After almost a year of hard work and planning, four Flin Flon teenagers are hoping to see their vision bloom.
The Flin Flon Youth Arts Council is preparing to host its first ever event. Flin Flon’s junior organizing quartet will bring in Speed Control, a Yukon-based rock and roll trio, for a show in Flin Flon on March 14. The band, which consists of three teachers, will also hold a music master class with local students and host an opening performance by a youth rock group.
Lalain Bashir, Mikylo Odut, Naomi Rempel and Pearl Tippett are the first members of the youth arts council, an offshoot of the existing arts council aimed at encouraging area teens to develop their talents.
Arts council cultural coordinator Crystal Kolt specifically recruited the four.
“She contacted me last year and she said, ‘Hey, we’re wanting to start up a youth arts council. We want to bring in a band and do things that involve more youth,’” said Bashir.
Under tutelage from Kolt, NorVA director Mike Spencer and other collaborators, the four members of the group have been organizing every aspect of the event, right down to arranging grants.
“We started planning around spring break last year, I think. We were deciding on the budget, who we’ll try to bring in. We got all these grants and everything, it was exciting. Now we’re bringing in this band and now it’s actually happening,” said Bashir.
Bashir said one of the biggest goals for the youth arts council is to help fight off apathy.
“We don’t really have a lot for youth to do in Flin Flon and we don’t have a lot of places to go. I think this is a really good opportunity for youth to get involved and do things,” she said.
“Even at Hapnot, we don’t really have a place where it’s just kids – we’re always surrounded by adults and there’s not a place for us to just be on our own. Many of us are bored of just sitting around. We just want to see kids getting involved and doing things in the community. There’s all these things adults can do, these concerts, but there’s not much for kids.”
Next year’s plans for the youth arts council are up in the air. Two of the group’s members – Bashir and Odut – will be leaving Flin Flon for university in the fall. Bashir hopes that the group can recruit more interested youth before then, saying the upcoming event should mean a push in peer interest.
“I feel that after this band comes in, people will know more about it and wanting to be a part of it,” she said.
“Even if we have five people, that would really be nice. Everyone is doing so much – there’s so many things you need to do for each event. We were doing so much, and with school at the same time, it was a lot to deal with.”
