Contract duration: March 1st 2010-March 4, 2011

32 hours/week  

SKETCH Working Arts is a community arts development initiative in downtown Toronto offering arts opportunities to young people ages 15-30 who live street involved, homeless or are otherwise marginalized. SKETCH believes that young people engaging in the arts can enhance their self-esteem, job readiness and life skills, increase their participation in the community and broaden options for their future.  

Sketch programming and activities are coordinated by a creative team of artists, youth workers, educators and activists. This group is involved in designing, coordinating, supervising and evaluating programs and activities. Coordinators directly facilitate art making with youth in our multi-disciplinary, drop-in-style arts studio and participate in documentation, report writing and general administration. 

The Program Coordinator-Youthworker is the member of the team primarily responsible to coordinate participant referrals to the broader social service and community network; to ensure programming is in line with current best youth work and social work practices; to supervise social work placements, and to support participants one-to-one, in projects and in Open Studio. 

Main responsibilities:

To inspire the creative discovery process and facilitate the skill development process  

• Collaborative Program Coordination and Evaluation

• Art making with youth

• Referring participants to appropriate social service and community resources

• Volunteer and Social Work Placement supervision

• Mentoring facilitation for Community Artists (Youth Peer Leaders)

Preference given to applicants who have:

• Lived experience and knowledge of the African/Caribbean Canadian community

• A personal art practice and skills - preferred media: Print-making/Silkscreening; Painting/drawing; Textiles; Video, Photography; Digital media; Carpentry/sculpture/ woodworking; Dance or the Movement Arts; Music

• Experience in coordination and youth facilitation, including non-violent crisis intervention and some knowledge of alternative dispute resolution (restorative justice, peace circles etc.)

• A strong Anti-Oppression Practice and knowledge of Harm Reduction Theory 

• Experience in the community arts field and strong awareness of arts-based learning

• Excellent time-management, oral and written communication skills

• Knowledge of current issues of homelessness and resources in the GTA

SKETCH is committed to diversity and to addressing and removing discriminatory barriers, systemic or otherwise. We therefore encourage applications from all equity seeking groups. 

SKETCH, P.O. Box 63, Station B  Toronto, Ontario  M5T 2T2

fax 416-516-6286

www.sketch.ca