Yuva Arts Project
Donation protected
http://www.yuvaartsproject.org/
Yuva Arts Project is a collaborative initiative supported by various community groups, in which a group of eight youth from the red-light district in Mumbai, India will come to Waterloo Region. These youth, aged 14 to 16, are children of commercially sexually exploited women and are faced with various challenges. My dream is to provide the children an opportunity to express themselves, their challenges, and gain new perspectives so that upon their return, they may be positive influences within their own communities and break the vicious cycle of trafficking and the sex trade. During their visit, the youth will participate in artistic dialogues with youth of Waterloo including the Indigenous and refugee community. The main aim is to create inter-cultural awareness of social pressures and discuss possible solutions through creative artistic cultural exchange, hence allowing them to negotiate their identities and build their artistic and creative abilities through collaboration and performance. The cross-cultural exchanges will lead to acknowledgement and celebration of various perspectives, experiences, and histories, facilitating further awareness of the communities making up Waterloo Region. My goal is to give the youth the right guidance, the right opportunities, and the right exposure to discover their full potential towards a positive and enriching future.
Here is also a video introducing Prema, one of our participants from Mumbai, India:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGuZqXBZXQg
Yuva Arts Project is a collaborative initiative supported by various community groups, in which a group of eight youth from the red-light district in Mumbai, India will come to Waterloo Region. These youth, aged 14 to 16, are children of commercially sexually exploited women and are faced with various challenges. My dream is to provide the children an opportunity to express themselves, their challenges, and gain new perspectives so that upon their return, they may be positive influences within their own communities and break the vicious cycle of trafficking and the sex trade. During their visit, the youth will participate in artistic dialogues with youth of Waterloo including the Indigenous and refugee community. The main aim is to create inter-cultural awareness of social pressures and discuss possible solutions through creative artistic cultural exchange, hence allowing them to negotiate their identities and build their artistic and creative abilities through collaboration and performance. The cross-cultural exchanges will lead to acknowledgement and celebration of various perspectives, experiences, and histories, facilitating further awareness of the communities making up Waterloo Region. My goal is to give the youth the right guidance, the right opportunities, and the right exposure to discover their full potential towards a positive and enriching future.
Here is also a video introducing Prema, one of our participants from Mumbai, India:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGuZqXBZXQg
Organizer and beneficiary
Tamara Menon
Organizer
Waterloo, ON
Poonam Patel
Beneficiary
