WHO ARE WE?
JAYU is a Toronto-based charity dedicated to sharing human rights stories through the arts. The iAM Program program offers equity-deserving youth ages 12-29 free arts mentorship.
iAM programs are free and designed for young artists between the ages of 12 – 29 living in Ontario with no previous experience required. Equity-deserving is inclusive of Black and racialized folks, people with disabilities, Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), 2-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer (2SLGBTQ+), newcomers to Canada and people experiencing homelessness or precarious housing.
PROGRAM DETAILS
Verse & Vision at JAYU is an 8-week program for Black youth artists to explore collage and poetry as an intuitive, interdisciplinary practice. Working solo, participants dive into creative experimentation, translating ideas between mediums and discovering their personal style. The program concludes with a showcase where participants present one poem and one collage that reflect their journey, offering a glimpse of visual and poetic narratives shaped by curiosity and self-discovery.
The showcase will be the kick-off of JAYU’s 2025 Festival of the Arts on December 10th.
DURATION
Saturday’s October 4, 11, 18, 25,
November 1, 8, 15, 22, 291:00pm – 4:-00pm
Final showcase & Festival kick-off December 10 @ 5:00 pm
LOCATION
JAYU Studio at 401 Richmond Street West
Studio 380, Toronto ON, M5V 3A8
NEED TO KNOW
Food and TTC tickets will be provided
To receive the program honourarium upon completion, youth will have had to attend at least 6 of the 8 workshop classes in the event of illness or emergencies.
Please Note: Registration does not guarantee placement in this program. Confirmation emails will be sent prior to the program start.
If you have any inquiries please contact Des, iAM Program Manager at desiree@jayu.ca
MEET YOUR MENTORs: SHELLY & JASMINE
Shelly Grace
Shelly Grace is a multidisciplinary artist, poet, and educator. Her work moves between spoken word, photography, and interactive more, exploring identity, belonging, and human rights. Shelly creates experiences that invite reflection and dialogue. In 2019, she won the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. In 2022, she was named Breakthrough Artist of the Year by Toronto Arts Foundation and Emerging Artist of the Year by JAYU. She also helps run Toronto Poetry Slam and co-founded Verse & Visual Expressions. As a lover of storytelling and equity, she is either sharing or listening, invested in using art for change and connection.
Jasmine Vanstone
Jasmine Vanstone is a Jamaican-Canadian multidisciplinary artist and arts facilitator who inspires and amplifies marginalized voices through arts mentorship, community arts programming, and public art. Through her artistic practice, she experiments in various mediums -primarily collage, murals, poetry, and paper crafts- to share visual reflections of identity, wellness, and the natural environment. Her talent, along with the power of mentorship, has earned her awards and features at CBC Arts, DesignTO, Nuit Blanche, TOAF, YZD, and Pearson Airport. Most recently, Jasmine was awarded the JAYU Arts For Human Rights Award and co-founded Verse & Visual Expressions to amplify equity-deserving artists in their interdisciplinary creative collaborations across poetry and visual art.