ABOUT THE COMPANY
We believe theatre is a powerful way to bring together
disconnected groups.
THEATRE
With great care and imagination, our theatre helps people reach across differences.
YOUTH
Our drama programs amplify youth voices and help youth break down the social barriers they face.
““It’s a discomfiting sensation to suddenly be the outsider, to have our presuppositions about others, no matter how liberal we may think those views are, challenged.””
We believe theatre can help people listen better and become more compassionate.
YOUTH
We approach youth as the experts of their own experiences. We celebrate their critical capacities and invite them into more trusting relationships with the so-called adult world.
THEATRE
Our theatre finds root in careful listening between artists and the communities they’re representing. It takes flight in helping audiences shed their misconceptions.
““Because we’re all high school students we feel that, something that expresses our thoughts, at least my thoughts, it was like, yes! Finally, someone that understands.””
We believe theatre can inspire active citizenship and lead to real change.
THEATRE
Our theatre dares to strengthen our democracy. By stimulating care and awareness between strangers, we motivate people to improve their relationships with one another.
YOUTH
We use drama to help youth better understand themselves and the systems of which they are a part. That embodied learning equips them to be more effective activists in and for their communities.
““To have one of our own, one of the youth in the shelter talk, it’s like we have that voice, and we don’t usually have that voice. And that was kind of like ‘Yes! Yes! We have that voice, we have that voice.””
OUR BEGINNINGS
““An act of creation is not necessarily artistic in nature. By presenting an issue from a fresh perspective, it is possible to create understanding. By articulating a message that is accessible and engaging, it is possible to create awareness. By inspiring a community to work together, it is possible to create solutions.””
Project: Humanity began as a group of artists who developed a theatre program for youth in Ontario prisons as a means of giving back to our community. We turned our attention to global causes by traveling to Jamaica to work with Father Ho Lung and the Friends of the Poor, caring for children in orphanages and assisting with Jamaica's first musical. These experiences inspired us to start a non-profit organization that would channel the creative energy of our artistic community towards making a difference.
Amaka Umeh, Towards Youth
RESPONSE TO #BLACKLIVESMATTER
Project: Humanity moves in solidarity with the Black community, Indigenous communities, and other racialized groups who face ongoing indignity and violence as a result of systemic oppression in our country and beyond.
As an arts organization seeking to nurture active citizenship and whose work meets diverse publics, we are in a moment of deep internal reflection on how we fit into – and can perpetuate or rise up against – systemic racism and colonialism.
We recognize that solidarity requires persistent action against both overt and covert acts of racism. Solidarity, as an ongoing practice, demands that we continually unpack our own privileges, educate ourselves on how we benefit from oppressive systems, and listen differently and better to marginalized voices. Project: Humanity, as an organization, recognizes that we need to do more.
We have donated to two organizations: Black CAP, which addresses the threat of HIV and AIDS in Toronto’s African, Caribbean and Black communities and the TAIBU Community Health Centre, whose PLUG Project seeks to lower the number of suspensions, expulsions and dropout rates among Black students in the Scarborough neighbourhood in East Toronto and in the Rexdale neighbourhood in Northwest Toronto.
Project: Humanity is listening, learning, rigorously reflecting, and determining further action.
-The Project: Humanity Team
PH LAND ACNOWLEDGEMENT
The lands on which Project: Humanity creates is the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississauga of the credit First Nations, The Anishabeg, the Chippewa, The Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat People. We acknowledge that part of settler responsibility also includes a recognition of the ongoing systemic marginalization of Indigenous peoples in our educational and social institutions.