Students from the prestigious university are in Alberta to learn about the non-profit society’s successes in helping young people.
“Moving the Mountain Inch by Inch”
Experiential Learning for First Nations/Metis Nation & High Risk Youth
Watch iHuman Harvard CBC video here
MISSION STATEMENT: To adapt/change/modify and reinvent a delivery system that will meet the needs of First Nations Youth, Metis Youth & High Risk Youth that do not participate in the current educational systems, and to establish a viable educational alternative for youth living on or off Reserves.
This strategy will focus on physical engagement of learning activities that include the community as a learning environment, accepting the realities of each community as a proactive stimulant.
It will enlist professional and non-professional members of the community to enrich the learning environment by offering their expertise and experiences as supplants to the activities that each youth will receive while engaged in their active learning endeavors
STAGE ONE: To examine the barriers & obstacles that confront the youth, creating a self-imposed exclusion from traditional school programs.
In partnership with Harvard University Native American Program (Nation Building 11), and ihuman Youth Society, including the support of a group of professional advisors from private practice, government and university sectors, a study has been initiated to examine the barriers & obstacles.
Students from Harvard will arrive in Edmonton on March 15th, 2013, to conduct interviews with youth, ages 12 – 23 years, and families where possible, and to also interview the advisors. The Harvard students will produce a power point presentation, with a final written and digital report due by the end of May, 2013.
The second stage will include an examination of existing educational programs, along with visually generated concepts that embrace experiential learning strategies. The second stage is presently being looked at with preliminary work done on the structural planning and visualization of a new approach to learning
]]>iHuman Youth got together to put this song together, and let the world know who we are. Spread the word! iHuman family always! ]]>
Lucy the elephant paints a canvas with iHuman youth (not pictured) during Family Day festivities at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Edmonton, Alta. on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. iHuman uses art as a bridge to reach at risk youth and zoo keepers use painting as an enrichment activity to keep Lucy happy. Amber Bracken/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency
iHuman youth Shyreen Anthony, 19, paints as Lucy the elephant waits her turn during Family Day festivities at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Edmonton, Alta. on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. iHuman uses art as a bridge to reach at risk youth and zoo keepers use painting as an enrichment activity to keep Lucy happy. Amber Bracken/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency
iHuman youth Shyreen Anthony, 19, dodges Lucy’s paintbrush as the two paint together during Family Day festivities at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Edmonton, Alta. on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. iHuman uses art as a bridge to reach at risk youth and zoo keepers use painting as an enrichment activity to keep Lucy happy. Amber Bracken/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency
iHuman youth Kara Rain, 16, watches Lucy take her turn on the canvas they painted together during Family Day festivities at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Edmonton, Alta. on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. iHuman uses art as a bridge to reach at risk youth and zoo keepers use painting as an enrichment activity to keep Lucy happy. Amber Bracken/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency
iHuman youth Shyreen Anthony, 19, left, and Kara Rain, 16, show the collaborative paintings they made with Lucy the elephant during Family Day festivities at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Edmonton, Alta. on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. iHuman uses art as a bridge to reach at risk youth and zoo keepers use painting as an enrichment activity to keep Lucy happy. Amber Bracken/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency
An event hosted by Mayor Stephen and Lynn Mandel.
Insert event recap here
Check out the gallery of awesome photos and Pinterest page here
]]>Thanks in no small part to our sponsors, in no particular order: Listen Louder, Red Willow Community Church, City Centre Mall, National Day of Healing and Reconciliation, AltaFab Structures, Timeless Aftermath, Docia Lysne, McKernan Community League, Constable Sam Sanson, and Running Thunder Dancers, (Adrian Lachance, Lakota Tootoosis, Brianna Olson, and Kris Morningstar).
Check out the gallery and Pinterest Page to see all the amazing photos
]]>For some Edmonton teens dealing with addictions and mental health issues, visiting one unique charity in the city has allowed them to express their creativity and channel their inner artist in an encouraging, positive atmosphere.
