Mount Dennis youth blaze a trail for West End’s art scene

In Mount Dennis, one group is teaching youth the skills to become budding artists in the West End.

While downtown Toronto has a thriving arts scene, there are fewer opportunities in the West End of the city.

The Toronto Arts Council map shows over 600 arts programs and organizations that are funded in the downtown core, compared to only two arts programs in neighbourhoods like Mount Dennis.

So, Weston-Mount Dennis locals decided to start 4 The West End, a community-led arts organization that partners with West End artists to build up West End youth.

Midyan Samson, the 25-year-old executive director of 4 The West End, says, “We’re kind of redefining the narrative of our neighbourhoods and we get to document it and tell it through an art lens,” explains Samson. 

“Oftentimes when we hear about the West End or you see things in the West End, it’s not necessarily positive things, so this gives us a chance to tell the story of our community through our own voices.”

In November 2023, 4 The West End was launched.

The non-profit provides a variety of arts programming for youth ages 16 to 24, with local artists teaching skills like photography, DJing and poetry.

Over the summer, youth met every Saturday for 15 weeks to hone their craft, leading up to a final exhibition to showcase their art on July 31.

“We don’t have a lot of programs like this, so we go out searching for it for ourselves, and it can be sometimes hard or detrimental, you feel like you can’t find your crew or your people or your community,” says Salma Elwishy or DJ Swish, a 24-year-old program participant.

“When you do find your community and your friends that practice the same love for art as you do, it makes it easier to want to pursue it.” 

According to an Ontario Arts Council report, 93 per cent of Ontarians found the arts to enrich the quality of life, and 88 per cent believe that art builds a sense of community.

Kelly Langgard, the director and CEO of Toronto Arts Council, says that within low-income neighbourhoods, art can have a social function much like access to libraries and community centres, offering people a place to gather and have a sense of hope and possibility.

“The arts contribute to more civic engagement, and they contribute to healthier and safer communities. And we also know that just generally, arts and culture in a community creates more welcoming spaces for everyone who lives there, in particular for newcomers [and] youth.”

4 The West End will continue to run cohorts of beginner arts programming, expanding its reach to different neighbourhoods and holding its annual showcase of West End artists in November.