U of T undergrad creates opportunities for young, aspiring artists

George Yonemori has accomplished a lot during his time as an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto. 

An award-winning poet, author and spoken word performer, he’s also the co-creative director of Stay Golden Outreach, a non-profit organization in Scarborough that empowers youth through the arts.

“We're living in a time when art has never been valued less, especially with AI,” says Yonemori, an English major in his final year at U of T Scarborough.

“Giving young creatives the experience and means to support themselves and move towards a better career can have a positive impact.”

Yonemori – who is equal parts fierce, offering scathing critiques about society and our increasing isolation within it, and empathetic, when it comes to the struggles experienced by young people – says his childhood love of writing drew him to the U of T Scarborough English program.

“I love writing and initially pursued law, and I knew English was a good background for law and would offer a ton of transferable skills,” says Yonemori, who is also pursuing minors in psychology and film studies.

He says he was surprised by the freedom he had to pursue extracurricular and professional experiences while completing his studies, which he began in 2021.

That includes co-developing Stay Golden Outreach, which is designed to fill gaps in youth programming in north Scarborough. The program allows youth to learn from award-winning artists through after-school workshops that promote healthy emotional expression and empowerment through creative writing. It also offers paid internships to program graduates. 

Yonemori praises the guidance and support he’s received from Daniel Tysdal, an associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of English at U of T Scarborough. In particular, he cites Tysdal’s efforts to engage students by using novel or unconventional means – including studying professional wrestling as a form of literature. 

“The biggest compliment you can give a professor is that you would attend a 9 a.m. class with them. And I did that three times for Tysdal,” says Yonemori, who has taken a total of four classes with the professor. “He's a very authentic educator.” 

He also credits Tysdal with demonstrating how a thoughtful approach can be applied to what some may perceive as “low art.”  

Yonemori says providing high-quality, in-person arts programming improves youth mental health and emphasizes the importance of ensuring Stay Golden Outreach remains free for youth in order to create accessible spaces. 

He's also been able to apply many lessons he’s learned about art and creative writing. 

“I'm fortunate to have a career where I'm able to take advantage of the skills I learned in school because I understand we live in a world where that's not always the case,” he says. 

While Yonemori says his time at U of T Scarborough has been incredibly rewarding, there have been challenges along the way. He began his studies when classes had moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and says being unable to communicate in person with classmates was a struggle. 

He points to networking and the lost art of speaking to strangers as skills that should receive more emphasis.

“Our current job market is about connections and going up to a person you don’t know and self-advocating is an essential skill,” he says, emphasizing the importance of group projects to develop teamwork skills.  

As for the future, Yonemori wants to pursue a master's degree in English and hopes to publish his first novel.