Arts Engagement is an empowering activator for community transformation

The Organization

Voice of Purpose (VOP) focuses on capacity building and systems change in the transformative arts sector. The primary purpose of our industry is to engage in community building and create social impact through the arts.

We believe individuals and organizations that embody their purpose have greater capacity to impact social change.

We help guide and ground arts organizations, arts leaders, and artist-educators to align with and embody their purpose with integrity, through providing support with personal and professional development, pathways for healthy transformation, and implementing holistic systems within organizations – for the betterment of the sector as a whole

Our approaches are anchored in the Journey of Transformation framework and Purpose Rooted Arts Education (PRAE) pedagogy, which are derived from the Elements of Purpose worldview.

The mission of Voice of Purpose is to ignite and equip a movement of arts-leaders, arts organizations, and artist-educators who embody their purpose to deepen their impact in the world.

Values & Approach

Our Framework

Below is a walk-through of the frameworks we use as a foundation for all of the work we do in the realms of Transformative Arts Engagement. The Journey of Transformation, the Elements of Purpose worldview, and Purpose Rooted Arts Education pedagogy are three layers that overlay with one another, in four key areas of engagement. These frameworks provide a roadmap for stewarding catalytic transformation, identifying and embodying purpose in one’s life or organization, and deepening the impact of one's work in the transformative community arts sector.

The

Journey

The

Worldview

The

Pedagogy

The Journey of Transformation

This is the experience that unfolds when we engage the Elements of Purpose by using the PRAE framework. It provides a pathway for individuals and organizations to identify and embody their purpose, as well as ignite greater capacity for creating and sustaining social change. Click through below to learn more about the 4 States along the Journey of Transformation

Explore our Framework

This framework can be applied to individuals and organizations alike. The experience provides a roadmap for how to engage on a journey of building capacity and sustainability, with the aim of becoming more embodied in your purpose. It provides a pathway for going beyond aspirational mission statements, towards embodiment of vision and integrity in practice.

EXPLORATION

Exploring the Personal* Journey with Authenticity & Identity
The exploration journey is about personal growth and understanding one’s own identity, with the goal of being true to oneself through authenticity. This stage is about going inward, to deepen into a process of grounding and soul-searching. It requires an integrated approach that centers intersectionality, honesty, and vulnerability.
*‘Personal’ can be applied to the context of a single individual or an individual organization.

ENGAGEMENT

Engaging Systemic Contexts with Equity & Inclusion
In the systemic journey, we expand our lens outward to the context of greater society, history, and culture. We assess and address systems of power, privilege, oppression, and the social constructs that they form. This part of the journey is about seeking equity and inclusion for marginalized individuals and communities, with transparency and integrity.

EMBODIMENT

Embodying Holistic Integration with Healing & Well-Being
The embodiment journey is about integrating one’s inner personal experiences with external systemic contexts. Empowering social change at the community level requires that individuals engage in healing and well-being on a personal level, as well as on a systemic level. Safety as well as holistic and trauma-informed approaches are integral to this stage.

ACTIVATION

Activating the Power of Creation with Creativity & Technique
The activation journey is the fourth and final stage where we step into the realm of creation. With the help of creativity and technique, we have an opportunity to take our power back and create into the world what we wish to see. This is about raising the bar, applying wisdom, and innovating systems with standards of excellence and artistic skill.

The Team

Phoenix | Sun Park

Founder & Executive Director

Phoenix a.k.a Sun Park is the Founder of Voice of Purpose. Sun has been a leader in community arts as an artist-educator and organizer since 2005. She is known to some as ‘The Real Sun’.

Phoenix is also the Integration Director and sits on the Board of Directors at Interfusion Festival. She is a member of the Board of Directors at the Love & Light Institute.

She has been blazing a path in arts education through the development of Purpose Rooted Arts Education as a pedagogical framework, and has worked with thousands of students of all ages in schools and community organizations.

Sun has played key leadership and co-creational roles with respected and award-winning community arts organizations in Canada such as Lost Lyrics, Nomanzland, BeLovEd, and the West Side Arts Hub. Sun has successfully developed and delivered projects in partnership with organizations such as Art Starts, Neighbourhood Arts Network, Toronto District School Board, York University, North York Arts, and many chapters of the Boys and Girls Club across Toronto. She has also worked as an Artist Educator with organizations such as Arts For Children and Youth (VIBE Arts), Young People’s theatre, Soul Pepper Theatre, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Limestone District School Board, University of Toronto Schools, and many more.

Sun has sat on Grant Review Committees for funders such as the Ontario Arts Council, Art Reach Toronto, City of Toronto Arts and Culture for Local Arts Service Organizations. She has led Royal Conservatory (RCM) Artist Educator trainings as an instructor, teaching in areas of Professional Development in Arts Education and Facilitation. Sun holds an Artist Educator Mentor certificate from the RCM, a degree in International Development from York University, and studied for four years at the Integral Healing Centre of Toronto in the fields of Psychotherapy, Bio-Energetic Therapy, and Energy Healing.

Phoenix’s true inner purpose and calling is to guide artists to embody a greater place of authenticity with themselves. This includes teaching Artist Educators to use Purpose Rooted Arts Education as a tool to empower their learners through the Arts. Originally born in Korea, Phoenix is now based in Toronto, ON and Atlanta, GA.

