I just got back from an exhausting two days at the Ignite Youth Arts Forum, an event sponsored by Heritage Canada at the Gladstone Hotel. The event was an enormous success, bringing together youth arts projects, community centres, artists, policy makers, funders, curators, academics, and other cultural workers together united under the banner of youth empowerment through the arts. I got to see a lot of old faces, and meet new people as well. Everyone was super friendly and curious about each other's projects, which created an awesome overall vibe to the event.

Today was the policy day, so we had academics presenting their studies on community arts and it's various benefits for marginalized youth. I was impressed with the body of research, ranging from a variety of academic fields; sociology, urban planning, criminology, etc. The research really spoke to what everyone has been expressing for years, that youth-based arts projects not only empower youth, but they also are proven to reduce crime, bridge communities, increase cultural capital, boost self-esteem, and cultivate interpersonal skills.

I feel like I have so much to write about, which is great because I have less than a month left to complete my thesis. I am so grateful for this conference, as it has truly given me insight into the importance of the work that we are all doing. In writing my thesis I often feel lost in the world of academia and books, and I feel like my work is lacking praxis. At the conference I saw how all of the work ties together, how academia supports the community projects, by proving to policy makers that this stuff is working, who then show their findings to the politicians who put their ideas into motion. This forum helped me to connect the dots, seeing how change gets made in real time, through the connections and networks we build on a community level.

Walking back from the conference along Queen Street the air was suddenly filled with seedlings. My first instinct as a city girl was to run for cover. What were these strange white things floating through the air in the middle of the downtown city scape? They must be toxic! Then it hit me, they were seeds, floating around until they found their way to a patch of soil where they would blossom. To me this metaphor is key, as I feel that many seeds got planted in these last few days. I'm excited to see them blossom in the near future.