Gavin Sheppard is the founder and project coordinator for I.C. Visions—North America’s first government-funded hip hop recreational centre. Having founded the innovative community project at the age of 17, he is proud to announce that I.C. Visions has recently celebrated its sixth anniversary in July of 2006. Re-titled and refocused as “The Remix Project” in that same month, this newest evolution of the I.C. Visions program, has become both an official priority of the Mayor's Community Safety Secretariat and the United Way of Greater Toronto. The Re-Mix model continues to build on the I.C. Visions foundation, highlighting the impact of urban entertainment and culture as tools for engagement and empowerment, and introduces elements of hands-on training and mentorship into the mix. It is through the Remix Project that Gavin has also founded Remix Micro-Credit, a micro-credit program focused on serving the young people currently involved in remix or alumni of the program.
Constantly involving himself in opportunities to further the cause of the arts and alternative education, Gavin is currently serving on the board of directors of Schools Without Borders (SWB) – an innovative non-profit that introduces young people to diverse cultural and life-skill-based learning opportunities around the world. It is through SWB that he has been involved in facilitating exchange programs with young people from the slums of Toronto, Canada, to the favellas of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, and building a community-recording studio in Havana, Cuba.
Sandro is a former drug lord. At one time a general in the Red Command which is Rio's largest Drug Cartel, Sandro was the general in their headquarters running a million dollar a month operation. A long time soldier in the drug trade he was thrust into leadership when his older brother, the general before Sandro, was murdered by the police in front of him. The coroner's report said there was over 70 individual shots in his brothers corpse. Sandro took control after that but he knew that this wasn't the life he wanted to continue for himself and for his young family (his daughter is about 4, beautiful and maybe the only person more arrogant then Sandro in the slum they live in). Eventually he reached out to IBISS through one of the programs in his neighbourhood and after a series of tentative and casual negotiations finally formally left the drug trade and became immediately enrolled into a management class through IBISS to run community initiatives. Now Sandro has always been a boss, and Sandro will always be a boss, what this fact of life means for his current incarnation is that he is now in charge of a million dollar social project in Terra Econtrada (Enchanted Land) which offers breakfast programs for school aged youth, barber programs, a residents union in their slum and is about to build a recording studio as a social entrepreneurial venture. This recording studio will house a recording arts program similar to that of Remix and will also act as an income generator for the community centre as they rent out the studio to local groups in order to raise money to support things like their breakfast programs. Remix is a partner in the construction of this studio. We will be donating materials, equipment and during the trip our expertise and people power in physically constructing it.
Derek "Drex" Jancar - Resources & Administrations Coordinator at REMIX. Drex's bio available on his myspace or website. www.myspace.com/drexinkredible & www.drexinkredible.com, www.myspace.com/therawluckmovement
Tyrone Edwards (Co-founder of Concrete Hoops, also works at Remix as the Business Program Coordinator. Bio and more info available at www.concretehoops.com , www.myspace.com/ftp21, www.myspace.com/getatremix
The "Kids"
Roxanne (Video and Photography - youth participant www.myspace.com/roxan_ , www.myspace.com/getatremix). Roxanne is a dreamer. She is a perfect mix of self confidence and self conciousness. Convinced she is ordinary with nothing to say but driven to capture and express the less then ordinary in a manner that is articulate in it's visuals and vivid in their descriptions, Roxanne is a very interesting young woman. A burgeoning photographer and "self-proclaimed director", she is drawn to stories of life and culture. As a young woman of colour she is determined to navigate the male dominated industries of music and film on her own terms and through her own ingenuity and strength. Roxanne will be in Brazil documenting the trip for Remix and working with Media Arts programs in The City of God and Terra Econtrada. Roxanne is from Yonge and Finch (Willowdale).
Houman "Ricki" Bekzadeh (Rapper - youth participant - and now youth member of our board of directors www.myspace.com/ricki1, www.myspace.com/getatremix). Born in Iran, his family was forced to leave their mother country during the revolution (when his father's life was directly threatened) to find peace and a better life in Canada. Ricki is a young man well acquainted with urban poverty, crime and the traps associated with both. A charismatic young leader in his community, Ricki's Teesdale neighbourhood was identified as a priority area for investment for the city of Toronto thanks to it's complete lack of social infrastructure, huge youth population and rampant crime and violence. He is a forward thinker whose mentality is currently focused on improving the situations of his friends and family. He sees this task in the light of by any means necessary. Ricki will be in Brazil helping to construct the recording studio in Terra Encontrada and performing his own original music at HUTUZ the largest hip-hop festival in Rio de Janeiro.
Thomas Bui (Visual Art & Graffiti - youth participant www.myspace.com/getatremix ). Thomas is a quiet young man who is perpetually taking in the world from under a low fitted cap and a wary perspective. He is a creative soul and besides being a talented illustrator he has begun designing and selling his own clothing line, Tragic Glory. From the community of Regent Park, Thomas is determined to transcend Canada's largest government housing complex through his originality and his artisitic skills. He will be in Rio as a visual artist taking part in the Graffitti aspect of the festival and also in the fashion trade show aspect trying to make links for his clothing line and find partners in Brazil.
Cover for our Package that is Currently out to Broadcasters and Funders.
Packaged PDF will BE available for Download shortly.
Gavin:
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