Awards

Finalist, Toronto Arts Foundation's Arts for Youth Award 2014
The Arts for Youth Award is a $15,000 cash prize, with finalists receiving $2,000. The award celebrates an individual, collective or organization that has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to engaging Toronto’s youth through the arts and artistic creation. Established in 2007 by Martha Burns, Jim Fleck, and Sandra and Jim Pitblado. The finalist Award was established in 2010 through the generous donation of Diana Bennett and Spencer Lanthier.

Leonardo da Vinci Award for Innovation and Creativity in the Arts 2007
On April 21, 2007, the Children’s Peace Theatre was awarded the The Leonardo da Vinci Award for Creativity and Innovation in the Arts. The awards recognize individuals who have created new, useful and positive inventions, methods, developments or improvements in the Arts, Business, Community, Education and Entrepreneurship. The Awards are presented annually in April to celebrate the birth of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Mayor’s Community Safety Award 2007
On December 6, 2007, the Children’s Peace Theatre received The Mayor’s Community Safety Award for the Peace Leaders Program, at a special ceremony at Toronto Police Service Headquarters. The Mayor’s Community Safety Awards celebrates the contributions of people and groups whose work makes their community a safer place to live. Each year, five recipients are recognized for their contribution to improving the safety of Toronto residents.

YMCA Peace Medallion 2006
Drew’s Group was awarded the YMCA Peace Medallion for their work to create peace in their community through theatre. Each November the YMCA of Greater Toronto recognizes peacemakers whose endeavors inspire and impact others. YMCA Peace Medallions honour youth and adults from all walks of life who commit their time to advancing peace in their own communities or abroad.

Accolades

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Engaging and empowering youth through the arts is a creative and effective way to teach the importance of conflict resolution and encourage peace building and I commend the Children’s Peace Theatre for the tremendous work they do for our community.
                                                Former Mayor David Miller
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Since 2001, Children’s Peace Theatre has been a forum for children and youth to explore peaceful alternatives to resolving conflict in the world. I’d like to congratulate and thank the staff, volunteers, participants and supporters of the Children’s Peace Theatre for their work in making our community and the world a more peaceful place.
                                            Councillor Janet Davis, Ward 31 Beaches-East York
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My name is Fernando Lara, my background is human, my nationality is Mexican. I move to Canada 3 years ago and I've been studying and working in clown-bufon theatre since 2006 working with kids and youth who live in extreme poverty conditions, violent parents, drug addictions, extreme social violence, and bad nutrition and we found out the cure and the medicine for a lot of these kids was the arts, the creativity to express their own history.

Adam Paolozza knew about my work and he told me you have to work in Children's Peace Theatre and know the method they use to teach the kids. I got so impressed not just for what they do, but how they do with not too many resources. The team of Children's Peace Theatre make a very important and significant work, they have essence, they are authentic, they are a bridge to help to change the way this world is going, they use the creativity, the compassion and the courage to make a difference, to think different, to try other ways, other strategies to build the future doing in the present and using the past to get stronger, to humanize through the arts.

They help to build a strong friendship between the kids, to be respectful and helpful with each other. The house of Children's Peace Theatre is a magic place, is a little peace of this beautiful world where very good souls, big hearts, lightful minds and beautiful humans share knowledge and respect, showing the world how to be a model, how to get together and do the right things, with that clear vision to start the change now, with the kids.

The world is following Children's Peace Theatre because kids from all the world are learning Courage, Creativity and Compassion in this invaluable and magical place. They are working locally to make a global change.

               Fernando Lara, Director Creativo  www.labufonsosial.org                                                                                                               
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After training in the Youth Leaders Theatre Project in 2009, I was invited to be a youth guide at Peace Camp and then to train to be a youth facilitator for Peace Leaders. I didn’t have a job so it was an amazing opportunity to get to work with professional artists and be seen as a peer. I learned a lot about taking responsibility, about being a role model and how hard it would be to be a teacher every day. It was tough work with so many young kids at Thorncliffe Park [where 95% of the children have English as a second language and CPT worked with 20 classes simultaneously]. Many of them had difficulty cooperating in the beginning, but because they thought we were cool and the games were fun, they did not know they were learning so much. They loved the games and learned a lot about how to work as a team and how to use courage, compassion and creativity to solve some problems on their own. They all wanted my autograph on the last day, that made me feel like a star and that I could be a great role model for young kids and help them from getting in trouble.
                                                                                   Pierre, Youth Facilitator
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Before Children’s Peace Theatre, I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. It opened me up creatively, gave me the confidence to speak out, and taught me to be a good leader and collaborator. I used my Peace Camp skills to work with children in Regent Park. Now I have graduated from Ryerson in radio and television arts and am doing an internship at the Rogers Centre.
                                                                                    Naguib, Peace Camp Guide