Youth Council

Representing a diverse group of youth in Toronto, the AGO Youth Council is run by youth ages 15-24 who are interested in art and the relationship between young people and art institutions. Through a lens of social practice, the program focuses on community building, experiential pedagogy, and contemporary art practices working collectively to initiate programming by youth for youth. Collaborations with artists result in exhibitions, public art projects, interventions, large-scale events, drop-in programs, field trips, walking tours and much more. Relationship building, eating together and sharing life experiences is also a large part of the program. The council accepts new members every fall, and applicants are selected after a group interview involving current members of the AGO Youth Council. Time commitment: one year.

Youth Council Projects

Photo of Adam Bovoletis

Skillz Share: Make a Scrapwich

Wednesday May 20, 3 pm

Adam Bovoletis has a passion for laughin'. He's made a bunch of art, co-founded Insomniac Film Festival, has been a proud member of the Youth Council for the past four years, and likes to write in third person. This week he teaches us how to build a ‘scrapwich’ a sandwich with whatever is in your fridge!

Image by Celeste Chiguichon

Opening Reception: No Future For You

Wednesday, December 18, 2019 6 - 8 pm

The AGO Youth Council will be joined by Toronto-based cartoonist and illustrator Eric Kostiuk Williams this fall. Over several weeks, he’ll bring the Youth Council into his creative practice, culminating in the production of a collaborative comic anthology, made in response to the dynamic Hito Steyerl exhibition now on view at the AGO.

Group of AGO Youth posing with art work

24 Hours, 2019

June 26 - December, 2019

During eight three-hour sessions on Wednesdays in May and June, Tessar led the youth council through a series of process-based exercises on the theme of communication, generating drawings, collages, and paintings.

Photo of AGO Youth Council

Lost and Farmed

December 19, 2018 - January 2019

AGO Youth Council in collaboration with Micah Donovan

Lost clothing and forgotten objects have been assembled with the purpose of growing edible plants throughout the AGO. The food grown in the Gallery will be harvested when the installations close, and used as toppings for the Youth Council's pizza.

hand painted messages on brightly coloured fabrics and then stitched together to create a large scale quilt

This Mountain Loves You

August 25 - December 15, 2018

A collaboration with artist Ani Castillo This Mountain Loves You is a tribute to and a recreation of Leonard Knight's Salvation Mountain, a large-scale folk art site in the southern California desert. Over a seven-week period, messages of self-love and empowerment were hand-painted and stitched together to counter and resist the current climate of Trump-era politics. 

This Party Loves You presented by AGO Youth Council

This Party Loves You

Saturday, July 14, 8-11 pm, 2018
AGO Youth Council presents “This Party Loves You”, an all ages, free, annual art party programmed by the AGO Youth Council featuring local musicians and interactive art activities.
a drawing of a walkie-talkie

Singing Softly When No One's Around

May 19, 2016 – April 18, 2017

Curious about our security guards and their perspectives on art in our collection? Check out the AGO’s Youth Council project created in collaboration with artist Abbas Akhavan. In 2015 they interviewed eight security guards about their lives, their role at the Gallery and their favourite work of art. The project’s title is taken from one of the interviews.

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