I am a retired Art and English teacher. My friends have lovingly indulged me as I gush forth my dreams for a grassroots uprising of those who believe art can change humanity. The study of art history proves this. As we step into the next millennium, need screams out in news headlines. On April 29th, 1999, while I waited in a downtown Toronto Starbucks for Jeremy to deliver some of his photographs, I picked up The Globe and Mail and was immediately drawn to the front-page, COLUMN ONE article. The pain of the teenaged outcast Scorned, teased and bullied, many young people endure years of abuse. Others' take it into their own hands.' The column proceeded to discuss an interview with teenagers in a downtown Toronto high school and their reactions to recent school shootings. Their words of alienation were reinforced by my own observations through the years. Fortunately, I completed my last year of teaching with what I have consistently referred to as my dream class. I was teaching at Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario. I had a unique homeroom class of twelve grade eight students from around the world. The Independent School System allows flexibility for both its faculty and students to explore creative learning opportunities. I knew this was to be my last year teaching and I had personal aspirations yet to achieve. On our second day together my class and I were afforded a strong bonding experience. They discovered they could trust me to act in their best interests. Honesty, commitment, empathy and creativity were the cornerstones of the curriculum I developed for them that year. I watched peer judgment and its partners - competition and cruelty diminish. All excelled beyond their expectations and all grew in self-esteem. A young Japanese boy, unable to speak English at the start of the year and suffering from past struggles, was embraced within the group for the strengths they discovered in him. On our last day together they organized a surprise class party at which they showed me the movie Forest Gump. In class conversation I had admitted to having been too busy to see it and they felt my education was lacking. They wanted to show me the symbolism. 

As we watched the video together they repeatedly pronounced 'look ma'am, see the symbolism in this; we understand.'

The experiences of that grade eight class came back to me as I read the Globe article and I felt pregnant with a dream. As I sat waiting for Jeremy, who had once been an 'at risk' teenager, my understanding of his work and how he had been saved by it merged with plans we had for an upcoming 'art pilgrimage' to the Queen Charlotte Islands, and Haida Gwaii, 'Place of Wonder'. Jeremy, and I, as well as eight other middle-aged women (mostly retired teachers and all of us art enthusiasts) were to visit the UNESCO sites, which celebrate the contributions of the First Nations Haida culture. Many of us harbored thoughts that our trip would be life altering in some way because we would be visiting the 'Place of Wonder'. I began to consider the potential such a trip could have for young people at an even more crucial junction in their lives. I gave birth to the idea of ABC Experiencing, a program that would take small groups of grades seven or eight 'at risk' students to Haida Gwaii for a two-week experiential learning opportunity to study Arts, Biology and Culture. Two years earlier I was inspired to plan this trip by a man who had also been an 'at risk' teenager. He found salvation through the Haida nation and Haida Gwaii. He had shared his appreciation for his learning with me and I felt inspired that other young people could be affected as he had been. The ecology of the land, its people and their heritage possess the power to instill a sense of oneness with the universe. The dreams within mere kindled the idealism of youth.

Our five-day trip to Haida Gwaii this past June completed my fantasy. Before departing I shared my draft proposal for ABC Experiencing with one of the owners of Queen Charlotte Adventures, the tour business planning our itinerary. She arranged to provide us with two young men who she felt would be sympathetic and perhaps motivated to participate in helping to make real my dream. For his part Jeremy directed his lens to documenting the Truth of our five-day experience. The Queen Charlotte Series is the result. From the moment I saw the contact sheets I knew I was looking at images of spiritual enlightenment that had to be shared. For me, the images suggest Humanity in Nature. I began to trust that they would have the power to make the dream of ABC Experiencing a reality. 

Within days I was led to discover DAREarts. When I read the goals written by its president Marilyn Field, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. 

USING ARTS EDUCATION, EMPOWER ORDINARY CHILDREN TO BECOME EXTRAORDINARY AND, AS LEADERS, COMMUNICATE WITH THEIR PEERS

To establish, maintain and operate a multi-year arts education program for ordinary or 'at risk' youth that complements the Ontario education system and addresses the needs of our youth for positive alternatives to drugs and crime.

To promote pride in our Canadian cultural heritage through educational activities that advance awareness and understanding and by utilizing Canadian arts professionals as teachers and Canadian champions as role models.

To receive and maintain funds and to apply for charitable purposes of an educational nature; in particular, to subsidize the cost of tickets to arts performances and events for students who without financial assistance, might not otherwise be exposed to the arts in Canada and to provide scholarships to at-risk DAREarts Foundation student delegates and graduates to visit Canadian cities and other countries to further their interests in arts and communication.

To educate and promote the appreciation of the aesthetic arts by our youth through national and international exchange programs.

I visited the DAREarts website at www.darearts.com  I devoured each word and determined I had to meet Marilyn. Upon sharing my thoughts with Jeremy he responded with astonishment. He had studied piano with Marilyn in the early '90s. He felt confident we would relate. She and I met, talked and immediately agreed that DAREarts and ABC Experiencing could work together to develop a program where some DAREarts participants would be selected to further mature the attitudes, skills and knowledge they were building by taking part in ABC Experiencing. We believe that working together we will be' a grassroots uprising of those who believe art can change humanity'.

Jeremy Taylor shares our enthusiasm for this union. During the year 2000, as his millennium project, Taylor will market photographs through ABC Experiencing. Fifty percent of the revenues from these sales will be donated to the funding of ABC Experiencing. Purchasers will receive a tax receipt for this charitable donation portion of their purchases. Taylor will work with DAREarts to share his love of photography with young people.

Ellen Taub, founder and president of Keylight, loved the evolution of this story following Keylight's feature celebrating Jeremy Taylor's Forty Years In Photography. Thus she has decided to share this article with visitors to www.keylight.org 

The narrative will be further illuminated with the spring release of OLD BROADS NEW DREAMS, a book being produced by Bonnie Ledson (retired elementary school principal) and Jill Kilburn (retired elementary school secretary). The book will chronicle a diary of the June'99 'art pilgrimage' to the Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands and will showcase The Queen Charlotte Series by Jeremy Taylor. Proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to ABC Experiencing.

This has indeed become a saga. As it continues to evolve, others catch the spirit and consider ways in which they can contribute to the dream. The young captain whose boating skills, humor and compassion piloted our trip and my dreams through the Charlottes will coordinate ABC Experiencing in the Charlottes. Danny Robertson, another who was an 'at risk' youth, possesses strong convictions forged by personal experience. He has elicited the support of Nicole Brown, Nika, who will share the wisdom of her Haida culture. Except for her college years, Nika has lived most of her life in Skidegate, in the Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands; she is talented in Haida culture's traditional arts and passionate in her love and respect for her culture. She has made a commitment to its preservation in her community and to the education of young people.