Isabel Misquitta Yip
I began my journey in social impact through RisingYouth in the summer of 2021. Through RisingYouth's community impact grants, I assembled a small team and successfully created a virtual summer music camp for students in both Canada and Cambodia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, my project has expanded into the founding of my nonprofit, the Dynamic Centre for Education, and we have run summer music camps almost every year since then. This year, with the generosity of the Sprout Ideas Fellowship, I am looking forward to expanding my impact by running our first in-person community-based music and arts program, in partnership with local organizations in Toronto, Canada.
The Stories We Keep
The Stories We Keep is a community-driven arts education program providing free, inclusive lessons in music, visual arts, and textile arts to people of all ages in Toronto and Cambodia. Led by volunteer artists and educators, the project focuses on marginalized communities facing barriers such as financial hardship, cultural displacement, and age-based exclusion. Through accessible workshops and showcases, it empowers participants to learn, create, and share their stories, fostering long-term cultural continuity and community connection.
About this Project
Communities Served
My project will involve and/or impact the following communities:
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
When it comes to community impact projects, the UN has created 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These are the Sustainable Development Goals associated with my project.
How the project works
From September to December 2025, The Stories We Keep will host biweekly music, visual arts, and crochet workshops, culminating in a community showcase. Programs will run in Toronto with online sessions for Cambodia, fostering creative skill-building, cultural exchange, and inclusive community engagement across all ages.
Project Impact
The Stories We Keep will increase access to arts education for marginalized communities, fostering creativity, confidence, and cultural expression across all ages. By removing financial and systemic barriers, the project empowers participants to share their stories, strengthens community bonds, and promotes long-term inclusion and representation in the arts locally and internationally.
Project Mission
To provide equitable access to creative arts education, including but not limited to music, visual arts, and textile arts, for individuals of all ages from underserved communities who have been historically excluded from formal arts spaces due to systemic barriers such as poverty, cultural erasure, ageism, and displacement.
Project Team
A dedicated team of volunteer artists, educators, and designers passionate about inclusive arts education.
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