Within a creaky but humble aged building in downtown Edmonton stands iHuman, a nonprofit organization that was first formed in 1997 to help youth at risk through the arts.
Its goal was to support arts activities that led to positive social change. From fashion and music to visual art and writing, their team uses every imaginable creative medium to coach, mentor and support the ever-growing number of youth who walked through their doors.
Today, iHuman’s programs currently operate out of a studio with limited space in Edmonton’s inner-city but, already it has outgrown it, due to the overwhelming popularity among this city’s teens.
Now, their long-term goal and ambitious dream is to offer a large multi-purpose building that features housing, an arts centre and a retail storefront.
A tour through their facility boasts an impressive collection of art covering wall to wall in each room and seemingly intricate story-telling spray paint line the narrow hallways.
Even doors are covered with eye-catching artistry and countless canvases lie out to dry.
The vibe in the area where youth often come to escape their troubles is calm, relaxing and inviting. Each room has a unique purpose, from a recording studio to a fashion room filled with enough supplies to create masterpieces that even Cinderella would be envious of.
Not to be forgotten is a warm, cozy space within the facility dedicated to new and expecting moms who receive support from social workers and other support networks to develop an understanding of all things motherhood.
iHuman also gladly accepts donations of baby clothes and supplies on behalf of the mothers and distributes the items to those most in need.
Executive director Catherine Broomfield says, “iHuman is a place where marginalized youth can feel accepted.
“We engage youth in a caring and creative environment that allows them to be accepted for who they are and where they’re at in the present moment,” she adds.
“We try to ‘keep it real’ and build trust relationships, so we can bridge that youth with support and advocacy in the community that they might not know of, trust or accept otherwise.”
iHuman offers many one of a kind volunteer opportunities and encourages those interested in sharing their talents to come lead the teens through an art or music class.
Some of their past volunteers have held classes on improv comedy, break dancing, and painting among others.
The last Friday of every month is open to the public to come view some of Edmonton’s best undiscovered talent, as they share their passion on centre stage within the facility.
The nights usually include various singing performances, listening to locally created and produced music from iHuman studios, plus dancing and art viewings.
Their current top three in-demand items include the need for canvases, acrylic paint and paint brushes.
Donations of these supplies are always welcome and can be dropped off at 10124-96 St.
Monetary donations are also accepted online at www.ihuman.org and more information about the charity can be obtained by calling 780-421-8811.
By Rayanne Forbes
edmonton examiner
The artist’s atelier can be an arcane place to roam and Sandra Bromley’s studio is no exception. A steel gate leading to the 1,100-square-foot studio behind her university-area home bears a poignant, laser-cut quote by 19th-century French philosopher, a strong hint that something special lies ahead.
En route to the studio along the garden path, we pass a towering wooden sculpture and a storage shed designed to display work through the multiple windows.
Bromley swings open the front door and natural light spills from all angles. There are windows and skylights galore.
“I never turn on the lights!” Bromley says with a smile.
The entrance is chock-a-block with paraphernalia: various tools hang on a pegboard above an industrial sink, a couple of dormant rosemary bushes and an orange fish circling its tank sit on the counter. There’s a toilet in the corner.
Rows of shelving house everything from electrical hand tools and bins of nuts, screws and miscellaneous items to cans of paint and brushes. A bicycle leans against the shelves, ready for springtime jaunts. Eyes stare out from a series of photographs mounted on one white wall. There is a lot to take in.
Among the menagerie of practical materials and equipment are exotic and unexpected artifacts; the stuff that breathes life into Bromley’s work.
A box of non-live, anti-personnel mines sits on a shelf, remnants from The Gun Sculpture, an earlier collaborative piece. Two large, hand-carved wooden mortars from Sierra Leone, acquired while researching FIRE, rest on the floor.
“Material always plays into my work,” says Bromley, “where you are and what you can find.”
Her latest gems are buckets of handmade tin bells, 150 kilos of cotton string and a rainbow of Buddhist-coloured dyes picked up during a recent trip to India. These items will become the backbone of her new installation project.
