Streams Community Hub awarded $10,000 provincial grant

April 19, 2018 · 0 Comments

Written By MARNI WALSH

Andrew James Executive Director of Streams Community Hub in Shelburne says his organization is “grateful and excited” for the Ontario Arts Council grant which will “bring a $10,000 investment directly to the youth of Shelburne.” The $10,000 grant covers roughly half of Stream’s budget for this year’s creative arts summer camp.

The non profit organization applied for the Ontario Arts Council’s Artists in Communities and Schools Projects grant in September 2017, but received a decision in December that they did not receive the award. However, positive feedback from the OAC was highly encouraging and the group reapplied.

In March this year, Streams Community Hub received the decision that, once again, they did not receive the grant. “We were disappointed and determined that perhaps we should look at other grants – we rationalized that maybe this one was not the right fit,” says Andrew James.

The following week, Streams unexpectedly received a letter stating that their original application from September had been awarded. “The OAC received some additional funding toward the end of its fiscal year,” says Mr. James, “as such, the council was able to allocate funding to projects that were highly rated, but which it was unable to fund previously.”

The grant has generated a lot of excitement for the determined organization. “In our pilot year, we offered four programs and catered to 50 youth,” Andrew James says, “this year, we set out to double our capacity and are providing eight streams with options available for ages 4-17. We are particularly excited to introduce a Creative Coding stream, where campers will be able to build their own computers, and use them to learn the basics of computer coding language through the creation of digital music, animations, graphics and video games. We’ve also been able to add Snapshots -a photography stream for ages 13-17. The grant has enabled us to purchase 10 Kano Complete Computer Kits and four digital cameras, so that our students, this summer and beyond, have the benefit of the latest technology with which to learn.”

As Executive Director, Andrew James says he co-founded Streams Community Hub as a way to help Shelburne youth “discover passion, potential and purpose.” Programs focus on enriching the lives of youth in the community by providing activities at little or no charge whenever possible. He says the organization was “overwhelmed” by their inaugural season.
Andrew James and his wife Juli-Anne live in Shelburne with their three daughters. They are part of a four member board of directors for Streams which actively fundraises to subsidize campers with “equality of accessibility” as one of their core values.

“We are also extremely proud of the fact that we are now able to employ more artists from Dufferin County to facilitate our week-long programs,” says Mr. James. “We hope to connect with more artists who have a desire to pass on their skills to younger generations to contribute to the development of a robust local creative community. Naturally, the support of the Ontario Arts Council will play a vital role in making this a reality.” For more information on Streams Community Hub in Shelburne visit streamshub.org.