Tag Archive for artists

Arts Canopy Branching Out

June 20, 2019 Events Comments Off on Arts Canopy Branching Out

Arts Canopy Branching Out. A workshop for artists in facilitating arts-based programs for people living with dementia.

Arts Health Antigonish (AHA!) invites artists of all expressions to join us in a FREE afternoon workshop exploring how the arts can be transformative in dementia care.

See poster for dates and locations.  Please preregister by June 30 to artshealthantigonish@gmail.com and include details as listed on the poster.

Download Arts Canopy-BranchingOut

We look forward to meeting you!

The AHA! Arts Canopy Team

Arts Health Antigonish (AHA!) 2018 Report

April 1, 2019 Blog, report Comments Off on Arts Health Antigonish (AHA!) 2018 Report

Arts Health Antigonish (AHA!) 2018 Report
February 27, 2019

Early 2018 marked five years of AHA! bringing arts for health programming to the Antigonish Community. When we began in 2013, we decided to stay informal, to explore the need for such a movement in our community. Now six years later, we know there is a need. Our programs have time and again, shown that engagement in the arts can make us healthier, both individually and as a community. Therefore, in 2018, we decided to become more formal and registered as a not for profit society.

In 2018, we hosted 7 different programs, hiring 20 artists for part time or contractual work, reaching 750-1000 folks across the lifespan. About 25-30 volunteers supported our work. We brought $75,000 in grant funding and donations to the community, most of that going directly to our artists. 

2018 saw us take our programs farther afield, with Musical Pathways in Richmond County, Sherbrooke and Paq’tnkek, and Arts Canopy in care facilities in New Glasgow as well as locally. We embarked on our first collaborative project with a national organization, The Shoe Project, which is also our first project with immigrant women. We shared our Arts Canopy learnings at the Provincial Alzheimer’s Society Conference in October. John and Dorothy began their own publishing endeavour, HARP publishing, creating and publishing ‘The People’s Photo Album’. Janette wrote an article about AHA! for the Muse Magazine, an interprofessional publication of McMaster University. Our research project with St.F.X. in 2017 led to a publication in 2018 in the Canadian Journal of Adult Education.

We continued to offer Art Care at St Martha’s and created a program of local photographers’ work for televisions at the hospital. Musical Pathways, offering music to youth out of school time, showed the immense value of music to learning, especially to social and emotional skill development. During November, Arts Health Month, we offered a series of AHA! workshops to the community.

Thanks to the Federal Government’s New Horizons for Seniors Grant, we were able to continue and expand Arts Canopy, taking it to different venues and trying new art forms: storytelling, movement, dance, improv. Story booklets were created for participants and an improv show celebrated that program. A sound installation is in development, sharing the joy these programs bring to those living with dementia.  We are creating a book for caregivers based on Arts Canopy programs.

Further details of these programs are in the reports of those so effectively created, coordinated and facilitated them. But as you can see, our year was full, rich and rewarding!  Read more in the links to individual program reports:

In celebration of Arts Health Month in November, 2018, AHA! hosted a series of participatory workshops, entitled AHA! Tuesdays.

My heartfelt gratitude to all those who participated in AHA! programs in any way: participants, facilitators, coordinators, volunteers. And a sincere thank you to the AHA! team, who behind the scenes helped with logistics, payroll, grant writing, communications, and the myriad of other ways you supported this vital movement. I am deeply grateful to you all.

Respectfully,
Chair, AHA!

Nova Scotia Centre on Aging – Creative Aging

May 22, 2017 Blog, Events Comments Off on Nova Scotia Centre on Aging – Creative Aging

Nova Scotia Centre on Aging – Creative Aging

25th Anniversary
Our Future is Aging: Community Outreach Series

Creative Aging

Speakers: AHA! Artists

Discussion about the various ways the arts can support positive aging

Thursday, May 25.  7 – 8:30PM
Antigonish Town and County Library, The People’s Place

All welcome. Free. Light refreshments provided.

NS Centre on Aging

(AHA!) is hiring…… AHA! Youth Project Coordinator

April 28, 2016 job Comments Off on (AHA!) is hiring…… AHA! Youth Project Coordinator

AHA! Logo Colour

Arts Health Antigonish (AHA!) is hiring……

POSITION TITLE: AHA! Youth Project Coordinator

Term and hours: approximately 8 hours weekly for 6 months, with an option to both increase hours and continue beyond 6 months if further funding is secured

Supervised by the AHA! Leadership Team

POSITION SUMMARY:

The AHA! Youth Project Coordinator will coordinate and grow all AHA! youth projects and represent AHA! at local and provincial youth tables, between June 1, 2016 and November 30, 2106.