The idea of working with bells came from a series of dreams that embraced harmony, balance and beauty. During a three-week artist residency in Delhi in 2008, Bromley began to research and develop the concept.
In one corner, rows of strings and dangling brass-coloured bells are attached to a wooden frame suspended from the 13-foot ceiling. It is still in the experimental stage — a miniature maquette of the same layout sits in another corner.
Bromley envisions the final piece as six times larger; a “forest of bells” viewers will meander through. She also sees incorporating projections, music, choral work and dancers.
A waft of air jiggles the bells — tuned to the Hindustani scale — and a sweet symphony floats through the space.
Near the industrial garage door is a 10-inch metal I-beam with a chain hoist and trolley, handy for lifting and moving heavy objects.
Stairs lead up to the loft, a clean space for drawing, organizing materials and a library. The rooftop deck, currently under snow, is a favourite spot during the summer.
Bromley’s studio is an eclectic smorgasbord, a true reflection of the Edmonton artist’s worldly adventures and interest in social and political issues.
“All the siblings were challenged to be very independent, both in actions and in thinking,” says Bromley. “I especially enjoyed discussing global issues with my father — what was going on in the world, what was right, what was working, what wasn’t.”
“When I was 12 years old I saw an article on artwork in Indonesia,” Bromley remembers, “and from that moment on, every cent I ever had from working or allowance went into my travel fund.”
Bromley’s passion to experience the world led to a year-long, solo venture at age 18 that took the young woman to Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East.
Returning to Edmonton, she enrolled in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at the University of Alberta. But she took a break after two years to travel with her husband-to-be. The couple island-hopped through Melanesia and Polynesia and explored New Zealand, Australia and Asia for two years. She returned home to her studies and graduated in 1979.
The following year she and her husband moved to England, where they stayed for 13 years. Here, in her London studio, Bromley’s art began to take on a political slant.
Within a year of returning to Canada, Bromley met artist Wallis Kendal. Together, they created The Gun Sculpture, an internationally acclaimed, five-ton installation comprised of more than 7,000 donated (and deactivated) guns, hand grenades, knives and landmines. The project was “a five-year heart-and-soul endeavour.”
Since its 2000 première in Edmonton, the sculpture and victims mural (with 114 portraits) has toured three continents and been seen by nearly two million people. It was featured at the Nobel Prize Centennial Exhibition in Korea and United Nations headquarters in New York City. The piece was shipped out of New York four days before 9/11.
Bromley’s interest in social action goes beyond feeding her artwork. In 1997, Bromley and Kendal co-founded iHuman, a group that works with high-risk youth. In 2003, Bromley founded the Sierra Leone Bo Girls Group, a fundraising initiative to aid the female victims of the war.
FIRE, a multi-disciplinary installation, explored the impact of Sierra Leone’s 10-year civil war on children and women, particularly the boys who served as soldiers and labour slaves and the girls kidnapped for sex slaves. The piece opened at the Art Gallery of Alberta in 2010 and featured videotaped interviews and photographs of the survivors Bromley met during her stay.
The subject of social action prompts Bromley to say, “I am compelled to do it. I have always felt that I was a global citizen — that we are part of the whole.
“I really want to provoke dialogue on these issues. I would like them not to disappear into our busy lives because I think they are important.”
Bromley’s compassion for the struggles and suffering of others, and her desire to eliminate the “divide between us and them,” is exemplary. Recognition includes the 2012 Salute to Excellence, City of Edmonton Hall of Fame; Rotary Integrity Award; Distinguished Alumni Award, U of A; Woman of Vision Award; and Alberta Centennial Medallion.
“My challenge when I make a work is to approach it on many different levels — the intellect, the emotions, the spirit and the sensuality of vision.”
As for her studio, she describes the ambience as “joyful” and “inviting.”
“It is a space that I purposely built and thus retains an intimacy, a tailored and personal environment that comfortably supports free exploration,” says Bromley. “It’s always accessible, it’s private AND I never have to move — with tons of art and materials, that is essential to peace of mind.”
