This report was published by Little Sister.

HERE’S HOW THE AUTHORS DESCRIBE THIS REPORT:

There is little research done on racialized 2SLGBTQ+ youth artists in Toronto and the ways in which they navigate community arts spaces. We set out to design our own study, recruiting racialized 2SLGBTQ+ youth in Toronto and the GTA, and then collected our own data by organizing two focus groups where we discussed our experiences as racialized 2SLGBTQ+ youth artists. The recommendations in this report are intended for the gatekeepers in the arts industries, such as funding organizations, bookers and promoters, and arts programmers, educators and organizations.

For our research, we met with artists between the ages of 16-29. However, many racialized artists do not outwardly express their 2SLGBTQ+ identities until they are over the age of 30. Funders must take into consideration the lived experiences and unique barriers faced by racialized 2SLGBTQ+ artists over the age of 30 when creating funding/program criteria. They must be conscious of the fact that safe 2SLGBTQ+ youth resources and communities are already systemically underfunded, and that our demographic is systemically underserved.