The Youth Opportunities Award is used to fund projects that respond to identified gaps or needs in the community and initiate, enhance or expand opportunities for children or youth to experience or become engaged in the arts in Guelph or Wellington County. This year’s recipients of the Youth Opportunities Award are Fin Janleigh and Nina De Vouno-Fraser from Theatre Unmade as well as Dunja Lukić, coordinator of Fireflies on the Fringe.
A filmmaker and a welder by day, theatre creators by night. Fin Janleigh (they/she) and Nina De Vouno-Fraser (she/her) are the co-founders of Theatre Unmade. They both have over 10 years of experience in the cut throat world of community theatre on and off stage (yes, they both started before they were ten). Fin and Nina are super excited to bring an exciting new youth run comedy to Guelph with the help of the Guelph Arts Council.
In the dark of a summer night, a warm flicker and then another and another. The night briefly fills with the luminescence of fireflies. Just like the elusive spark of the firefly, childhood is brief and magical. Fireflies on the Fringe is a festival of performing arts for young audiences which launched in the summer of 2023 as part of the Guelph Fringe Festival. Dunja Lukić, coordinator of Fireflies on the Fringe, was inspired by other Fringe Festivals and children’s arts festivals from across Canada and around the world. Dunja is motivated by the desire to see all children in Guelph being able to experience the wonder and beauty of theatre and art created specifically for them. Fireflies on the Fringe aims to bring professional and emerging artists to the Guelph Fringe Festival to create wonder and magic on the stage for our youngest theatre goers. The Guelph Arts Council Youth Opportunities Award will enable Fireflies on the Fringe to offer festival programming at the neighbourhood level this summer as we work towards a fully accessible performing arts festival for children across Guelph.
To learn more about the Youth Opportunities Award click here.
