Explorations

Director of Community Programming

2019-2021

Description

Explorations is a nonprofit educational organization that started in 1981. Having started as a camp 40 years ago, Explorations has expanded its learning initiatives by creating weekend programs, March Break workshops, teacher talks and our intergenerational programs.

As the first Director of Community Programming, my work sought to actively engage Explorations within the community, setting goals for improvement and responding to problems and needs through empowerment and active participation. I developed and scaled our activities locally, nationally and internationally, tripling our partnerships. I also researched and applied for grants, increasing our funding by 85% for our free educational activities.

As the communications link, I also led the development campaigns, the diversity and inclusion objectives, and the partnerships, including establishing the first public Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in Montreal.

Curious to hear what I did on a day to day? I was interviewed by The Dep Podcast about my job and community impact at Explorations by Karl Thomas. The podcast is available on Apple and Spotify.

EXAMPLES OF WORK

Community connection was at the heart of my work at Explorations. I focused a lot of my energy on creating intergenerational connections through educational opportunities.

For Quebec Intergenerational Week, from May 23 to 29, 2021, I project managed the Intergenerational Storytime with the West-End Intergenerational Network (WIN), English Montreal School Board, Gay & Grey Montreal, minibiblioPLUS, Montreal West Children’s Library and Projet Communautaire de Pierrefonds (PCP). Our project was featured on CBC News. from the West-End Intergenerational Network (WIN). Our project was featured on CBC News.

The Intergenerational Creative Writing Program linked seniors and youth through fictional writing. The program was selected by the English Language Arts Network’s (ELAN) Senior’s Project, We’re All In This Together and was a finalist for Intergénérations Québec’s “Activité littéraire” category.

This course focuses on world building, storytelling and character development. By using the conventions from the epistolary genre as well as role playing game techniques, the participants get to explore the world of creative writing together.

I have also led the rebranding of our organization, reinvigorating our image by generating result-oriented new copy on our website, social media campaigns, and community projects.

Here are program pamphlets that I created for our educational trade shows. With the rebranding of our organization, we strived for a minimalist look all the while keeping a bright and vibrant feeling throughout.

Here is a video that I produced about our English Integration Program. These videos are used to market our Canada-China exchange program in the Chinese market, primarily shared on WeChat.

During the MaNdA Holiday Market Fair 2019, I designed this flyer for Explorations. Bold colours, clean modern look and captivating writing were needed to market our programs.

See below for the flyer details.