Go to sandrabromley.com for more information. ]]>
Edmonton Sun
As purse strings tighten on the provincial level, Edmonton’s iHuman Youth Society is still waiting to hear if they’ll get the dollars they need for a new art studio and youth housing project.
Council’s Community Service’s Committee heard an update from the unique group — which uses the arts to engage and assist street youth — Tuesday morning.
The city has already committed $1.75 million to the new facility but the $968,750 in fuding they’ve requested from the province is still up in the air
“We are planning for renovation to begin this summer and for iHuman to be in the building this fall,” iHuman’s executive director, Catherine Broomfield.
“Our application to the province was submitted in March of last year, we heard it was delayed to December and now I’ve phoned a number of times but have not heard back.”
iHuman has bounced from location to location over the past few years and the facility currently being used formerly housed a peep show.
The organization is looking to get out of the small space with the sordid past, and into the new facility — on 102 A Avenue — where “their services can grow.”
iHuman’s new digs will provide a space for youth to participate in visual and performance arts, and with a larger facility they’re hoping to introduce new services a including a post-treatment and young mother’s housing block.
All of iHuman’s services have merit, said Coun. Ben Henderson, and he believes it’s time for other orders of government to acknowledge that.
Along with the obvious benefits the facility will offer for at risk youth, Broomfield says the new facility can have a huge impact on the province as a whole.
“If a youth is housed in protective care, then that costs the taxpayers roughly $1,400 a day — that’s food, supervision, those needs,” said Broomfield.
“If a youth can be supported in the community, able to stay in their home or live independently with a support network then the cost is less to the social service sector.”
Much less in fact — Bloomfield says iHuman’s cost comes in around just $50 a day per youth- and that amounts to major savings annually.
If iHuman isn’t granted the necessary funds from the province and the feds, the city remains pot-committed. And that makes some councillors nervous.
“We can’t be out on a limb for every one of these projects,” said Coun. Don Iveson.
“There is a value for Edmonton to be a part of this but if funds don’t materialize from other levels of government, then the lost opportunities are tragic and monstrous over time.”
]]>Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON – The iHuman Youth Society could face delays moving into its new building if government funding doesn’t appear as requested in the next few months.
Last April, the non-profit organization bought the old Hotel Equipment and Supply Co. building at 9635 102A Ave., with plans to turn it into a permanent home they could start using by 2014.
But the group, which uses the arts to help young people overcome addictions and mental health problems, has only raised about half the $8 million needed to start renovations this spring, executive director Catherine Broomfield said Tuesday.
They’re waiting for a provincial decision that was supposed to come in December on a $969,000 grant, will make a second request for provincial aid in March, and have nothing yet from the federal government, Broomfield said.
This could affect $1.8 million the city approved in 2012, which depending on scheduling might force the group to push back its construction timetable by at least a year, she said.
“We’re very conservative in how we’re going to move forward on this project, so we’re not going to put in jeopardy … the support donors have given us,” Broomfield said.
“I don’t think it would be financially responsible for iHuman to step out there and continue … It would be another 12 to 18 months.”
The city is studying their business case and operating plans.
“We’re a little bit out on a limb with this one. That’s what happens when local government takes leadership,” Coun. Don Iveson said.
If the other governments don’t contribute, “the lost opportunities there are tragic and monstrous over time … hopefully, they can get the paperwork done and this project can get in the ground in a timely fashion.”
iHuman serves more than 500 people age 12 to 24 in Edmonton, and would like to expand, Broomfield said.
The group estimates holding a troubled teen in custody costs $1,400 a day, while its program costs $50 a day.
iHuman is leasing a city-owned building 9604 101A Ave. for $1 a year.
The new facility would be more than twice as big, with room for arts studios, offices and crisis intervention.
The group’s long-term plan is to build up to 18 units of supportive housing on the adjoining parking lot for youth completing addictions treatment and young mothers.
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