Thanks to a $1 million investment over four years from the Slaight Family Foundation, Workman Arts is expanding its art training programs throughout the GTA by partnering with Scarborough Arts, Urban Arts, North York Arts, East End Arts, Arts Etobicoke and Lakeshore Arts. The expanded program tackles the prevalence of social isolation in individuals with mental health issues and the lack of opportunities to build lasting social connections through meaningful engagement outside of the mainstream mental health system. Workman Arts’ art training programs are unique in the mental health sector because they do not treat the art class as secondary to the mental health benefits. High-quality art classes across all disciplines are facilitated by instructors with lived experience of mental health and/or addiction issues.

About COMMUNITY+Connects: Online

COMMUNITY+Connects: Online is Scarborough Arts yearly creative and professional development workshop series that aims to provide audiences of all ages and skill levels with free access to arts-based instructions from renowned Scarborough and GTA-based creative professionals.

Each year, Scarborough Arts offers a range of creative workshops that are free to the public and offer comprehensive skill building for audiences of all ages. Our COMMUNITY+Connects programs are offered as Spring Sessions (March-May), Summer Sessions (June-August), Fall Sessions (September-November), and Winter Sessions (December-February).

Recipe for Love

Recipe for Love is an online course happening with Workman Arts and Scarborough Arts Arts as a part of COMMUNITY+Connects Programming. Registration will be open until March 30, 2023, at which point accepted registrants will be contacted. Please note there is a limit on participants. 

Dates: Saturdays — April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 (5 classes)
Time: 12:00 – 2:00pm EST
Location: Online (via Zoom)
Who is this course for: 2SLGBTQ BIPOC folks. Priority registration will go to residents of Scarborough.

Instructors: Morgan and Maiesha
Morgan is a Black, fat, queer, disabled, trans masculine-of-centre artist. They love storytelling and being their drag persona “Chocolate Baby Daddy”. Morgan is dreaming of more queer love and mild beef patties.

Maiesha Zarin is a creative powerhouse who sits on the intersections of being nonbinary, lesbian, Bengali and Muslim. As an artist and community event coordinator, Maiesha values anti-oppressive frameworks, people-driven environments and diverse communication methods. An undergrad bachelors in film production led Maiesha to work on many sets with many hats. They screened their short documentary Cotton Candy On a Rainy Day at the TIFF Creators On a Wave Shorts Programme. Following this, they served as: a board director for Time to Talk: Uncovering Youth Experiences, a research associate studying trans and nonbinary employment barriers, a coordinator for The TransFormed Project at METRAC which aimed to connect community members and service providers through prevention and intervention in the field of intimate partner violence and recently transitioned into the program coordinator role for Supporting Our Youth, a legacy LGBTQ service program in the city of Toronto. With a background in film/media arts and community organizing, Maiesha aims to unite communities through equitable, accessible and creative initiatives.

Class Description:
Recipe For Love is a writing workshop series for 2SLGBTQ folks who need a space to talk about the dynamics of love. Throughout this 5 part series, participants will expand their palettes through critical thinking via the exceptional title All About Love from the incomparable bell hooks.

Black Magical Writing

Black Magical Writing an online course happening with Workman Arts and Scarborough Arts Arts part of COMMUNITY+Connects Programming. Registration will be open until March 4th, 2023, at which point accepted registrants will be contacted. Please note there is a limit on participants. 

Dates: Saturdays — March 11th, 18th, 25th; April 1st, and 8th (5 classes) Time: 12:00 – 2:00pm EST
Location: Online (via Zoom)
Who is this course for: Black-Identifying Folks. Priority registration will go to residents of Scarborough.

Instructor: Ashley Gittens
Ashley Gittens is a writer and educator from Scarborough. Her collection of short stories and personal essays aims to explore, tenderize and play with the layered experiences of Blackness, and ability. She has been published in CRY Magazine and placed first in writing at Scarborough Arts 35th Juried Exhibition with her piece “Come Again.” Her Afro- and Indo-Caribbean background weaves into her work as she attempts to humanize the complexities of living and loving while carrying and healing trauma and navigating mental and physical illness. Ashley is dedicated to manifesting creative communities where tenderness and playfulness are valued.

Class Description:
Black Magical Writing is a literary workshop open to Black-identifying folks of all genders and ages. Black Magical Writing is a healing writing practice that combines autobiographical writing with elements of the fantastical. Its form is inspired by the theories of Afrofuturism and the need for Black folks to imagine themselves in a future of their own choosing. Participants will write and engage with literary works from a variety of genres including magical realism, science fiction, horror, and speculative fiction. This workshop is not limited to writers. It is open to anyone who feels they have a part of their story that needs to be held tenderly in a community of like-minded folks toward collective healing.

Reclaim: DIY Pulp Painting (New Dates – 2023)

Reclaim: DIY Pulp Painting an online course happening with Workman Arts and Scarborough Arts Arts part of COMMUNITY+Connects Programming. Registration will be open until March 26th, 2023, at which point accepted registrants will be contacted. Please note there is a limit on participants. 

Dates: Sundays — April 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th; and May 7th (6 classes)
Time: 1:00 – 3:00pm EST
Location: Online (via Zoom)
Who is this course for: Residents of Scarborough who are; Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Colour. All indigenous people from Turtle Island welcome.

Instructor: Maneesa Veeravel
Interdisciplinary artist and educator with over a decade of experience in arts creation, facilitation and anti-oppressive work. Maneesa is a mad, queer, Tamil, gender fluid, chronically ill survivor settled on the stolen, tradition and ancestral lands of the Wendake-Nionwentsïo, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Haudenosaunee, and Anishinabewaki territories. The process of creating is their approach to accessing grounding and alignment. Their artwork reflects intergenerational wits, wounds and wisdoms as it pertains to land, body and the notion of home.

Class Description:
This program is rooted in reclaiming our connection to our bodies, lands and/or materials. Over the course of six workshops, you will learn how to make paper pulp, work with natural and artificial dyes, as well as different approaches to sculpting and moulding. Each workshop will include wellness check-ins, prompts, resources and check-outs. Classes will be in English, however, I am also able to facilitate in Tamil if there is a need.

This course is for anyone interested in creating art from household materials as a form of introspection, expression and reprocessing. No skill level or previous experience is required. Everyone is welcome.

*This course has a maximum of 10 participants, with priority going towards the earliest BIPOC registrants who are from Scarborough.