By Robyn Walker
Throngs of teenagers wander around the room, laughing and yelling to each other, accompanied by live beats from a local hip-hop artist. No, it’s not a high school house-party, but a trip to the National Gallery of Canada.
Last week, a crowd of more than 1,800 young people and their parents took over the gallery’s Great Hall. They were participating in Artistic Environment, a one-day event aimed at getting teens more interested in environmental issues like global warming.
The gallery’s Teen Council, along with the Sierra Youth Coalition, organized the event using art, music and educational booths to raise environmental awareness.
“I think what it’s showing is that you can’t categorize things in these really defined, rigid categories,” says Anjali Helferti of the Sierra Youth Coalition. “You can’t say, ‘I do environment so I don’t do music and I don’t do art.’ … I think that by combining all these aspects it’s really a much more accurate reflection of environmentalism or art or sustainability in general.”
People at the event were encouraged to make their own masterpieces, ranging from jewelry made with recycled materials, to T-shirt decorating, to skateboard art.
Along with these art stations, there were colouring and painting areas for younger kids, live local music and a fair trade fashion show featuring hemp clothing, among other things. Attendees also had the chance to peruse the wares from local fair trade organizations like Arbour Environmental Shoppe and Ten Thousand Villages Ottawa, sponsors of Artistic Environment.
The event also served as an opportunity for budding artists to showcase their work, which they created during monthly workshops run by the gallery and Teen Council.
Teen Council member Baalqis Hassan, who organized the event, says the main theme was environment, but they also hoped to get teens more interested in the gallery itself.
“We want to sort of jump-start youth social activism and also get them involved with the artistic community in Canada,” she says. “We find that there aren’t really a whole lot of teenagers who actually come to the gallery on a regular basis so we really want to encourage them to do that.”
Social activism isn’t a new concept to the Teen Council. Artistic Environment is one of their Annual Teen Events, which are held yearly to raise awareness of different social issues.
Last year, the event focused on artistic independence and next year they will celebrate diversity, in an attempt to make teens more socially aware.
Many artists have jumped on the Teen Council’s bandwagon and say they are happy to be encouraging activism and creativity in young people.
Chris Dyer, a skateboard artist from Montreal, taught a workshop at the gallery a few months ago and says he was excited to return for Artistic Environment. He spent the day helping children paint their own skateboard graphics that focused on positive imagery rather than the skulls and demons so many skateboards seem to feature.
There was also a professional skateboarding demonstration later in the day that showcased some of his boards.
Dyer says events such as Artistic Environment are important because they help foster environmental awareness and creativity in the younger generations.
“It’s something to get people together to give value to art, to creation and to environmental issues especially, which is crucial these days,” he says. “I’m happy the government is allowing some money to support these events.”
Though the live music and skateboard demonstrations may have brought some of the young people to the event, there were many who came to learn about how to get involved in environmental issues.
Canterbury High School students Amaliah and Shoshanah Reiskind, both 16, said although the more mainstream attractions were fun, they were more interested in checking out the educational booths.
“They have brochures about programs and stuff so it gives me a chance to look into that more,” said Shoshanah.
Helferti says this is exactly the reaction she was hoping for.
“The environment is particularly relevant to youth and I think that a lot of youth have an interest, but don’t necessarily have an outlet for it,” she says. “We just want to let people know that organizations like Sierra exist and we’re really active, and there’s a lot of different ways to get involved.”
Hassan agrees and says she hopes the event will have a positive effect on Ottawa youth.
“I think it was very well received,” she says. “And I think that people may have actually learned something about the environment.”