East End Kids Pride 2024!
Art Workshops, and a Community Pride Parade
Workshops: Various dates in May & June 2024 (scroll down for more info)
Pride Parade: Saturday June 1, 2024
FREE to participate
REGISTER for Art Workshops BELOW!
RSVP HERE to the Pride Parade
You are invited to join us for East End Kids Pride 2024, an opportunity to come together with rainbow families, friends, neighbours, and the east end queer community to celebrate #EastEndLove and queer joy! Check out one of our free, accessible, and fun art workshops for kids and families taking place in different locations across East Toronto. Then, join us on Saturday June 1st to help us celebrate the kickoff of Pride Month with an incredible Community Parade through Dentonia Park! This parade event will feature face-painting, dancing, snacks, a community art project, and so much more! Scroll down to learn about how you can participate in East End Kids Pride this year!
ABOUT EAST END KIDS PRIDE
In June 2023, an awesome 7-year-old kid asked her two moms if she could organize a Pride Parade for her friends who are rainbow kids or who are part of rainbow families. Six days later, over 300 people came out to celebrate the first East End Kids Pride in Toronto’s Maryland Park, near Main & Danforth. It became abundantly clear that this event was overdue and it has inspired this to become an annual event in Toronto’s east end.
Initiated and led by a grassroots group of parents, kids, and community members living in Toronto’s east end (including the rainbow family that started it all), East End Arts, Shadowland Theatre, and Workman Arts are now coming on board to support and grow this year’s East End Kids Pride program! This pride program is youth-inspired and youth-led, and invites families of all shapes, sizes, and colours to be a part of the magic!
You can follow along the official East End Kids Pride Instagram account HERE.
Also, if you would like to sign-up for their specific East End Kids Pride newsletter to get updates about this program and event, please go HERE.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED:
- SHARE YOUR LOVE & JOY IN THE KIDS PRIDE PARADE: We invite everyone to join us on Saturday June 1st, 2024 10:00am-2:00pm for a Community Pride Parade & Celebration in Dentonia Park! Let’s celebrate the kickoff of pride month with a magical parade featuring music and stilt walkers, face painting, dancing, snacks, a community art project, and so much more!
Here is our schedule for the day:
-10:00-11:30am: Face painting
-10:00-11:00am: Manny Dingo (story time + drag performance)
-11:00-11:15am: Rainbow Circus performance
-11:30am-12:30pm: Parade led by Shadowland
-12:30-1:00pm: Rainbow Circus performance
-1:00-1:45pm: Kiki Ballroom workshop
-1:45-2:00pm: Runway performance with Kiki kids and parade participants
–2:00-2:30pm: Wrap up (but folks are welcome to hang out and enjoy the park for as long as they would like! Bring a blanket and a picnic and make a day of it!)
Be sure to RSVP to the Facebook Event so you’ll be in the know of all the schedule details!
- JOIN US AT A FREE ARTS WORKSHOP! This program is all about making rainbow kids feel celebrated, empowered, and welcomed within their community. We’ve got an exciting lineup of workshops taking place at different venues across the east end that invite kids to come learn a new art skill or make a new art piece that they can use to share their love and magic in the pride parade! Please note that registration is required for these workshops, and space is limited! Please note that kids under 12 require adult supervision for all of the following workshops.
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- Screen-printing T-Shirt Workshop with Jackie Lee
DATE: Satur
day May 11, 2024
TIME: 12-2pm and again 3-5pm (two time slots to choose from)
LOCATION: Crescent Town Club, Main Club Room
ABOUT WORKSHOP: Kids and youth are invited to join east end artist Jackie Lee in a mixed media t-shirt making workshop! In honor of East End Kids Pride, we will be making a rainbow of beautiful shirts using paints, markers, and screen printing techniques! Registration is required and spaces are limited. Priority given to youth from the east end of Toronto. ABOUT ARTIST: Jackie Lee (she/her) is an artist, illustrator, and screen printer currently working and living in the east end.
REGISTRATION LINK: Please note that we are prioritizing LGBTQIA2+ youth and families for these workshops. As such, filling out the registration form will not guarantee your spot in this workshop. You will receive notification if we are able to welcome you at this workshop by the date listed on the form.
- Screen-printing T-Shirt Workshop with Jackie Lee
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- Flag Making & Choreography Workshop with Shadowland Theatre
DATE: Sunday May 19, 2024
TIME: 12-3pm
LOCATION: St. Matthew’s Clubhouse, 450 Broadview Ave.
ABOUT WORKSHOP: Kids & youth are welcome to join this free flag decoration & choreography workshop, led by Shadowland Theatre! Flag choreography is an uplifting technique that enhances the parade in a rhythmic, flowing, and dramatic form. It is fun, active and takes up space! The workshop will include flag animation techniques and group pattern choreographies. The more the merrier! For flag decoration we will use simple images, stencils, and a rainbow of colours so participants can decorate flags to represent the parade themes. Registration required, and seats are limited. Priority given to youth from the east end of Toronto. ABOUT ORGANIZATION: Shadowland creates original theatre that entertains, engages, and inspires people to interact positively with each other and their environments. The company’s distinctive theatrical vocabulary includes puppetry, mask, stilt-dance, shadow puppetry, spectacle arts, and live music. Shadowland animates streets, parks and outdoor spaces with vibrant and large-scale images and is especially known for creating processional theatre. The company works with communities to animate local stories, create seasonal celebrations, and nurture an appreciation of public and green spaces.
