The CITY Project

The Hart House Youth Advisory Council is launching an art contest! The CITY Project: Climate Impacts on Toronto Youth invites youth across the Greater Toronto Area to submit photos, videos, and digital art that expresses their thoughts, perspectives, and experiences living through this climate crisis.

Young people from across the world are inheriting this global problem, and with such a large-scale issue, it can become difficult to pinpoint our place within it. Even within the GTA, the impacts of climate change might look or feel different depending on who you are or your specific location. The goal of this project is to encourage the youth of Toronto to start where they are, to consider and express how they feel, and to look at the everyday environment around them a little more closely.

How does the climate crisis make you feel? What sorts of actions do you feel empowered to take? What feels particularly worrying or scary or hopeful? How would you like to reimagine or reinvent the environments around you?

Submit your art following the contest rules below. Three winners will be selected to win prizes valued at $100!

Contest Rules:

• You must be in Grade 7-12
• You must be living within the Greater Toronto Area
• Up to one (1) submission per category (Photography, Video, Art)
• Entrants must submit original work

Hart House aims to provide an inclusive and diverse space where students and community come together to explore important topics. We recognize that certain communities – BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+, low-income, people living with disabilities, and more -- are feeling and will feel the effects of climate change at disproportionately higher rates. We strongly encourage youth from these communities to submit and participate in this conversation.

Submission Details:

• We are accepting digital art submissions only
• Only original work will be considered (i.e. Submitting someone else's work as your own is not allowed)
• Accepted file types: .png, .jpeg, .mp4
• Videos must be between 1 min and 3 min in length
• Max file size: 100mb for photos and art, 500mb for video
• The file name must be in the format “Category_FirstNameLastName_Title”

Hart House reserves the right to use the material for publication and/or display on our social media and website media related to The CITY Project.

Tip: If you need to scan your artwork, check to see if your public library has computers and scanners available for use!

Dates: 

Submissions open on March 1st.

Submissions close on March 31st at 11:59 PM EST.

Prizes: 

• One winner from each of the three categories will be awarded a gift card valued at $100
• Results will be announced in April 2022

Fill out the online form.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact Alphonse Daniel at [email protected].

This initiative is brought to you by the Hart House Access & Community Engagement Department.