The Street Prints Artist Collective is excited, along with many in the community, to see the newly renovated Bissell Centre West! (At the time of writing this article the centre was not yet open.) As soon as it opens, we have extra reason to be excited because we will be creating art, and bringing artist-run workshops within the new space on a weekly basis!

As soon as the ground starts to dry up a little more, ICRWP will be loading up the van with gardeners and heading out to Lady Flower Gardens to starting working in this year’s garden! Every growing season, participants harvest vegetables for Edmonton’s Food Bank, and bring home bags of produce for themselves.

We will be kicking off our first week of Inner City Sluggers Slo-Pitch the first week of May! Our practices will be from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Mondays at Diamond Park, and games will be Tuesday evenings there as well! Our outdoor soccer team with the Edmonton Sport and Social Club Recreational League also starts this month.  

This month’s sportsmanship award goes to Laura Peters. Laura is fairly new to our Friday floor hockey games, and took a bit of a bump to the head playing hard on her first day! Despite some minor bruises, she came back to the program. Laura is a great sport and is adamant that everyone takes time and care to include others.

The Underground City artists are in final preparations to celebrate the release of the songs and poetry they recorded in the Boyle Street Youth Unit and at CJSR. The celebration/release will be at the upcoming Heart of the City Festival on June 2 and 3 in Giovanni Caboto Park. It is free, and everyone is welcome! Along with these young artists, ICRWP will be looking for other musicians and artists to highlight at the festival from the drop-ins at Boyle Street Community Services and Bissell Centre.

From May 11-13, the University of Alberta’s Humanities 101 program is hosting a conference to celebrate ten years of barrier free education! Learners from Edmonton’s class, as well as students from similar programs across Western Canada, will present on a wide scope of research and issues ranging from the importance of art therapy and public radio to ICRWP’s own Pet Food Bank! The conference is free to attend and includes an opening night concert at the Winspear Centre. For more information, please email Rylan at rkafara@boylestreet.org.

Rylan Kafara is the Program Lead, Inner City Recreation and Wellness Program. Mike Siek and Rebecca Kaiser are Program Coordinators with ICRWP.