REGISTRATION LINK: Please note that we are prioritizing LGBTQIA2+ youth and families for these workshops. As such, filling out the registration form will not guarantee your spot in this workshop. You will receive notification if we are able to welcome you at this workshop by the date listed on the form.
- Flag Making & Choreography Workshop with Shadowland Theatre
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- Banner & Printmaking Workshop with Naz Rahbar
DATE: Saturday May 25, 2024
TIME: 12-2pm and again 3-5pm (two time slots to choose from)
LOCATION: St. Matthew’s Clubhouse, 450 Broadview Ave.
ABOUT WORKSHOP: Kids, youth and queer fam! We invite you to join local east end artist Naz Rahbar for a banner and printmaking workshop! Get your hands dirty with some printmaking. Celebrate your joy and pride, make a banner to honor the true essence of Pride with us. Participants will have the opportunity to make their own banners and posters to showcase in the East End Kids Pride Parade on June 1st. All materials included. Registration is required, and seats are limited! Priority given to youth from the east end of Toronto. ABOUT ARTIST: Naz Rahbar is an Iranian born Tkaronto based multidisciplinary artist with drawing at the core of her practice. Naz graduated with a BFA from OCAD University in 2009. They have been active in arts education, socially engaged practices, and community arts in Tkaronto (www.art-cave.ca), and across the GTA since. They completed a bachelor of Education with a Fine Arts focus in 2012, and an MFA at York University in 2019. Naz currently teaches in Art Fundamentals and Illustration at Seneca College, and in the department of Visual Studies Art and Art History joint program at University of Toronto / Sheridan College.
REGISTRATION LINK: Please note that we are prioritizing LGBTQIA2+ youth and families for these workshops. As such, filling out the registration form will not guarantee your spot in this workshop. You will receive notification if we are able to welcome you at this workshop by the date listed on the form.
- Banner & Printmaking Workshop with Naz Rahbar
- JOIN THE POSTER CONTEST: This year’s program theme is “Born This Way”, as chosen by the magical kids and youth who have helped to lead the creation of this year’s event. We are now inviting all kids and youth in the east end to join in for a fun poster contest for this year’s Pride Parade! Make a poster that you think speaks to the theme, “Born This Way” and share it on social media with the hashtag #EastEndKidsPride2024. Alternatively you can email a photo of your poster to unicorn shannon at unicornstudiostoronto@gmail.com. For participating, your name will go into a draw to win an awesome bag of goodies and merch from local east end artists and businesses!
This year’s East End Kids Pride is all about QUEER JOY! It will foster community relationships and actively, boldly, and colourfully celebrate the diversity within our community and neighbourhood. As always, allies, comrades and co-conspirators are invited to celebrate as part of this program. A big thank you to the partners and sponsors of this event, including the individuals who have contributed financially as part of the GoFundMe Campaign set up to raise funds for this amazing program!
FUNDERS & SPONSORS
Thank you to the Slaight Family Foundation for their support of this program!
Thank you to Carver Twins real estate company for their support of this program!
Thank you to the Toronto Foundation and their Power of Us Microgrant for their support of this program!
Thank you to the following people who donated to the GoFundMe campaign to help launch this program:
Vive Aljas
Kyla Baccarani
Susan & Jack Blackwell
Jean-Pierre Bombardier
Julie Cafley
Diana Campbell
Sarah Carver
Robert Dannin
Craig Gauder
Alyssa Ginsburg
Jay Gutteridge
Jane Honek
Shauna Houlton
Cassandra C Jowett
Alison Kemper
Carol Kauppi
Linda Kauppi
Karolina Kluska
Laura Knight
Jacqueline Lee
Robyn Polan
Victoria Marshall
Susan Mather
Amber MacDonald
Abrah McKeen
Jaclyn Mistry
Rachel Morrison
Yona Nestel
Rebecca Newton
Emery Potter
Alyssa Rich
Patricia Ritacca
Chery Sandys
Rachel Sutton
Caitlin Sweet
Marierose Talla
Jessica Tremblett
Renee van der Avoird
Erin Wood
Carolyn Young
Anonymous donors
ABOUT EAST END ARTS
East End Arts is a non-profit community arts organization that serves the east end of Toronto with a vision “To unite, inspire and enhance the communities of east Toronto with the transformative power of the arts.” They provide inclusive arts programming, events, and services designed for everyone in the east end community, and they provide professional development opportunities to both emerging and established artists and arts organizations.
ABOUT SHADOWLAND THEATRE
Shadowland Theatre’s primary focus is to work with a wide range of communities to unearth their distinctive histories, create new stories and celebrate special events. They are known for animating streets, parks, and communities with their bold design sensibility and raucous theatricality. Community collaborations can take place over a number of weeks or months, culminating in large-scale, outdoor shows that leave a legacy of skills and inspiration. Shadowland works in rural and urban landscapes, and has a strong commitment to environmentally-themed, site-engaged work that connects us to the rhythms of our natural world.
ABOUT WORKMAN ARTS
Workman Arts is a multidisciplinary arts organization that promotes a greater understanding of mental health and addiction issues through creation and presentation. They support artists with lived experience through peer-to-peer arts education, public presentations and partnerships with the broader arts community. Workman Arts is the longest-running multidisciplinary arts and mental health organization in Canada.