Leveraging Content for Youth Development in the Creative Arts

Join us as we explore the power of content with our special guest and friend Andrew James, co-founder of STREAMS Community Hub in Shelburne Ontario.Well, at the end of the day, whether you're selling a product or providing a service, real connects to real, heart connects to heart. And if you can just open your heart and share truth, it will connect with somebody. It will resonate with somebody.And if that honesty and truth coming from a sincere and honest place can connect with somebody else, that's going to make them move, that's going to make them respond.Hello and welcome again to Video Storytelling for Community Engagement, a podcast for content creators. I'm Miranda O'Connor, co-founder of The Art of Storytelling. And in this episode, you'll hear from our director, James O'Connor, as he talks with Andrew James the co-founder of STREAMS Community Hub, a nonprofit organization focused on youth development in the creative arts in Shelburne, Ontario. Andrew shares their vision and contemplates the impact that content has had on their organization. And I want to urge everyone to please have a look at our social channels - in particular our YouTube channel has been flying under the radar, and there's a bunch of really great productions there, including two beautiful documentaries. The Edge and Between Worlds, as well as some insights into content marketing, including video versions of these podcasts. Now, let me get out of the way and hand you over to Andrew and Jamesso I’ll let you introduce yourself...Yeah. Okay. Andrew James. So in high school the arts was my thing. I had two different directions that I could have gone. I was really good in graphic design and I was great in theater. So I think both of those passions is exactly like what I'm doing right now. Right? So fast forward and will probably go back and unpack some of that stuff, but Town Tees is our apparel decoration company, and that's where I get to be creative and do my graphic design side of things and printing the designs on T-shirts pretty much. And then STREAMS Community Hub is our registered charity where I could be that dramatic arts and other side of creativity and just allowing young people to have creative arts experiences and doing things like dramatic arts, circus arts, culinary arts painting and things like that.So, right, basically the stuff that you don't do, if you do normal school or like - I know that schools these days offer more programs like that, but it's kind of like this is the stuff that's not being catered to?Yeah, I think so. I think so. I think maybe some of the schools dabble in some of the things and where we take  Yeah, you know, my kids are new to the Ontario school system, and one of the criticisms that we have or that they have, because they come home and they tell us you know, the facilities are great, like they have everything, you know, the makerspace is awesome and they get to go in there but like you said, diving deep, you know, they don't really have the time or the quality time, I should say, to really, you know, get into it. Some of these things take a long time, as you know to get the reward out it. You know, you can spend 8 hours doing something. My son does music production, as you know, and he's, in this room and, I’ll be like “get off the screen”. But he will spend four or five, six hours on one music track. Right.Yeah.School's not the environment for that, right? So I applaud what you do. And you do this with your wife, right?Yes. Yes. She is one of the best partners ever. I kind of had a big dream. You know, I want to do this creative arts program school. And then she says, okay, so step one...