91ÑÇÉ« researchers have received an Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) research award to scale up a youth-led, arts-based HIV prevention program that has already reached more than 12,000 young people across Canada.
Sarah Flicker, professor and 91ÑÇÉ« Research Chair in Community-Based Participatory Research in the , is the principal investigator on the project, titled "Theatre Making Impact (TMI): Scaling-Up a Youth-Led HIV Prevention Play Across Ontario." Shira Taylor, adjunct professor at 91ÑÇÉ« and director of TMI, is co-applicant and the program's founder. The OHTN funding will support the next phase of the program's expansion across Ontario, extending its reach into urban centres and northern Indigenous communities where HIV rates remain disproportionately high.
TMI – formerly known as SExT, or Sex Education by Theatre – is a trauma-informed, culturally responsive not-for-profit that uses peer education and theatre, alongside music, dance, rap and poetry, to engage youth in open conversations about sexual health, HIV prevention, mental health and healthy relationships.
Taylor founded the program in 2014 in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park neighbourhoods as part of her doctoral thesis, and later expanded it through a postdoctoral fellowship at 91ÑÇÉ« in collaboration with Flicker. To date, it has reached more than 12,000 young people across Canada, with a focus on communities most affected by HIV – including newcomer, Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.
"I really wanted to build an evidence-based program that put the youth voice centre stage on these topics," says Taylor.
What sets TMI apart is how it delivers that education. Instead of pamphlets or classroom lectures, the program uses peer-led performance, humour and storytelling to model difficult conversations and build skills in a lower-stakes environment – one that engages young people both intellectually and emotionally.
“Lack of awareness usually isn’t the reason people don’t use condoms," says Taylor. "There's a peer pressure element, there's an emotional element. Theatre is uniquely positioned to take into account our full humanity."
The program also benefits from an intergenerational model that, over the last decade, has deepened. Many of the original cast members who joined as high schoolers – initially, Taylor jokes, for the free pizza – have stayed on and trained as trauma-informed peer mentors. They now co-facilitate the program alongside a new generation of youth from the same community, sharing similar cultural backgrounds and immigration experiences.
The evidence from a recent Toronto District School Board (TDSB) tour, co-led by Taylor and Flicker and supported by a LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health Catalyst Grant at 91ÑÇÉ«, underscores the approach's impact. Across eight performances at five TDSB high schools, 61 per cent of student audience members reported improved sexual health knowledge, 49 per cent felt more confident managing their own sexual health and 46 per cent reported greater awareness of where to access HIV and STI testing.
Mental health outcomes were also significant: 49 per cent reported improved mental health knowledge, 44 per cent indicated feeling more comfortable seeking help and 41 per cent reported using new coping strategies.
While the student audience feedback provides crucial insights, the program’s impact extends beyond statistics. During a tour to an Indigenous community in Saskatchewan, a youth performer's rap about navigating her identity and her family's cultural expectations moved a young audience member to share a poem she had written but never shown anyone.
"She had it stuffed in the back of her locker," Taylor recalls. "She'd been too scared to share it publicly. And we all gathered around as this young Indigenous girl read us this poem. I still remember the words."
With OHTN support, the project will reach youth beyond Toronto by bringing performances to urban centres and northern and Indigenous communities across Ontario over the coming year.
Taylor and Flicker are thrilled that the award allows the program to continue to reach young people across the province.
"It's really validating how much impact arts-based approaches can have in this sector," says Taylor, "and how important it is to empower community-based, culturally responsive, trauma-informed programs around these topics, which has been historically lacking in sex education."
With files from Mzwandile Poncana