Art education empowers Webequie youth

Thursday October 2, 2008

Cameraman Peter Elliott works with a Webequie youth during a film workshop in the community Sept. 22-26.
-submitted photo

The DAREarts Foundation for Children engaged a group of Webequie youth in a weeklong arts project recently in their community.

DAREarts – which stands for Discipline, Action, and Responsibility in Education – is a Canadian charitable organization that empowers children to become leaders through arts education

Guided by arts professionals, students are challenged to learn from new experiences they may not have had otherwise and gain leadership skills by sharing what they’ve learned with their classmates and community.

“It really provides the students with a sense of ownership,” said Mary Gardiner, principal of Webequie’s school. “The basis of it is to learn how to set goals and work towards accomplishing those goals, taking ownership and being responsible for your choices.”

The program was provided for about 30 students in grades 6, 7, and 8.

The students worked with a team of art professionals that included Cathy Elliott, an Aboriginal director, musician, songwriter, artist and actor, Peter Elliott, cameraman and editor, and John Cowling, a young filmmaker, to create a film that would be shown to the community at the end of the week.

While the main focus was the film, each student was also provided with a still camera to document his or her experience throughout the week.

“The kids were involved in the whole process,” said Marilyn Field, founder of the DAREarts Foundation. “It was their movie. Day one we started by deciding what story we would tell and developed a storyboard by the end of the day.

“And by day two, we started filming.”

The students rotated jobs throughout the week and were able to experience every aspect of the filmmaking process, including acting and creating sound effects.

“Ninety percent of the work was done by the students,” Field said. “We were just there to inspire the youth with their own creativity and to help them find themselves through the program. The kids were quite shy but they were really focused on their acting and towards the end, their teachers noticed a big difference in them.”

The film was successfully premiered at the end of the week, first, to the school and then to the community at a feast held in the students honor.

“Webequie has, in the past, experienced suicides amongst the youth. Today we still feel the effects of the traumas, especially the youth of Webequie,” said traditional teacher, Bill Jacob. “Our goal is to help our youth to learn to respect themselves by providing opportunities for reflection and renewal to build and sustain healthy people and healthy communities. The youth will gain self-esteem, confidence, a sense of belonging and respect through the sense of accomplishment they get from activities in which they will participate together.”

Field said they don’t have any government funding or any other sponsorship but are seeking funds so they can continue to bring the program to Webequie and possibly to other First Nation communities.

“We had a number of Grade 5 students hanging around after school who are looking forward to being in Grade 6 next year so they can do it. The program had such a profound effect on the students and they’re what this is all about,” Field said.

To view the film produced by Webequie youth, please Click Here