Your Stories for Their Future
As the school year winds down, we are reflecting on highlights from the season; exciting, fun, and sweet little moments that happened thanks to the arts. These stories help to bring awareness to the impact that the arts can have in schools. These stories help us to advocate for equal access to the arts and bring even more performances and workshops to students across Ontario.
Did you witness an impactful arts experience this year? We hope this blog post will inspire you to share your story with us.
CLICK HERE to add your story for their future.
The first story we’d like to share came out of The Prologue Club, an initiative that encourages students to develop and utilize leadership skills through the selection and planning process of bringing performances and workshops to their schools. The program provides a small subsidy to help with budgeting as well as mentorship from Prologue staff.
This year, The Prologue Club at Unionville Meadows Public School from York Region District School Board selected spoken word poet Britta B. to come to their school. We heard from both Britta and the fabulous teacher about the experience…
I wanted to share how FABULOUS of a school Unionville Meadows is and how OUTSTANDING of a teacher Dhilini is! They pulled out all the stops: balloons, flowers, posters, morning poetry announcements … It was totally unexpected and I was blown away. We had an incredible time during our workshop together and her students are working toward a class poetry book + some future TED Talks. Unbelievable work what she’s doing over there… she managed to support her students to create a speech that they shared with their principal asking for funding support to bring me in. I was so, so touched to hear and see all the things they are doing over there to keep arts alive in the school.
The Prologue Club poet visit was a truly unforgettable experience for our Grade 7 students this school year…award-winning spoken word artist Britta Badour visited our classroom for a dynamic performance and poetry workshop. Her energy, storytelling, and powerful messages deeply resonated with students and brought our Language Arts learning to life in a memorable, engaging way.
This visit marked the exciting culmination of our Prologue Club’s hard work and dedication. Since November, students in our Grade 7 class have been leading this initiative- selecting the artist, planning the visit, and learning valuable skills in arts management, including public speaking, budgeting, and event planning.
Through Britta’s performance and the students’ involvement in organizing the event, our class explored the creative potential of poetry, built confidence in communication, and gained exposure to careers in the arts. The Prologue Club has been a powerful platform for student voice and leadership- one that I hope to run again in the future to continue providing authentic, enriching arts experiences for young students.
The next story stems from our Possibility Program, a fund that subsidizes performances and workshops in schools that are identified as underserved.
A school in the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board enjoyed two bilingual performances by percussionist and storyteller Njacko Backo, funded partially by the Possibility Program. We want to thank the teacher who applied for the subsidy, who is clearly passionate about the arts and driven to give students arts opportunities.
We are a rural school with a limited arts budget whose students would greatly benefit from exposure to the performing arts that Prologue can bring! Students in our school come from a variety of socio-economical backgrounds and, because we are rural, we cannot afford the high cost of bussing to take our students to live performance venues.
A chance for students to connect with a live performer can promote a feeling of community, a way for students to express themselves and, perhaps, “see” themselves in the performance. It would bring our students an opportunity to broaden their experience with live arts, foster an appreciation for arts and culture, and a chance to simply enjoy all that a live performance can bring! Having the chance to have a performance supplemented through “The Possibility Program” would be money well spent toward enriching lives, exciting, and inspiring the young artists we teach and care for every day.
At Prologue we are always looking for new ways to make the arts more accessible.
The next story stems from two partnerships; one with Canadian Parents for French and a brand new partnership with ImmersART – a grant program that provides funding for cultural experiences in French immersion schools.
We met an incredible parent at our Summer Arts Break event last July as a volunteer of CPF, who was our event sponsor. This year, CPF reconnected us to organize a performance through the ImmersART grant program.
You can learn more about ImmersART HERE
Northlea Elementary and Middle School had the extraordinary opportunity to host Mestre Sérgio Xocolate, an Afro-Indigenous Capoeira master and musician from Brazil, alongside his partner and percussionist, Suzanne Roberts Smith. Together, they delivered a powerful performance and workshop that celebrated the vibrant cultural traditions of Pernambuco, Brazil—deeply rooted in Indigenous and African heritage.
Sérgio and Suzanne brought a range of traditional instruments and filled the space with energy, storytelling, music, and movement. Their performance was highly interactive, and students were invited to participate through clapping, singing, and trying out movements—transforming the audience into active learners.
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Teachers were thrilled to see students so fully engaged, and many described the experience as “inspiring” and “magical.” Students were captivated by the sounds and stories shared, and the joy in the room was truly contagious.
Lastly, we want to share a story about how our incredible artists travel across Ontario to bring the arts to schools. Tribal Vision Dance, a family dance troupe from the Six Nations of the Grand River, probably travels the most – zigzagging all over the province in their van to bring incredible Indigenous arts experiences to young people. Prologue provides small travel subsidies to artists to reach schools across the province but unfortunately the fund has not been able to increase with inflation.
Little Falls Public School shared this with us about when Tribal Vision Dance travelled there to do some hoop dancing workshops.
The performers shared their time and talents with our students, helping them understand the cultural context and importance of hoop dancing. By teaching our students some basic hoop dancing moves, our kids realized how difficult the dance is, and have a much greater respect for the artistry and the physicality. Not only that, but they were so intrigued to learn how dance features so prominently in Indigenous culture and storytelling.
Support Student Voices
We want to keep making memories for young people like the ones in this blog! We rely heavily on funding to keep our accessible arts programming running. At the moment, we are aiming to raise $2,000 for The Prologue Club. A contribution as small as $3 ensures one student has access to this program.
Help us create more Prologue Club stories. Help us support more students.