AHA! currently funds 4 artists part time in the community and has the potential to be part of at least three new youth projects in the coming months. The AHA! Youth Coordinator will support existing youth programming – including ensuring timely evaluation and reporting to funders, liaise with other groups offering art-health programming to youth, explore further funding for youth arts-health projects, represent AHA! at local and provincial tables concerned about youth health and engage in visioning for further support for arts-based programming for local youth.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

– Liaise with those working in youth health and education in the community

– Support artists currently working with youth, including ensuring adequate training and timely evaluation of projects

– Represent AHA! as requested at youth health tables locally and provincially

– Explore and apply for further funding for youth arts health projects

– Support reporting to funders and employers, both verbal and written, regarding youth programming and its outcomes

– Liaise with others in the community, province and country interested in arts based youth programming

– Engage, with employer, in visioning of next steps in youth arts-based programming

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES:

Understanding of the value of the arts to youth wellbeing

Experience working with youth

Experience as an arts practitioner, in education and/or in health care will be considered assets

Effective oral and written communication skills, excellent interpersonal skills

An ability to work independently and be accountable for all actions and decisions, with a high degree of initiative

Creative and innovative thinking, adaptable

Team building, leadership and/or organizational skills

Project management skills and experience overseeing staff are assets

Please send a letter of interest, your resume and contact information for two references to: artshealthantigonish@gmail.com  by 5 pm, Friday, May 20, 2016.

Many thanks for your interest in AHA!

Calling Antigonish Colouring Book Artists!

January 14, 2016 Events Comments Off on Calling Antigonish Colouring Book Artists!
Calling Antigonish Colouring Book Artists!

Send in contributions for new AHA! colouring book by Friday, March 4th!

Arts Health Antigonish (AHA!) is thrilled to be creating Colouring Antigonish: Volume 2. This is following on the success of Colouring Antigonish, an AHA! project launched in the fall of 2015, from which we’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Many, many thanks to those of you who contributed to that project.

Several artists approached us after our first book, wishing they’d been able to participate in this project, so here’s your chance! Dig out those doodles, pick up that pen! We are now inviting submissions for this second adult colouring book, for release this spring and we would love for you to be part of this fun project. In this volume, we’d like to especially celebrate spring and summer, graduation and Antigonish scenes.

We learned a lot from our first effort, so this request comes with formatting guidelines to ensure the best quality colouring pages. Please:

  • create your masterpiece(s) with black artists’ pen or marker on white paper;
  • sign your piece(s);
  • scan if you are comfortable doing so (no photos please!); if not, a hard copy will be accepted
  • include a short bio of approximately 50 words or less and a short statement of approximately 50 words or less about how the arts contribute to your personal health;
  • send your piece (s) electronically as a high resolution pdf, at least 300 dpi,

together with your bio and statement, to artshealthantigonish@gmail.com

by Friday, March 4, 2106.

If you aren’t able to scan you picture, please email us and we’ll have your drawing(s) scanned for you. All submitted drawings will be considered for inclusion in the project: an AHA! panel will be deciding the final content. If you have a bio and/or statement in our first book, please indicate if you’d like the same write up in this second volume.

Many thanks for supporting the work of AHA! Your contribution to improving community health through the colouring book projects is most appreciated.

Gratefully,

the AHA! team

Colouring Antigonish

December 14, 2015 Blog Comments Off on Colouring Antigonish

It was Noella Murphy’s idea for Arts Health Antigonish (AHA!) to raise funds by publishing a colouring book to which Antigonish area artists might contribute. Noella herself offered two pieces for the book. Colouring Antigonish Volume I was launched and within a year demand of interest lead to Colouring Antigonish Volume II.

What makes Colouring Antigonish special is that so many local artists contributed to making it a success. Well-known area artists like Anna Syperek, Kate Brown-Georgallas, and Maureen St. Clair, to name only a few, contributed artwork for the colouring book. A high school student, Sophie Lawrence, St. Francis Xavier University Education student, Celeigh Barber-Russell, and L’Arche artists Anthony Burns, Kelly Farrel, and Tommy Landry also contributed drawings.

AHA! is a non-profit that recognizes and fosters the interplay between creativity and wellness, promotes education through the arts as a way to health, and assists young artists in a wide range of arts to further their potential. It seems fitting that AHA! celebrates Arts Health Month each November. As one of its founding members, Dr. John Graham-Pole, points out: “Art taps, for each of us, whatever our circumstances, a deep well of physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. It is indispensable to our lives, and to our total health.”

