By Fianna McKnight
On February 13, 2021, all the hard work of the Arran-Elderslie Youth Council and the Paisley Artscape Society paid off at the Milne-Crawford Reboot. Over 50 attendees enjoyed an evening full of art, history, poetry and performance from the comfort of their own homes. Featuring mini-biographies of Milne and Crawford, spoken word performances, open mic entertainment, live gallery tours, a Battle of the Brushes, and much more, the event was a huge success. All the youth who submitted their fantastic works were the backbone of the event-- we couldn’t have done it without you, so a huge thank you to everyone!!
In case you weren’t able to attend, here are the names of everyone recognized by the judges, in no ranked order:
In the elementary art category:
Dale MacCrostie for “Untitled”
Sierra Hutton for “Untitled”
Ezra Padbury for “Untitled”
In the elementary and secondary poetry category:
Jessica Verhees for “Where Did Everybody Go?”
Tyler Tisdale for “Times are Tough”
Sarah Grant for “Why?”
In the secondary art category:
Rebecca Mariano for “What Dreams are Made Of”
Julia Steeves for “Paisley”
Kaitlyn Folmer for “Bloom Burst”
In the spoken word poetry category:
Sophie Penner for “River of Death”
Huge congratulations to all of you! Numerous other submissions were recognized and will be included in the post-event publication, and they can be viewed in the virtual highlights gallery! We will be in contact shortly, if we haven’t been already!
We’d also like to send a huge thank you to our sponsors, Bruce Power and the Community Foundation of Grey Bruce, for making this event possible. The Reboot was a product of massive collaboration and the names of everyone who contributed couldn’t fit on this page. We appreciate you all immensely, and can’t wait for the next big event!
At the time of writing this, it is still mid-February, which is Black History Month! To recognize this important time of year, our monthly book recommendations all pertain to anti-racism and how you can become a better ally and advocate. In a world riddled with discrimination and misdirected hatred, it’s becoming increasingly important to self-educate on these issues and make a conscious effort to unlearn inherent biases. These three books range from youth-friendly to more adult based on your reading preferences.
This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell
When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bendele
The Black Friend by Frederick Joseph
All three of these awesome and eye-opening books are available at the Bruce County Library as e-books or physical books, so head to your local branch (re-opened as of March 1st) or the website and pick up a copy!
Finally on this month’s agenda is our next big initiative-- AEYouthhub! As a youth in Arran-Elderslie it is unfortunately very difficult to locate resources for mental health, volunteer work, jobs or, frankly, anything else. We all know the resources are out there, but because they’re so scattered across the internet they’re hard to find. We know the struggle, so we’ve come up with the solution-- a youth-run website that serves as a hub for all things youth in Arran-Elderslie. From mental health resources and coping strategies to a volunteer directory and a news feed where you can find out what fellow young people are up to, the site will cover all the bases. Stay tuned for more details on our social media (@arranelderslieyouth on Instagram and Arran Elderslie Youth on Facebook), because it’s coming soon!
It was a busy month for the Youth Council, and we couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve accomplished with help from the whole community. As always, stay tuned, stay safe, and we’ll see you next month!