WHY Talk is a collaborative youth art project that combines workshops and public performances. Designed to promote art, social justice and change, the project allows youth to explore and engage in conversations about issues of interest to them - poverty, violence, sexuality, suicide, racism, ageism and the environment - and let the public listen and join in. Originally conceived as a project for City on the Move - in the end, the group opted to do invisible theatre in public spaces and special events. In August 2010, WHY Collective members helped launch The Shift (founded by WHY Member, Samantha Vite) by doing an intervention at a public fundraiser.
Popular from the start, the workshops were piloted in 2009 and brought back in 2010 at the request of the new members.
Guest artist Noah Kenneally worked with Julie Jarvis to support Why Talk in 2009 and 2010. Guest artists from 2009 include: interdisicplinary artist, Shary Boyle, musician Alex Glenfield, and actor/visual artist Sean Frey.
The WHY Talk workshops are designed and co-hosted by the WHY Collective and Walls of Hope Canada and funded by the Laidlaw Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council and private donations. Workshop space is provided by our project partner, Sketch.