Proceeds from Colouring Antigonish will go towards arts health programming in the community, building on initiatives like Thundertales, a storytelling program through the arts for youth at Paqtnkek and Antigonish, and The Eldertree Project, which involved the gathering of stories and songs from elders in the R.K. MacDonald Nursing Home and Highland-Crest Home. AHA! has also supported a music therapist who became established in a position at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital and in community high schools. Currently, AHA! is supporting a year-long pilot program in expressive arts therapy in the hospital and community.

Available for Purchase through the StFX Art Gallery, the Posh Peppermint on Main Street, and the Hospital Gift Store

Colouring Antigonish

November 24, 2015 Blog, Events 2 comments

Arts Health Antigonish! (AHA!) is excited with the reception and interest in our debut colouring book “Colouring Antigonish”.

This is a fundraising project for AHA!, with the hopes of engaging the community in participatory art, while at the same time supporting our diverse and varied programming.

Our thanks to the many local artists who have supported creating this colouring book through their art contributions.  Artists include: Kate Brown Georgallas, Anthony Burns, Anne Camozzi, Denise Davies, Barbara Hayes, Kelly Farrel, Tommy Landry, Sophie Lawrence, Anne Louise MacDonald, Karen MacDougall, Adele MacFarlane, Noella Murphy, Rachel Power, Celeigh Russell, Maureen St. Clair, Anne Simpson, Jei Jei Steeves, Gregg Stearns, Anna Syperek, Susan Walsh.

Colouring Antigonish with Arts Health Antigonish and local artis

Colouring Antigonish with Arts Health Antigonish and local artists

AHA! is a collaboration between the local arts community and the local health community, which began in January 2013 with a recognition of a need to acknowledge, value and respect the immense contribution of the cultural sector to the community vitality, vibrancy and health. AHA! recognizes and encourages the relationship between creativity and wellness and has been developing arts-based programming for those on a journey to enhanced health, wellness and quality of life.

“Art taps, for each of us, whatever our circumstances, a deep well of physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. It is indispensable to our lives, and to our total health.” Dr. John Graham-Pole

Colouring Antigonish, our first adult colouring book, with submissions by local artists is now available at the following locations:

  • Pachamama 18 College St. Antigonish (Corner of College and St. Ninian)
  • Lyghtesome Gallery 166 Main St Antigonish
  • Antigonish 5¢ to $1 245 Main St, Antigonish
  • The Made in Nova Scotia Store  324 Main St. Antigonish
  • The Gift Corner at St Martha’s Regional Hospital 25 Bay St. Antigonish

Inviting local artists to our colouring book

October 12, 2015 Events One comment

 

Arts Health Antigonish! (AHA!) is excited to be inviting submissions from local artists to participate in our debut colouring book. This will be a fundraising project for AHA!, with the hopes of engaging the community in participatory art, while at the same time supporting our diverse and varied programming (see the AHA! website, artshealthantigonish.org for more details on what we do). We would love for you to be part of this fun project!

If you are interested, please submit your black and white drawing on 8 1/2×11 inch paper to Noella Murphy (Contact: noella.murphy@gmail.com) or drop it off at the Pachamama counter before the end of day, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015. All submitted drawings will be considered for inclusion in the project; an AHA! panel will be deciding the final content.

If you’d like to, please sign your drawing and write a short bio for us, to include a couple of sentences about how the arts contribute to your personal health. Although this isn’t essential, we feel it will greatly enrich the project.

Please include a signed waiver (see below), indicating your permission to use your drawing in this manner. Indicate on your submission if you’d like the original drawing returned.

Many thanks for your support for the work of AHA! in this manner. We hope you are as excited as we are about this delightful project.

Gratefully,

the AHA! team

Waiver:

I, ____________________, give my permission to Arts Health Antigonish (AHA!) to use my original drawing as submitted, in the creation of a colouring book, for the purpose of raising funds for AHA!

Signed, _______________________

Date: _______________________

Getting Out of Your Head (and into your body)

October 1, 2014 Events Comments Off on Getting Out of Your Head (and into your body)

GETTING OUT OF YOUR HEAD AND INTO YOUR BODY is a student
initiative conceived by the STFX Music Department and AHA!

This workshop series will include skill development and experiential
practices for musicians, artists and interested others. The material
presented will be based on the disciplines of meditation practice, breathing
exercises, deep listening practices and yoga. Subsequent sessions could
include other!disciplines such as Chi Gong, Tai Chi, Aikido, dance, etc.
All of these disciplines will be utilized with a view to reduce stress, improve
practice disciplines, as well as the musical playing experience, and allow
for the development of group practices.

