and began to be a little more comfortable around adults. Annie gets tearful when she speaks of the gifts drumming has given her son: “he’s been given a tool he can use on his own, independent of me, and a way to express anger that’s socially acceptable. Plus he’s being exposed to ideas and cultures he’d never experience anywhere else." Ayden is excited about his future at Drum Artz. Inspired by the youth leaders who work with the younger kidz, he enthuses: “I can’t wait until I’m 14, because then I can be a leader.”

Samba Youth

DAC’s Samba Youth program offers youth aged 14-18 multi-arts workshops after school hours. The Samba Youth program started in the fall of 2009, offering weekly workshops to 30 Westview Collegiate students. After two successful years, programming has expanded to offer beginner programming to 30 additional youth in the Jane-Finch neighbourhood, and offer workshops and volunteer leadership oppourtunities to students at Jarvis Collegiate Institute in Regent Park.

The Samba Youth program includes a large component of leadership training. Youth are asked to actively participate in classes, to assist with planning community performances and to mentor peers, and new players; this way participants improve self-esteem, acquire leadership skills, and learn team-building, group responsibility and conflict-resolution skills. In the summer, a comprehensive Leaders-in-Training program is offered to 8-10 youth identified as ready to take on extra challenges. This free program offers 40 hours of formal workshops on conflict resolution, social skills, teamwork, and mentoring younger children, as well as 5 weeks of full-time, hands-on experience assisting with the summer Samba Kidz program. The completion of the Leaders-in-Training program qualifies youth to work at DAC programs, and to assist in teaching ‘Learn to a New Beat’ workshops.

Youth are able to transfer these skills to all areas of their lives, including family life, interpersonal relationships, academic acheivement and paid employment. To date, 8 youth who have completed the LIT program now have year-round employment at DAC. DAC will provide further opportunities to exercise leadership skills by hiring 6-8 advanced youth as full-time Junior Staff members in the summer Samba Kidz program. These positions transistion into part-time positions at DAC programs during the school year.

DAC’s arts focus is based on the belief that creative expression allows people to see themselves, and others, in positive new ways. In order to be successful at DAC, participants must focus, literally and figuratively, on working collaboratively. Weekly activities engage participants in positive and ethical projects that provide them with meaning and a sense of purpose. The youths’ active participation in shaping the final outcome of the projects fosters a profound sense of ownership in the process and performance.

Another strength of DAC programming is the opportunity and expectation of public performance. Youth from Regent Park, St. Jamestown, Scarborough, Jane-Finch, and other areas, who had previously not travelled much outside of their neighbourhoods because of social barriers, have traveled across the GTA to perform at events and festivals, such as SunFest (London) and Muhtadi’s International Drum Festival (Queen’s Park). Performing as a group offers youth social validation and exposure to new communities and events. For most youth, participating in Toronto's cultural events and festivals is a new experience.

DAC is committed to accessibility: everyone is welcome to join and the music and artistic activities incorporate people of all levels of ability. There are no auditions, no previous experience is necessary, new members are integrated on an ongoing basis and program fees are subsizied up to 100%. Because of the collaborative nature of the music, seasoned professionals play alongside newcomers, even at public performances.

Program Impact

Samba Youth has reached over 40 youth at Westview High School and successfully reached a dozen new youth during pilot projects in Regent Park in 2010-2011. Many of the youth are new comers to Canada and take on a leadership role in the group. Samba Youth is creating new mentors in Toronto's communities.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

Leadership that reflects the city’s diversity helps to strengthen a culture of citizen engagement. The more we feel connected to others, the more vibrant and resilient we are individually and collectively.

(Toronto's Vital Signs ® 2010)

Participant Vignette

Jade Shortte is a young woman who joined the Samba Youth Westview program in 2009, through our partnership with the Success Beyond Limits program. She was hesitant and said little, but she consistantly showed up for every class and took every opportunity to attend extra rehearsals, and other Drum Artz programs. Jade lives in a lare building at Jane-Finch with her mom and younger brother; they immigrated to Canada when Jade was young, and are from the West Indies. By the summer of 2010, she was hooked on the music and rhythms, and was an accomplished player with several performances under her belt. Drum Artz staff built a strong positive relationship with Jade and encouraged her to complete the Leaders-in-Training program. She did, and today Jade is much more vocal, helping to lead workshops and mentor younger children. She is extremely responsible, caring, and community-minded. Jade often speaks to Drum Artz’ Senior staff about her challenges and sucesses at school and in life. She travels from Jane-Finch to Drum Artz Community Centre up to twice a week, in addtion to attending the program at Westview, because she feels valued, comfortable, and happy in her roles at the various programs. She has also made new friends from other neighbourhoods and they enjoy spending time together ‘hanging out’ in the kitchen, or on the patio, at Drum Artz’ Community Centre.