Teen girls craft superhero identities to challenge stereotypes

Move over, Marvel.

A group of teenage girls from Winnipeg has created a set of trading cards starring a squad of superheroes dubbed The Craftastics: Agents for Social Change. Their mission? To combat the everyday evils that lurk in the halls of high school.

These young ladies are part of the Valley Gardens Grrlz Club, a River East Transcona School Division after-school program. It's a safe, supportive space to relax, make crafts and talk about anything, including sexism, stereotyping, body-issues, depression,  anxiety, gossip, peer pressure and bullying.

Through Winnipeg Arts Council's Community WITH ART Program, which connects professional artists with community groups to further discussions of community identity, issues and growth through the creation of a public art project, the Grrlz Club was partnered with Jennie O, a local visual artist, who acted as mentor, collaborator and sympathetic ear. Every week, they met in the multi-purpose room at Valley Gardens School.

• ReviewUnderground Film Festival brings edgy film to Winnipeg

  

  Underground film is independent, experimental and edgy. The first-ever Winnipeg Underground Film Festival runs this weekend, and it feels like a natural fit for a city that produces its fair share of avant-garde filmmakers. Organized by Open City Cinema, the three-day fest offers some beautiful, boundary-busting, what-the-hell-was-that work. (All programs run at Frame Arts Warehouse, 318 ½ Ross St.)
  
  
  
  

• VideoFrom Styrofoam to strings, concert celebrates music education

  

  The young musicians of the Sistema Winnipeg program capped off the season with a concert at the Shaw Performing Arts Centre at The Forks on June 12.
  
  At the event, 80 children from Elwick Community School and King Edward Community School got to display their talents for family and friends. 

  
  
  
  

• 5 ways to spend your weekend in Winnipeg

  
  If you had plans to go to the beach or cabin, it might be time to call it. The forecast calls for rain on both Saturday and Sunday -- but John Sauder told me it's not all bad.
  
  
  There will be sunshine in the morning on Saturday, and it likely won't rain until later in the day on Sunday. So get up early and take advantage while you can -- there's a lot to do in the river city this weekend.
  

• U of W's Back Door Lunch feeds walk-up traffic every Friday

  

  Despite helming something of a downtown food empire that includes a restaurant, university cafeteria and catering business, chef Ben Kramer really wishes he had a food truck.
  
  So once the daily traffic at the university slowed down for the summer, Kramer and his staff came up with the next best thing - Back Door Lunch.
  
  
  

• KEN mode lands on the Polaris Long List

  

  The Polaris Music Prize announced its Long List today, and one Manitoban act is in the running for the annual award, worth $30,000. Winnipeg metal/hardcore heroes KEN mode made the list for their latest album, Entrench. The band has been on the road since the album came out at the beginning of March. Reached in Providence, RI, singer Jesse Matthewson was happy to hear about the nomination, but not too optimistic. 
  
  
  

• VideoACTRA Manitoba honours local filmmakers

  
  ACTRA Manitoba (The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists), presented its top filmmaking awards on June 11. It also honoured actor and director Louis Kliman with the Victor Cowie Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts. Kliman was one of the first actors to appear on CBC Television in the 1950s and performed in many CBC Radio dramas. Among his film credits are Zeyda and the Hitman and Head Over Heels.