Art Fix: Register and begin 2021 with a blank canvas – BayToday.ca

Art Fix, a program designed to teach art skills to those who have lived experience with mental health or substance abuse, and are 18 years of age or older, is nearing the debut of its winter edition.

This time, the initiative has the advantage of having weathered the pandemic process before.

Of the challenges related to offering programming during the COVID-19 pandemic, Art Training Program Coordinator Lindsay Sullivan has said, “Our creative collective has been dedicated to offering a wide array of fun and meaningful art-making opportunities. The amazing artist facilitators have really adapted to online methods of teaching that keep our program moving, and folks engaged in art-making and creativity.” 

These will be the last Art Fix sessions funded by this particular Ontario Trillium Foundation grant. The funds go to the local arts industry facilitators and their expertise is then shared with the participants. She says the turnout remained steady through the fall and with the switch to an online setting.

A sampling of the winter programming includes a watercolour workshop; scriptwriting for short film; introduction to photo editing; and, beading techniques. Filmmaker Morningstar Derosier, artist Kayla Liberty, and documentary photgrapher and videographer Vanessa Tignanelli are among the talented cast of Art Fix facilitators.

Although registration does not officially open until Jan. 5, 2021, Sullivan says the “Winter 2021 Art Fix Art Training workshop calendar,” is now available. Those interested in receiving a copy of the calendar and for more information about the registration process may email art.fix.training@gmail.com.

Out of necessity, Sullivan observes, the fall Art Fix made the switch to online programming, “instead of our usual in-person courses and open studio at the White Water Gallery in downtown North Bay. It also meant artist facilitators switched to online platforms of art training.”

For the winter Art Fix, programming will be delivered via Zoom workshops and pre-recorded art videos from a variety of facilitators. And, while supplies last, art kits will be delivered to participants’ doors.

“Winters can be difficult for some… we are still here, and there will be dancing, and poetry, and photography workshops, just to name a few,” says Sullivan.

Art Fix is administered by the White Water Gallery and is part of the Workman Arts Scaling Project, funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation. It is billed as an “arts for social change collective run by and for artists who self-identify as having lived experience of mental health and/or substance use,” and who “believe that art is a powerful tool that contributes to the wellbeing of individuals and our communities.” 

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