Carla Ferrer

Director of Operations

Carla’s vision is to help organizations and communities imagine new possibilities and ways to realize them. Her core work experience spans almost two decades as an administrative professional in the communications, marketing, and nonprofit sectors. Today they are actively involved in work that centers and embodies liberation for Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQ+ and disabled communities in Canada, and environmental, human rights, and Indigenous issues in their homeland of the Philippines. Carla’s life and work are grounded in the concept of “ka”, which is a prefix used in many Filipino languages to denote relation of self in the other.

As VOP’s Organizational Development Manager, Carla is helping to set a sound and intentional foundation for the organization in the areas of operations and systems planning and implementation so that VOP may grow and deepen our community impact.

In recent years, Carla’s work has grown to embrace an active practice of decolonization and applies this to her work in community engagement and organizational development. They have given storytelling-based presentations for community organizations in York Region, Toronto, and to US audiences on the topics of identity and culture in the Filipino/a/x diaspora. Carla also facilitates cultural experiences for both Filipino and broader communities through arts workshops and conversational Filipino language lessons.

 

Nate Gerber

Director of Digital Strategy and Organizational Development

Nate is a strategic design leader and facilitator working at the intersection of culture, technology, and business. With a unique background as an arts educator and community organizer turned digital service and enterprise design consultant, Nate has helped social ventures, mid-market technology firms and government agencies leverage experience design for innovation. Currently Nate provides advisory services for and through ThinkFresh Group.

Past clients and employers include the City of Toronto, the Ontario Public Service, Taboo Health, Baycrest Hospital, the Canadian Centre for Brain Health Innovation, GSI Solutions Inc., QoC Health Inc., Normative Inc., LawLignment Professional Corporation, the Tetradian Futures Institute, The Lausanne Congress, Partners International Inc., On The Spot Language School, and Parissis Partners Inc. In addition to equitable systems design, Nate is passionate about developing interactive installations and movement art.

Amrita Kumar-Ratta

Research Consultant

Amrita Kumar-Ratta (she/her) is a researcher, storyteller, educator, and mobilizer. She is a PhD Candidate in Human Geography at the University of Toronto and is cross-affiliated with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. She is also the Founder & Creator of Shades of Brown Girl, a global multimedia platform for creative storytelling and community healing for South Asian women. In her life and work, Amrita is dedicated to understanding and creatively unravelling the multiple relationships between bodies, borders, and poetics. Specifically, she focuses her work on themes of intersectional feminism and gender justice; migration, mobility, and the diasporic experience; and sustainable organizational & community development.

Amrita has worked with numerous organizations across Canada, the United States, India, Kenya, and Thailand, including but not limited to the Regional Diversity Roundtable of Peel, the Ward Museum, the Wellesley Institute, Amnesty International Canada, the United Nations Development Programme, the Mosaic Institute, the Centre for Social Innovation, and the Toronto and York Region Labour Council. She is currently an active member of numerous planning committees, advisory groups, and community initiatives in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. Poetry and performance are artistic practices that sustain her; she is trained in theatre and in classical and contemporary forms of dance, including the North Indian form of Kathak and Brazilian Zouk.

“Over the years I have come to recognize that Voice of Purpose is a leader in the field of community arts education. They consistently demonstrate a dedication to honour and champion youth voices – inspiring and supporting them to channel their stories, experiences and challenges into meaningful and thought provoking artistic expression. Through this groundbreaking work, Voice of Purpose continues to contribute to a vibrant community arts field, making transformative impacts on the participants they work closely with.”

Allyson Adley – Art Gallery of York University

“I’ve been collaborating with Voice of Purpose for over three years now. In each of our collaborations I have learned a mix of theoretical and practical tools to enhance my community arts practise and understanding of program design. Voice of Purpose brings a unique perspective to arts education that is deeply embedded in social justice. The Voice of Purpose curriculum is clear, concise and adaptable to all audiences while remaining authentically true to it’s vision of a holistic model of creative education and training.”

Melissa Foster – Program and Outreach Director, North York Art

“StreetARToronto (StART) has worked closely with Voice of Purpose to consult on street art projects that foster community engagement, inclusion, skills development and civic pride. They provided our team with valuable recommendations to support diversity, equity, and inclusion when working on projects that bring together artists, multiple community members and stakeholders. Our team looks forward to future collaborations with Voice of Purpose.”

StreetARToronto Team
Transportation Services, City of Toronto

“I have worked with Voice of Purpose from the days of its inception. To see the vision come to life has been nothing but inspiring. The projects we did in collaboration gave me nothing but respect for the quality and integrity in their leadership. Grounding the work in principles of social justice, they created spaces that truly modeled equity and inclusion. I saw participants grow in their own expression and grounding, for their own work moving forward.”

Lorna Schwartzentruber, Associate Director Access and Community Engagement, York University, Toronto Canada.

“The best thing about Voice of Purpose’s professional development training for me was integrating my core values into my methodology. Because of VOP’s embodied approach I was able to make connections that I wouldn’t have been able to by just thinking or talking about them. I really appreciated their deep care and concern for how things were sitting, allowing us time and space to just breathe, a gift I don’t normally receive from professional development.”

Barb Danielewski – Artist-Educator

“Voice of Purpose was able to invoke meaningful change in our young participants within a short time. The students I work with had glowing responses such as “I think the workshop really helped me look into myself and do some internal searching,” and “they made us feel that it was ok to be vulnerable to the group, it helped to make us closer.” These learning moments formed the basis of an invaluable dialogue about who the students were and how they could become changemakers.”

Jodi Mason – Education & Outreach Associate, The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall

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