No. 9: Con­temporary Art and the Envi­ron­ment and The Art Gallery of Ontario are partner­ing with the Toronto Dis­trict School Board’s Model Schools for Inner Cities, the Toronto Public Library, and the WWF-Canada to bring con­temporary art and envi­ron­mental education to 10,000 inner city ele­mentary students across the GTA.

In collab­oration with internationally-rec­ognized Cana­dian artist IAIN BAXTER&, the IAIN BAXTER& ECOARTVAN hits the streets of Toronto from April 1 through May 31, and will visit 25 of the TDSB’s Model Schools for Inner Cities and eight local libraries.

No.9’s mis­sion is to introduce a new generation to the power of con­temporary art and its ability to stim­ulate awareness and pos­itive social and envi­ron­mental change. The IAIN BAXTER& ECOARTVAN is a glassed-in cube van running on biodiesel fuel, which will display a new, No.9-commis­sioned installation by BAXTER&, who will transform the cube van into a trav­elling museum fea­tur­ing artwork inspired by the his long-standing inter­est in the envi­ron­ment.

The IAIN BAXTER& ECOARTVAN will park in each school’s yard for one or two days, and will be accompa­nied by No. 9 educators. No.9’s educators will lead hands-on workshops with Grade Four students using a special education package designed in collab­oration with BAXTER& and focused around the artist’s concern for ani­mals and their habi­tats.

WWF-Canada has gen­er­ously con­tributed 2500 Adoption Kits, so that each Grade Four student who attends the workshops will receive a kit focused on an ani­mal whose habi­tat is endan­gered. These kits enable tactile learning and ensure that the students have an opportunity to con­tinue their engage­ment in envi­ron­mental issues once the project concludes.

In addition to the in-school activ­ities pro­vided by No. 9, the AGO and the TDSB have partnered to offer each partic­ipating Grade Four class – over 2200 students – a free field trip to the Gallery, where they will partic­ipate in a special gallery program called “Go­ing Green: Art & the Envi­ron­ment.

On June 9, the students and their fam­i­lies will be invited to attend a free evening cel­ebration at the AGO with IAIN BAXTER&. The students’ work will be displayed, and they will have the opportunity to meet with the artist and share their responses to the project.

“It is inspiring to see so many orga­ni­zations come together for this very important cause,” says No. 9 Exec­utive Director Andrew Davies, the project’s initiator. “An entire community will now have the opportunity for a direct encounter with art in a meaningful way, not only in the walls of a gallery, but on their sidewalks and in their schoolyards.”

On week­ends, when schools are closed, IAIN BAXTER& ECOARTVAN will visit local branches of the Toronto Public Library, giving count­less oth­ers an opportunity to view the work and learn more about art and the envi­ron­ment.

No. 9: Con­temporary Art and the Envi­ron­ment received a $75,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) in November 2009 to help with the program. A leading grantmaker in Canada, OTF strengthens the capacity of the vol­untary sector through invest­ments in community-based initiatives. An agency of the Govern­ment of Ontario, OTF builds healthy and vibrant communities.