About the Centre

AGW Centre for Art and Wellness is an interdisciplinary mental wellness portal that uses creative programming to foster community well-being. Through partnerships with local organizations, the Centre for Arts and Wellness will provide wellness programming for our community members who are most vulnerable during COVID-19 and beyond.

2021: Care of Self & Care of Community

The Centre for Art and Wellness is an interdisciplinary mental wellness program that uses creative programming to foster community well-being. If you’re looking for a hub of programs that will help facilitate community connection and artistic creation while diminishing feelings of isolation, you’re in the right place! Through partnerships with community organizations, the Centre for Arts and Wellness will provide wellness programming for our community members who are most vulnerable during COVID-19 and beyond.

This year, we’re focusing on programs that enhance Care of Self and Care of Community. It’s no secret that this past year has been incredibly hard on our communities. That’s why, for our first year, we will be focusing on programs that encourage folks to take care of themselves, and pass that care along to their communities. We may be at a distance, but a little care can go a long way! Do you know someone who could benefit from creativity, connection, and care? Invite them to our programs today!

What are our goals? 

• Connection: In a time when lonliness, isolation and mental health struggles are skyrocketing, the Centre for Arts and Wellness can use art to foster connection within common and disparate communities.

• Education: Due to gatekeeping, many skills that can strongly benefit mental health are often inaccessible due to financial or institutional barriers. Through programs like Mindful Mondays, Taking Care, and more, we can provide tools to audiences - for free - that they can use to maintain their mental health, even after our sessions have concluded.

• Empowerment: We want to ensure our wider communities feel safe and supported, particularly during times of adversity. Through our program in partnership with local organizations, we can use artistic practices to lift up our local members, and encourage peer-to-peer empowerment within communities.

2021 Programs 

Taking Care: Where Art Meets Wellness 

The AGW presents weekly ZOOM art workshops and activities to participants in support of their mental health and overall wellbeing. Led by Ainslee Winter, professional art therapist and artist, the AGW seeks to improve the mental health of participants by teaching new skills through art-making and art appreciation as a way to engage with others and manage social isolation.

Mindful Mondays 

Start off our week on the right foot! Join us on select Mondays of each month on Zoom for some mindful looking. Take a little extra time to look, listen, and relax with our team of educators and mindfulness guides. Through art and guided meditation, you’ll connect with yourself and others as you reflect on a work from the AGW collection or current exhibition. 

Art to Heart: Virtual art workshops for youth on the Autism spectrum

The Art Gallery of Windsor and Autism Ontario Windsor-Essex have teamed up to launch Art to Heart, a series of virtual art workshops designed to provide youth on the Autism spectrum aged 12 and up with free art kits and arts facilitation, community engagement, and a creative spark to light up these times of distancing. Discover intriguing new textures, engage in the art of playing and use inner creativity to create to the heart’s content – whatever that means to each person! 

Spark of Art: Creating Connected and Caring Communities 

Calling all care homes! Book a slow-looking and art-making session with AGW educators and Gallery Guides! We will closely examine one work from the AGW permanent collection, while engaging in a lively discussion and a prompt-based craft.  

 

What does a year of wellness look like? Show us how you are taking care! Use this FORM to submit your photos or artwork that explore themes of care, community, mindfulness and meditation. Selected submitted images may appear in a community display.

 

The Centre for Art and Wellness is supported by the Solcz Family Foundation.

Taking Care: Where Art Meets Wellness is supported by the Government of Canada’s Emergency Community Support Fund, WindsorEssex Community Foundation, and the Solcz Family Foundation