Summer Program

Hi my name is Luipa and this summer I had an opportunity to work at the Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre, as a youth production assistant. Regent Park Focus is located in Regent Park. This program encourages youth to come out and get involved in their community.

Working at Regent Park Focus this summer has been calm and relaxing. Yes, there were days where we were racing against the clock to finish our assignments but other times it was smooth sailing. Working at Focus has been a great way to learn new things and use our imagination to develop our own media. We’ve done many different kinds of media arts including: video making, music studio recording, digital photography, as well as writing article for Catch Da Flava magazine.

For song recording we’ve worked with a well known Canadian hip-hop artist named Dan-e-o. He’s been a great support to us who has helped us through each step into recording our songs. Dan-e-o wasn’t only a help but he also taught us what real hip hop is all about. Hip hop is not just about how much money you have or how much jewelery you wear, it’s a whole different culture.

Working along with other members of the program has been a great experience. Editing videos with Christen, working on our poster using Photoshop with the help of Steve, going out to shoot video with the help of Tyrone and Nila and making beats in the recording studio with Matthew and Phil who taught us a lot about music production.

We learned many different new things that we didn’t know. It’s a great program that teaches many different skills and a wonderful environment where everyone is friendly.

We've went to watch a threatre performance called Bash’d. Bash'd was a two men show about homosexuality. Using rap music, the men expressed their thoughts about society and how as gay people they are treated. We also watched a documentary called Sicko which gave us a look at how bad America’s health care really is.

It has been a great experience for me to work with kids as well as working on our individual activities. I’d like to say a special thanks to Adonis Huggins & Pat Whittaker who were wonderful enough to let us be a part of their program.

- Luipa

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