HWDSB Students Converge for Arts Workshops
On Nov. 6, HWDSB students in Arts and Culture Specialist High Skills Majors at four secondary schools headed to the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts on James Street South for a unique day full of arts-related workshops and performance.
An SHSM is a ministry-approved specialized program that allows students to focus their learning on a specific sector while meeting requirements to graduate from secondary school. At the HCA, about 80 students were able to do arts-specific training with local experts in fields including music, slam poetry, dance, visual arts and more.
Workshops were led by artists including:
- Hamilton Youth Poets – A group that tells stories through spoken word, verse, multimedia, poetry slam, and new age journalism.
- Tafiya Bayah – a movement artist and key member of Unity Charity in Toronto who uses dance as expression for honest storytelling.
- Terra Lightfoot, Steve Strongman and Tomi Swick – Together these acclaimed musicians led a dynamic songwriting workshop focusing on student skills, and a great song resulted.
- Amber Aasman – A Hamilton visual artist who lives and works in Hamilton led students in the creation of a mural that expressed the idea that “if you shoot for the moon and miss, at least you will reach the stars.”
Just after 1 p.m., students were finalizing their deadline-driven creations to prepare for a performance. Their show mixed Motown-style music, inspirational art, freedom-inspired dance and a courageous poetic voice. Each work was inspired by the Hamilton Charter of Rights of Children and Youth, which helped them find and express a creative and youth voice.
Enjoy some photos from the day.
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- Songwriting with stars.
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- Creating the mural.
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- Dance workshop underway.
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- The band is on stage.
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- Dancers performing.
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- Poetry reading.
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- Explaining the mural.
Updated on Monday, November 09, 2015.