Halifax – World-renowned educator Bill Strickland will give a keynote address to support the newly established Bridge Centre for Arts and Technology (BridgeCAT: http://bridgecat.ca/) during the upcoming Emergent Learning Conference. BridgeCAT, which targets youth at risk of dropping out of school and unemployed or under-employed young adults, is modelled on Strickland’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Manchester Bidwell Corporation.

Strickland, who founded Manchester Bidwell 40 years ago, has received many accolades for his ground-breaking work including a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius” Award. Close to 90% of the at-risk students taking Manchester Bidwell’s programs go on to college. Strickland will talk about how exposure to the arts in his youth helped turn his life around and inspired his approach to education.  He will also talk about the need for BridgeCAT.  Strickland says this may not be a big city compared to Chicago or San Francisco but “the depth of poverty in Halifax is real, and the despair of the kids is real.”

Strickland’s talk is slated for 7 p.m., Monday, April 23 at the World Trade and Convention Centre. It will be followed by a VIP reception where guests can meet with him one on one. Tickets are available at the Emergent Learning website: http://www.teachingthewaychildrenlearn.com/  There are also a limited number of tickets available for the reception. Tickets for the keynote are $60; tickets for the reception and keynote are $140, with a charitable donation receipt being issued for $80. Strickland’s speech is being sponsored at the platinum level by T4GLimited’s Future Focus Foundation. Silver level sponsors are BMO, Clearwater, Floors Plus, McInnes Cooper and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Bronze sponsors are Grant Thornton, Office Interiors and Stewart McKelvey.

Strickland will also attend the official opening of BridgeCAT, at 2 p.m., Monday, April 23 at BridgeCAT’s facility at 50 Queen Street, Dartmouth. BridgeCAT will provide year-round, after-school and non-school-hours arts programs to middle school and high school students. In partnership with business, it will offer fulltime, year-round employment training for adults in fields where there is local demand. BridgeCAT’s work complements that of other educational and youth-focused agencies and is supported by a number of organizations including the Construction Association of Nova Scotia. The gold level sponsor for BridgeCAT’s initial programming is RBC Foundation. BridgeCAT is offering its first programs, four weekend arts workshops for youth in mosaic, graffiti art, spoken word and dance during May.

CONTACT: Karn Nichols, 902.478.1133

T4G Limited sponsors Strickland event as BridgeCAT launches inaugural programs

Halifax – Technology services company T4G Limited http://www.t4g.com is the platinum sponsor for April’s fundraising event supporting the Bridge Centre for Arts and Technology (BridgeCAT: http://bridgecat.ca/), which targets youth at risk of dropping out of school and unemployed or under-employed young adults.

The fundraiser will see world-renowned educator Bill Strickland—whose many accolades include a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius” Award—give a keynote address during the Emergent Learning Conference and take part in a VIP reception where guests can meet with him one on one.

T4G Executive Vice President Mark Fraser says, “Through our Future Focus Foundation and our engaged employees in communities where we work and live, T4G  has  a long-term focus on helping young people succeed. We’ve supported efforts to develop a centre here in the Halifax region modeled on Bill’s ground-breaking work and we are delighted that BridgeCAT is now up and running.”

Strickland’s Manchester Bidwell Corporation, founded 40 years ago in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the inspiration for BridgeCAT. Strickland, whose own life was turned around through exposure to the arts – pottery in his case – will speak about his experience and the success of Manchester Bidwell, where close to 90% of the at-risk students taking its programs go on to college. He will talk about the need for BridgeCAT and the approach it is taking that is appropriate to this region and its circumstances. Strickland says this may not be a big city compared to Chicago or San Francisco but “the depth of poverty in Halifax is real, and the despair of the kids is real.”

Strickland’s keynote will take place at 7 p.m., April 23 at the World Trade and Convention Centre. Tickets are available at the Emergent Learning website: http://www.teachingthewaychildrenlearn.com/  There are also a limited number of tickets available for the VIP reception following the keynote. Tickets for the keynote are $60; tickets for the reception and keynote are $140, with a charitable donation receipt being issued for $80. In addition to T4G, the event is also being sponsored by Clearwater Seafoods.

BridgeCAT provides year-round, after-school and non-school-hours arts programs to middle school and high school students. In partnership with business, it also offers fulltime, year-round employment training for adults in fields where there is local demand. BridgeCAT’s work complements that of other educational and youth-focused agencies and is supported by a number of organizations including the Construction Association of Nova Scotia.

BridgeCAT is offering its first programs, four weekend arts workshops for youth during April. The workshops in mosaic, graffiti art, spoken word and dance will be held at the Centre’s facility at 50 Queen Street in Dartmouth.    CONTACT: Karn Nichols, 902.478.1133

Strickland’s keynote will take place at 7 p.m., April 23 at the World Trade and Convention Centre. Tickets are available at the Emergent Learning website: http://www.teachingthewaychildrenlearn.com/  There are also a limited number of tickets available for a VIP reception following the keynote where participants will have the chance to meet Strickland. Tickets for the keynote are $60; tickets for the reception and keynote are $140, with a charitable donation receipt being issued for $80.

BridgeCAT will provide year-round, after-school and non-school-hours arts programs to middle school and high school students. In partnership with business, it will also offer fulltime, year-round employment training for adults in fields where there is local demand. BridgeCAT’s work complements that of other educational and youth-focused agencies and benefits from the support of a number of organizations including the Construction Association of Nova Scotia.

BridgeCAT is offering its first programs, four weekend arts workshops for high-school-age youth, during April. The workshops in mosaic, graffiti art, spoken word and dance will be held at the Centre’s facility at 50 Queen Street in Dartmouth.

Contacts:

Karn Nicholls, 902.478.1133; Kathryn Harley Haynes, 902.223.5114