Canadian Teachers' Federation announces pilot partnership, songwriting challenge with Star Expo Foundation to membership at Annual General Meeting

OTTAWA, July 10, 2013 /CNW/ - The Canadian Teachers' Federation announced today that the Federation will be partnering with Star Expo Foundation in a social justice and songwriting project called "My Voice - Our Rights".

"It's exciting to be part of a project that combines artistic creativity and sensitivity to social justice issues," says CTF President Paul Taillefer. "It's definitely going to be a stimulating experience to collaborate with Star Expo and to pool our varied resources to inspire youth."

"My Voice - Our Rights", an Imagineaction venture planned for the 2013-2014 school year, will see groups of students from across the country work together to write music and lyrics about human rights.

Videos of the songs will then be viewed by a panel of judges, and critiqued based on criteria such as originality, stage presence and organization, as well as community involvement, social justice and human rights. Finalists will have the opportunity to meet well-known Canadian musicians in a celebration of their achievement in spring 2014.

"Canadian youth have a strong, creative voice," says Louise Nadeau, Star Expo Foundation's Executive Director. "We're looking forward to working with the CTF to share that voice and raise awareness about human rights."

"What we hope the project will do is encourage students' confidence both in their musical ability and their understanding of how they can be catalysts for social change," adds Taillefer.

Teachers will have access to lesson modules, which will be prepared during summer 2013, about song and lyric development designed for the kindergarten to grade 4, grade 5 to 8 and grade 9 to 12 students.

The Canadian Teachers' Federation is an alliance of nearly 200,000 elementary and secondary educators from 16 organizations, 15 members and one affiliate member, across Canada. Follow the CTF on Twitter: @CanTeachersFed and @EnseigneCanada. Imagineaction is a CTF program designed to facilitate teacher-student-community interaction in social action.

Star Expo Foundation is dedicated to supporting young people and youth-centred charities. In addition to offering scholarships for post-secondary education, Star Expo Foundation disburses funds to charities that seek to improve the lives of youth through the promotion of education, health and wellness.

SOURCE: Canadian Teachers' Federation

Spokesperson:  
CTF President Paul Taillefer
Star Expo Executive Director Louise Nadeau, 289-251-0384

Media Contact: 
Francine Filion, Director of Communications, 613-688-4314 (office)  or 613-899-4247 (cell)