Equality is now

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This article was published 26/2/2018 (626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

Winnipeg youth want to pass on the message that some groups haven’t been well represented in the music industry and there are ways to change that.

 

Studio 393, a drop-in and youth-led art studio located at Portage Place Shopping Centre Skywalk, and their emerging artists held a livestreaming podcast on Feb. 13 from the Graffiti Gallery to talk about gender equality in the music industry.

This topic has affected many of the participants at Studio 393, and they spent the last three months preparing to raise awareness on this issue — everything from activism podcast to music with Adeline Bird and Roger Boyer to writing workshops and cultural digital media design.

Osani Balkaran, 18, is one of the youths who helped plan for the livestreaming. He said male groups are more predominant in the music industry.

"There’s not enough female or LGBTQ that come by the studio right now," he explained. "I think that’s a significant topic because a lot of the people that attend Studio 393 are from different backgrounds, we come from different cultures, so a lot of us experience racism every day."

The youth explored the topic through rapping, dancing, and discussing how to be unified in the industry. 

"The answer isn’t there yet, but being aware of that and knowing where to go from here is amazing. The more that we acknowledge where we are from and the position that we are and the people that we are, we learn to be stronger allies and stronger people in general," Balkaran added.

The initiative to talk about human rights topics is part of the Equitas Speaking Rights Program, a Human Rights Education program that aims at developing the youth’s capacity to engage in actions that support respect for human rights.

Twenty-year-old Dancer Dana Lance said gender equality affects everybody, even if it’s in a "tiny way."

"Having different cultural perspectives or diversity regarding language and food, and then you go into music — music is the universal language — you get different types of music around the world, and you’re getting introduced to different types of people," she said. "Everybody should be represented equally and not a minority that is overshadowed by others."

If you missed the livestreaming, it is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VS02WncNVw