With the motto “we change what we must,” apparel company Revolution Now! is living up to the phrase more than ever just seven months after being founded by Newmarket’s Megan Glanfield, a single parent and science teacher at Aurora’s Rick Hansen Public School.
On Saturday, April 23, Revolution Now!, which donates 20 per cent of its gross revenue to charity, is hosting a launch event at Newmarket’s Market Brewing Company from 7 to 11 p.m.
Entertainment will include live music by local artists MT Walker and Stefan Carriman, free food courtesy of Paco’s Tacos Canada, and a silent Indigenous art auction, which will donate 100 per cent of proceeds to Gwekwaadziwin Miikan, a land-based mental health and addiction program for young adults. Attendees of the event will also be able to shop a wide variety of Revolution Now! products and swag.
Tickets are available online for $35 each, with $10 from each ticket sold going to Urban Promise Toronto, to provide after-school care for youth in Toronto community housing.
“One thing I’m really proud of about Revolution Now! is that we all really learn from each other and that we all have each other’s backs,” said Glanfield. “I think that’s one of the things that’s really resonated with our community and with the communities that find Revolution Now!”
Glanfield founded Revolution Now! last September, following experiences with homophobia while working as a teacher at the York Region District School Board. Glanfield, who is gay, was not permitted to refer to herself as “a member of the gay community” while speaking over the school’s loudspeaker on Spirit Day, a day of support for out and closeted 2SLGBTQ+ youth – because it would “not be appropriate” for the kindergarten students to hear.
“There was a lot of really wonderful learning that went on for our school staff and for the district as a whole in terms of how we approach marginalization,” said Glanfield. “From that experience, one of the students in my class at that time, who’s now Revolution Now!’s social media director, encouraged me to be more out as a staff member because he thought that would help our kids more.”
After taking several years to “do a lot of learning,” Glanfield decided to found Revolution Now! to direct more funds toward providing opportunities and assistance for queer and racialized children.
To date, the company has generated more than $5,400 for charities, including The 519, Urban Promise Toronto, Gwekwaadziwin Miikan, and NACCA by selling t-shirts, stickers, post cards, beanies, and more. They’ve also supported Afghan refugees through the Welcome To Canada Project, and have generated over $1,000 for an academic scholarship awarded by the Alliance of Educators for Black Students.
Revolution Now!’s products, designed in partnership with local artists, including 18-year-old transgender artist Forrest Woods, Black artist Rob Wright, and Indigenous artist Keith Gattie, have been worn by Mark Tewksbury, Canada’s first Out Olympian and gold medallist, Katie Dudtschak, the executive vice-president of the Royal Bank of Canada, and Amanda Jetté Knox, bestselling author of Love Lives Here: a Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family. Other prominent supporters of the company and its work include SickKids’ executive lead and strategic advisor of equity, diversity, and inclusion Tee Garnett; Alberta politician and critic for Status of Women and LGBTQ2S+ Issues Janis Irwin; Juno Award-winning children’s band Splash ‘N' Boots; and Dora Award-winning playwright Anusree Roy.
For more information, visit Revolution Now!’s website.
