Uth Ink: Playwrights in the Community Program

Uth Ink is best when experienced. So... pretend for moment you are walking in Ottawa on a chilly winter day past an an old rotted bench. As you walk past you come across a green sign with a phone number. You take out your cell phone and dial 1-866-779-1456. The voice on the phone prompts you to enter a four digit code - 1117 to hear a play written by young person in Ottawa about that particular bench. After listening to this play you'll never look at that bench the same way again.

Uth Ink is a unique artistic opportunity to put young writers ideas and words out into the street. It’s a chance to build upon the identity of a young person's neighbourhood and inspire those within it. 2010 marks Uth Ink's third and final year of programming.

Uth Ink gives youths in 11 different Canadian communities across the country, from widely ranging backgrounds, and sometimes abilities, the opportunity to work together, as well as to journey through the creative process together, with the guidance and encouragement of a professional playwright and a local arts facilitator(s). Together, the Uth Ink team provides a rewarding and artistic experience, establishing communities of creative peers and mentors that work together over the course of five months, and beyond.

The programme begins with groups of 10-15 youths in each participating community (165 youth in total). The initial workshop sees youths meet one another, an established playwright-mentor and an on-the-ground facilitator from an arts-based youth-centric organization. Youths engage in community walkabouts to explore ideas around place-based storytelling and begin the writing process. The outcome of the programme is to have each participant create a three-minute theatrical recording about a physical space in his or her community, and the youths stay in contact with the playwright facilitator over 5-months as they draft work towards this goal.

The second phase of the program has the Uth Ink community teams work with the participants to record, edit, and make available the young participants’ audio plays. Community partners such as the CBC and local podcast companies have assisted with the recording in some cases, giving the participants added experience with broadcasting and recording technology, and sometimes resulting in actual broadcast of the material.

The final phase of the project sees Uth Ink signs, including a phone number and a four-digit code, mounted at the sites that have inspired the youths’ recorded dramas. The signage directs passersby to call the phone number on their mobile phones to listen to the participants’ theatrical pieces. This component was inspired by the [murmur] project (www.murmurtoronto.ca)

A map/brochure designed by a local artist within each community, detailing where the signs are posted, is created and distributed, allowing any community member to go on a self-guided tour of the site-specific plays. A sample of the map/brochure is included in the package.

In the 2010 installment of Uth Ink, we propose to have the youths in each community also work with their local arts facilitator to organize a promotional launch in each centre, drawing further attention to the programme and the work.

All Uth Ink plays produced to now are available online at www.uthinkers.ca and in print in "Uth Ink: Word from the Street".

Should Uth Ink win the Aviva Community Fund Challenge, the funding will go towards programing expenses such as artist and facilitator fees.