Wednesday, October 1, 7:30 pm,
Gilmora ROOM 108, StFX, Antigonish

Download Flyer — GETTING OUT OF YOUR HEAD-2

 

A Mindfulness View of Art & Health with Jerry Granelli (Oct 24/27 2014)

September 30, 2014 Events 2 comments
Jerry Granelli

A MINDFULNESS VIEW OF ART AND HEALTH with JERRY GRANELLI ( OCT 24/27) is the first in a series of educational events, organized jointly by the All-Of-Us Society for Art Presentation (ASAP) and Arts Health Antigonish (AHA!), to build professional capacity for ASAP artists and AHA! members, and to expand these initiatives beyond our immediate community. We have identified three artists from the Atlantic region, Rose Adams, Sheree Fitch and Jerry Granelli, each of whom have exceptional expertise on three fronts: they are recognized internationally for their professional artistic excellence, they have built exemplary reputations as educators, workshop facilitators, and community leaders, and they have made unique connections to the social determinants of health in their professional careers. Workshops with Rose Adams and Sheree Fitch are scheduled for the spring of 2015.

Schedule

The schedule for this first event with Jerry Granelli will include:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24  7:30 P.M. ST. JAMES UNITED CHURCH
A MINDFULNESS VIEW OF ART AND HEALTH
In this public talk, open to all, Jerry will introduce the principals of mindfulness training and discuss the tools, strategies and view necessary to develop personal, group and community mindfulness programs.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 10 A.M. – 12  ST. JAMES UNITED CHURCH
MINDFULNESS AND LEADERSHIP
At times in our lives, we are sometimes called upon to be leaders: in our homes, our jobs and our communities. If you are sitting in a leadership position in an art, health or community-based organization, this workshop is for you. Jerry will call on his experience as a founding member of Authentic Leadership in Action (ALIA) to discuss the role mindfulness training can play in helping to shape a refreshing view of leadership.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25  2-4 P.M. ST. JAMES UNITED CHURCH
MINDFULNESS, THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND GROUP PRACTICE (1)
This will be the first of three workshops held consecutively in this time slot on Saturday. Sunday and Monday. Anchored in the AHA! Eldertree Project, Jerry will workshop this group of local artists, writers, musicians and interested others in the group creative process as he has for over twenty years with the participants of the Creative Music Workshop (CMW) in Halifax. If you are involved in a collaborative endeavor, this is for you.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26 8-9 A.M. COADY DENNIS HALL
MEDITATION PRACTICE
For those interested in formal meditation instruction, practice and a Dharma talk, Jerry will lead this session, which will include a short time for question and answer.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26  10:30 A.M.-12:30 P.M.  COADY DENNIS HALL
WORKING WITH MINDFULNESS
How we integrate mindfulness training into our individual art and health practices will be the focus of this session. Jerry will address the concerns of working artists and those who play an educational role, attempting to introduce mindfulness training into their environments and programs.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26  2-4 P.M. COADY DENNIS HALL
MINDFULNESS, THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND GROUP PRACTICE (2)
See above for details.

MONDAY OCTOBER 27 10 A.M.-12 CLARE MARIE
SAVOURING UNCERTAINTY
Understanding our place in a constantly changing world is at the heart of all mindfulness training and is the very inspiration of the creative process. In art, health care and all community-based work we are asked daily to savour uncertainty. This subject is at the core of Jerryʼs work with ALIA and the theme of this last morning session.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27 2-4 P.M. ST JAMES UNITED CHURCH
MINDFULNESS, THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND GROUP PRACTICE (3)
This final session will focus on preparing for performance individually and as a group.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27 ! 8 P.M. TOWNHOUSE
AHA! FUNDRAISING EVENT
Come and join us in this final evening of celebration and farewell to Jerry. Participants in the afternoon MINDFULNESS, THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND GROUP PRACTICE sessions, including the Eldertree Project team, will be joined by Jerry to present a variety of music, spoken word and other creative delights for your pleasure.

Registration will be required for all sessions except the Friday 7:30 p.m. public talk and Monday evening TOWNHOUSE event. See link below.

For more information please contact

The cost of the workshops for Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be as follows:

  • All six workshops                    $ 75
  • Each individual workshop       $ 20

A generosity policy is included for all of these workshops: seniors, students, unwaged and artists may choose this generosity option and offer a donation either upon registration on-line or at the door.

Jerry Granelli – Schedule Oct 2014-2 Download PDF

Registration

 

Sponsored by Communities Culture & Heritage 

For more information questions or comments please fill out the form:

[contact-form to=’davies@eckova.ca’ subject=’AHA! Jerry Granelli Workshops’][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

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