$47 200 OTF Resilient Communities Grant sets pilot media arts program for refugee youth on
the path to sustainability
Toronto, ON: At the start of 2021, the Arab Community Centre of Toronto (ACCT) received a $47,200 Resilient Communities Fund grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). Throughout the year, the grant was used to build ACCT’s and Charles Street Video’s (CSV) capacity to virtually deliver Media Art for Newcomer Youth (MANY), a media arts creation program that teaches youth animation and photography from culturally affiliated artists and reduces barriers to access.
“Grassroots organizations such as the Arab Community Centre of Toronto (ACCT) have always been at the forefront of helping newcomers to adapt to their new home and provided crucial assistance counselling and support for youth, women and seniors,” said Kinga Surma, MPP for Etobicoke Centre. “With the grant by Ontario Trillium Foundation, ACCT will be able to expand virtual support services to some of the most vulnerable members of our community.”
The Resilient Communities Fund grant was designed to help non-profit organizations recover and rebuild from the impact of COVID-19. Funds from the grant were used to purchase a variety of AV equipment to enable the inclusion of more youth in programs, in addition to staff training on trauma-informed approaches to working with refugee youth in arts projects as well as staff training facilitated by CSV. When not in use by youth participants in MANY, the equipment will be sub-rented through CSV, which has a rental system in place for its members, for the purpose of generating sustainable revenue for the arts program.
“Thanks to the OTF grant, we are able to make MANY a more sustainable program as the funds lessen our dependence on AV rentals,” remarked Dima Amad, ACCT Executive Director. “The big plus is sub renting all this great, new equipment through our partner CSV so that we can generate passive income for MANY. It means we can stretch future grant dollars for programming even further.”
ACCT has carried out MANY for the past three years in collaboration with CSV, thanks to annual grants from the Toronto Arts Council. ACCT is a non-profit, non-political, and non-religious settlement and community organization that works with newcomers to Canada. To learn more about ACCT’s programs and services, please visit www.acctonline.ca
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. Last year, nearly $112M was invested into 1,384 community projects and partnerships to build healthy and vibrant communities and strengthen the impact of Ontario’s non-profit sector. In 2020/21, OTF supported Ontario’s economic recovery by helping non-profit organizations rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Visit otf.ca to learn more.
Media Contact
Dima Amad
Executive Director
Arab Community Centre of Toronto
dima@acctonline.ca
416-231-7747 (ext. 229)
