CTV, in association with Artbound and Free The Children, announced today that production is underway on a new documentary featuring multi Grammy and Juno Award winner Nelly Furtado. The documentary will chronicle Artbound’s first assignment in Kenya as 20 young professionals including Artbound’s Honorary Chair Seamus O’Regan, Global Ambassador Dayle Haddon, and Free The Children’s founder Craig Kielburger, head to Kenya on a Me to We Trip, to build Free The Children’s first arts school. An air date has not yet been announced.

“The arts have the power to inspire children and see themselves and their world differently,” said Nelly Furtado. “My goal is to help raise awareness for this incredible new, Canadian-based organization that stands to make an incredible difference in the lives of young people and their communities in places like Kenya and other developing nations.”

“We are thrilled to have Nelly Furtado join Artbound’s first assignment,” said Seamus O’Regan, Honorary Chair, Artbound and co-host, CANADA AM. “We hope her involvement inspires other artists in Canada and around the world to work with Artbound.”

With the end goal of creating sustainable change in developing countries through the arts to help break the cycle of poverty, Artbound’s three-part mandate is: first, to enrich students by teaching them various art forms – including arts and crafts, visual arts, pottery, music, dance and drama; second, to empower students by providing them with platforms to showcase their talent and generate a sustainable source of funding; and third, to engage a local and global audience to take action through financial support or volunteer work that will directly improve the lives of the students.

Artbound

Artbound is a non-profit volunteer initiative in support of Free The Children. It was founded by a group of passionate individuals who believe that the arts have the power to create sustainable social change in the lives of underprivileged children. The Artbound team will travel to developing countries annually and build schools that are dedicated to the arts – institutions that will be fully integrated as part of existing Free The Children programs aimed to combat child poverty. Artbound is extremely grateful for the generous support of its key partners – Scotiabank, Horizons ETF, CTV and Haddon Strategy. For more information on Artbound please visit www.artbound.ca.

Free The Children

Free The Children is the world’s largest network of children helping children through education, with more than one million youth involved in innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded in 1995 by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has a proven track record of success. Through the energy and passion of youth, Free The Children has built more than 650 schools around the world, providing education to over 55,000 children every day. The organization has received the Rights Award from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, and has formed successful partnerships with leading school boards and Oprah’s Angel Network. For more information please visit www.freethechildren.com