About
Youth Cabinet (YC) is a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth between the ages of 15-21 years old from Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. The YC is facilitated by Indigenous Museum Educator Leslie McCue, and with the support of the Kiowa Wind Memorial Indigenous Youth Support Staff. The YC uses an Indigenous framework and a for-youth-by-youth philosophy to provide members with the tools they need to build leadership skills, explore their community, and tell their stories.
With the support of local Elders, knowledge carriers, and artists, and by attending Indigenous community events together, YC members work towards a culminating youth-centred project that cultivates their communication, leadership, and technical skills. The Youth Cabinet meets in-person weekly for 5-7 months in a year, depending on the needs of the culminating project. The YC explores their personal connections within the Daphne Cockwell Gallery dedicated to First Peoples art & culture, Indigenous histories, and the community.
Inspiration
YC members were inspired by the Indigenous art practices, stories, and teachings shared by the following:
Christopher and Gregory Mitchell, Born in the North (multidisciplinary designers; Mi’kmaq from East Coast)
Jay Soule (multimedia artist; Deshkaan Ziibing Anishinaabeg from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation)
Jessie Jakumeit (artist and educator; Gitxsan, Tsimshian, German, and Icelandic ancestry)
Jillian Sutherland (arts administrator and dancer; Cree from Fort Albany First Nation)
Lindy Kinoshameg (arts facilitator and dancer; Odawa from Wiikwemkoong Unceded First Nation)
Philip Cote (historian, knowledge keeper, and mural artist; Shawnee, Lakota, Potawatomi, and Ojibway from Moose Deer Point First Nation)
Projects
In 2019, the Youth Cabinet created a permanent mural installation at the Museum to represent the past, present, and future of the YC. The mural, placed to be in conversation with the totem pole on Level B1, includes artistic elements that honour the YC members' collective learning, personal connections, and various stories from visiting Elders, knowledge carriers, and artists. The image was illustrated by YC member Jacob Henry and painted with artistic support from lead mural artist Lindy Kinoshameg from Wiikwemkoong Unceded First Nation. This project and the YC are profiled in an episode of CBC Arts: Exhibitionists, as well as in Anishinabek News and NOW Magazine.
Projects
YC members published poems and stories on the storytelling platform Wattpad, in an anthology titled The Journey: Friday Nights at the Museum. The writings were inspired by the Daphne Cockwell Gallery dedicated to First Peoples art & culture and the members' individual connections to ancestral objects in the gallery.
In 2017, this project was completed with support from Indigenous community members Monique Mojica (embodied storyteller and Artistic Director of Chocolate Woman Collective from the Kuna and Rappahannock Nations), Ernie Sandy (Anishinaabeg knowledge keeper and storyteller), and Tyler Pennock (Cree/Métis writer). YC members collaborated in multiple sessions and experiences to spark their imagination and craft their writings.
Projects
In 2018, YC members were inspired by their experiences working with Nimkii Osawamick (champion hoop dancer from Wikwemikong), Lindy Kinoshameg (prairie chicken dancer from Wikwemikong), Monique Mojica, Mitch Tambo (Australian musician), and Taqralik Partridge (Inuit poet and spoken word artist).
Projects
In partnership with Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre, YC members created videos for Regent Park TV focused on social justice issues and areas of interest as defined by the youth, and how those issues and interests connect to the ROM staff, programs, collections, and exhibitions.
Interested in joining the ROM Youth Cabinet?
Please visit the recruitment page for more information.
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