The LAB: support socially alienated youths through art and music.Le LAB / CIPTO

The LAB provides access to a space of creation and a music room for young adults who are drug dependent or at risk of drug abuse, homelessness and social alienation. Thanks to arts, people who visit the LAB get a chance of achieving success, they are empowered and they can build a support network.

Although it was recognized in 2005 by the National homelessness strategy in Canada and by the community in general, the LAB faces difficulties since certain funders favor a traditional approach. To keep its doors open, the LAB needs the support of the Pepsi Refresh project.

 

The LAB is one of the very few projects that welcome young adults with all the challenges that they face (drug abuse, homelessness, poverty, social alienation, mental illnesses, employment issues, etc.). It meets the shortages of a system that largely deals with the issues in silos and it support their artistic and social approaches. The model of intervention through the arts of the LAB has the advantage of being non-threatening and reaches young marginal adults through their interests, taking into account their reality. By offering flexible monitoring that adapts to each person’s rhythm, the project acts on the obstacles that push youths with a need to let go of the system or to refuse monitoring in which aid was proposed to them. The LAB therefore wants to be a transmission belt between the needs of young adults targeted, available resources and their inclusion within the community.