1. Greetings from The Public!

The warm weather is finally here, the land is bursting with life and creatures in the city are embracing the beginning of a fabulous summer. In the studio, things are all a buzz with exciting work and projects on the go.

2. The Public News: In the Studio

DIY is worth a thousand words

We’ll be taking the last week of June off from client work to review and update our archived material together. Thanks to our friend and photographer Jennifer Rowsom, we’ll create a new system for documenting our work that fits with The Public’s love for DIY strategies and beautiful images. We can’t wait to share our past and current projects with our clients and community in a fresh new way!

Welcoming our summer interns!

In addition to producing our People’s History posters and DIY Creative Resistance design zines, our interns bring creative fire and inspiration to the studio. We want to thank our interns Josephine and Brittany for all their work and welcome to our team incoming interns Zviko and Annie!

3. The People News: In the Community

Grassy Narrows River Run 2016: Healthy river, healthy people
Thursday June 2, 12:00pm at Queen’s Park

Grassy Narrows has always fiercely resisted colonization and genocide, defending the land for all of us, human and non-human. The community is known for having sustained the longest running blockade of illegal logging in Canadian history, and is now demanding that Ontario finally clean up the 9,000 kg of mercury it allowed to be dumped in the river in the 1960’s. You can find more information about this rally, as well as how to act and donate in support of Grassy Narrows here!

Donkey Day 2016
Sunday June 12, 10:00am to 4:00pm at The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada

The Donkey Sanctuary (which The Public had the pleasure of visiting this past Fall) is hosting a day for animal lovers of all ages to visit their donkeys and mules and learn about these wonderful creatures. Donkey Day features activities including a kid’s area, silent auction, exciting food vendors, and of course spaces to groom and roam with the resident animals. Find more info on this event here!

Toronto Art Book Fair
June 16, 6:00pm to June 19, 6:00pm at Artscape Youngplace (180 Shaw Street)

The Toronto Art Book Fair aims to highlight the rich narrative of independent artistic print and the artistic integrity of artists’ books. This inaugural event will feature national and international vendors, exhibitions, and community programming all dedicated to increasing the visibility, appreciation, and understanding of the art book. You can find all the details and the full list of vendors here!

Blockorama 18: Black is Black
Sunday July 3, 12:30pm to 11:00pm at the Wellesley Pride Stage

Once again, Pride is here and Blockorama is still going strong, celebrating 18 years of Black, queer, trans, and intersexed magic! Hosted by Blackness Yes!, a community-based committee that works year-round to create space for LGBTTIQQ folks of African descent and their friends, loved ones, and supporters, Blockorama remains a necessary and outstanding part of Pride. You can view the full line up of artists and guests featured throughout the day here!

4. The Public News: On the streets

Natalia has graduated from Bitmaker’s front-end developer class and is excited to be able to make (very) simple websites! It is all practice from now on and Nat can’t wait to see where this new skill takes her. She is also looking forward to the Grassy Narrows River Run as the collective she is part of, Radical Design School, developed the art materials being used at this years march. Outside of work, she’s been busy playing music with her new band, fledgling, and preparing for her trip to Colombia and Peru in August.

Anabel's psychotherapy program is out for summer, but she will be continuing her studies on the shores of various beaches in Ontario. She also recently completed an online course on Trauma Aware Conflict Transformation and attended the Indigenizing Psychology Symposium: Healing & Education hosted by OISE. She’s in rehearsal mode all month for her upcoming performance in Letters to the Universe, a one-night show at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre on June 29.

Sheila has wrapped up another year teaching at OCAD University. Since she can't seem to get enough of the classroom, she's enrolled herself in a Maker Bootcamp at Steamlabs—learning lasercutting, 3D printing, Arduino, virtual and augmented reality and DIY electronics. This month, she is honoured to have her work included in the It's Still Privileged Art 2016 publication (launching tonight!) and to have the opportunity to present to the Status of Women in Ottawa on June 15th. Outside of work, she's looking forward to a restful week-long vacation to Nevada and California, and trying her hand at stand up comedy this summer!

5. What we're working on

• Branding mentorship for Youth Opportunities Fund group, Words of Wisdom
• Design of an annual report for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
• Design of an annual report for CATIE
• Production of an eBook on labour and LGBTQ rights for the Canadian Labour Congress
• Development of a toolkit exploring domestic violence and the workplace for the Canadian Labour Congress
• Design of booklet welcoming newcomer students to school for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario
• A Women’s Equality project for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario 
• Site design for a course on Feminist Legal Reform for the National Association for Women and the Law
• Site design for the Ontario Women’s Health Network
• Workshop and newsletter design for OPSEU local 558
• LGBTQ Youth campaign materials for Planned Parenthood Toronto
• Infographic on sexual and reproductive health for youth in the GTA for Planned Parenthood Toronto
• Infographic series on health equity for Rainbow Health Ontario
• Re-brand and site re-design for the Scarborough Housing Help Centre
• Newsletter design for Unifor
• Design of materials for Health Nexus' project on collaborative leadership in practice
• Re-brand for CESAR, a student union for continuing students at Ryerson University

6. What we've done

• Spring 2016 issue of Sex, etc. magazine
• Spring 2016 lesson plan for Answer
• Infographics and knowledge-transfer materials for the LGBTQ Home Care Access Project
• Infographic for the Supporting Newcomer Access Project at Planned Parenthood Toronto
• Site redesign and outreach for Teen Health Source for Planned Parenthood Toronto
• Logo design for Scarborough Housing Help Centre (official launch coming soon!)

7. Housekeeping!

The studio will be closed June 27 - July 1 while we do some summer cleaning and review our documentation systems.