By Teresa Carey…
The Green Acres Art Centre (GAAC) in Teulon will be hosting an innovative arts program over spring break that will run on four afternoons, from Mar. 26 to Mar. 29. It will be open to people of all ages who will interact and create art together.
“We wanted to encourage intergenerational arts activities and get as many age groups as possible,” said Nichole Dzuba, Executive Assistant at GAAC.
“We haven’t run a program like that yet,” she said.
The program is a joint effort between GAAC, the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority (IERHA) and a Winnipeg Organization, called Art City. Funding for it was obtained under a provincially supported program, ‘Healthy Together Now,’ an initiative run through IERHA that was put in place to help prevent chronic disease in Manitoba.
The funding covers the entire cost of bringing the program to Teulon as well as free Handi-van transportation to and from workshops for people with mobility issues.
“We were looking for someone to do this kind of programming, who could do art related to healthy living—art therapy, but without the therapy,” Dzuba said.
Dzuba first heard of Art City last September when she attended a day-long Therapeutic Recreation Development Day in Winnipeg, through Recreation Connections Manitoba. Art City was one of the organizations making a presentation there.
“They’re an amazing group out of West Broadway,” said Dzuba. “Their mandate is what caught us.”
Art City has an outreach program which takes them into communities around the province, filling a big demand for accessible community art experiences. Each week, it sends facilitators and supplies to up to 20 communities and works alongside groups and organizations to provide tailor-made art workshops.
Dzuba said she is excited to have made the connection with Art City and appreciates being able to work with a group that understands the healthy-living-through-art philosophy.
“There’s lots of support for this in the community,” said Dzuba who has been fielding enthusiastic calls from community members.
The program will run from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. on each of the days. Art City will be leading all of the workshops. Some of them will include activities such as designing and stenciling t-shirts, sculpting characters out of polymer clay, hand-stitching a superhero and creating alternative identities.
Workshops on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday will take place GAAC, located at the entrance of Green Acres Park; On Wednesday the workshop will be held at Farview Place, a seniors apartment complex located across from Hunter Memorial Hospital.
Dzuba feels that holding a workshop at the seniors’ centre will help increase participation by seniors who may otherwise have difficulty getting out to participate.
GAAC is able to accommodate up to 60 people comfortably, and Farview Place, up to 40. Anyone wishing to take part at either venue is asked to show up at 1 p.m. People will be able to attend one or all of the workshops and are not required to book in advance. Complimentary snacks will be provided by community volunteers.
For more information, contact GAAC at gaac@mymts.net or (204) 886-3192.
