Ndp Government: Kardinal Offishall

Immigrant Populations Dept: Beyond their shared talents, what these names have in common is a little-known initiative of Ontario s NDP government: a program called Fresh Arts. Fresh Arts was developed under the umbrella of JobsOntario Youth, part of the larger JobsOntario training and employment program the NDP government introduced to address the labour market fallout of the early 90s recession, according to The Star. Fresh Arts paired mentors from theatre, music and the visual arts with ambitious young artists whose styles and talents were marginalized both by their lack of economic resources and an arts sector that failed to reflect Toronto s cultural diversity. It was in Fresh Arts that Toronto s budding urban talents accessed the funding, education and networks necessary to propel them to successful careers and years of ambassadorship for the city and rappers Kardinal Offishall and Saukrates , singer Jully Black , video director Lil X, and deejay collective Baby Blue Soundcrew may not be familiar names to Torontonians over the age of 40, but anyone born after 1969 who loves hip hop and R & B is aware of these artists foundational roles in Canada s urban music culture. Fresh Arts attracted young people of colour from areas the city now designates as priority neighbourhoods. Then, like today, these neighbourhoods were characterized by large immigrant populations, racialized poverty and high unemployment most strikingly, youth unemployment. As reported in the news.
@t baby blue soundcrew, jully black