Art Reach, Toronto's youth-centered arts-advocacy nonprofit, is gearing up for its annual
Youth Arts Pitch Contest.
The contest gives young artists the chance to hone their pitch skills, as well as the chance to win one of three $5,000 awards toward their artistic project or ongoing craft.
"We're an organization that's designed to help connect young people in the age range of 13-29 with limited resources to artistic opportunities," says Derick Asante, program coordinator at ArtReach Toronto, "That's were we're coming from and our programming, including the pitch contest, comes out of that."
The top six online submissions will be chosen to pitch their ideas at a live event on September 21. The artists will make a case for their project and will be eligible to win one in one of two categories: Community Arts (for projects that meet a need in their community) and Creative Enterprise (for individuals or groups hoping to use their skills to earn profit).
Before the live pitch, each of the six finalists will also participate in a training workshop.
"We understand that there may be some contestants that are familiar with how to put together a pitch, but that there may be others who are not versed in that area," says Asante, "so we thought let's give everyone, whether you know it or you don't, the opportunity to practice."
In past there's been more than 200 or 300 people in attendance including friends and family. "We get a lot of young artistic people together, they can get to talk to people they might otherwise not meet. We bridge the gap between sponsors and supporters and the people they're people their supporting which they might not be able to connect to otherwise. The whole night is entertaining, crowded and fun."
Although the event is in its seventh year, this is the first time it will be hosted at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the most recent Pitch Contest partner.
"We're so excited," says Asante, "donating the space to host this competition is just an amazing contribution."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Derick Asante, Program Coordinator, Art Reach Toronto