Through our Art for Well-Being programming stream, we create accessible opportunities for community members to experience the joy and health benefits of making art with others.
Through the Art for Well-Being programming stream, we are creating accessible free group art making opportunities for residents, prioritizing access for those experiencing, or at greater risk of, social isolation and physical and mental health challenges. Our efforts are inspired by a wide range of evidence demonstrating the important roles of art making and social connectedness in promoting positive mental and physical health. We are passionate about exploring and promoting the transformative potential of the arts to build a healthier, more resilient community. The County Arts Lab, centrally located on the main floor (Unit 2E) of Picton’s Armoury Building, serves as home base for our Art for Well-Being programming.
Come create with us at the County Arts Lab! Art Together is a free weekly artmaking program, open to all community members aged 16+ – no artistic experience or expertise required! Art Together winter sessions run on Wednesday afternoons from 1:30pm to 4pm.
Art Together
Art Together is our free drop-in community art-making program! Thanks to the generosity of three local funders, Art Together will continue to run beginning in February 2026, carried out by our amazing team of Artist Facilitators, Kelly Cade, Kyle Topping, Frank Hannan, and Lucy Sterezylo along with the wonderful Sharon Hart, our Well-Being Support Worker! Join the County Arts Lab mailing list here to stay up-to-date on session launches.
Our team of Artist Facilitators will be on hand to welcome you and help you connect with your creative side – join in on the day’s workshop, do your own thing with our abundance of art materials, or bring your own project! Our Facilitators are both lovely people AND talented artists, ready to help guide you in a variety of visual arts activities – from drawing and painting to collage, zine-making, printmaking, and much more!
Sincere thanks to our Presenting Sponsors Elizabeth Crombie Real Estate Team, Sage Design and Construction, Huff Family Fund, and a donor advised fund at The County Foundation for their generous support of the Art Together program. Together, they have made the 2025 Art Together program possible – and multi-year support from the Huff Family Fund and donor advised fund will help us deliver a full program in 2026!
In the Winter and Spring of 2025, we ran the “Art Flow” program in collaboration with Community Living Prince Edward thanks to a grant from 100 People Who Care PEC. CLPE delivered an arts-specific Ambassadors for Inclusion training for local artists, and Facilitators Kaya Joan and Lucy Sterezylo then led participants on an 8-week participatory arts learning adventure!
Art Flow
Our Art Together pilot project welcomed 170 participants with nearly 100 unique residents attending our weekly drop-in art-making studio from Fall 2022-Spring 2023. Sincere thanks to our Facilitator team – Gwen Shandroski, Frank Hannan, Stacey Sproule, and Ambivalently Yours, and to the Government of Ontario / Ontario Trillium Foundation for funding the Art Together pilot project through a Resilient Communities grant. Happily, we’ve secured funding to run the program beyond this pilot – see above for more info!
Art Together Pilot Project
In Fall 2023, we partnered with Hospice Prince Edward to deliver two series of participatory arts workshops – in visual art and drumming – for the individuals and families supported through their Grief and Bereavement services. Thank you to the Wynne Thomas Arts Development Fund through The County Foundation for providing a matching grant to make this initiative possible.
Healing Through Art
The Art for Wellness pilot project ran from March 2022-June 2023, delivering three 9-week series of visual arts workshops prioritizing the participation of residents at higher risk of mental health challenges and/or social isolation. For our first 9-week series, we recruited participants in collaboration with community partners such as Addictions and Mental Health Hastings Prince-Edward and the Prince Edward Learning Centre, also welcoming any adults who felt that their mental health could be supported through this kind of program. For the second and third series we collaborated with the ROC Youth Services and Community Care for Seniors respectively. Artist Facilitators were Kelly Cade, Ambivalently Yours, and Renee Hiltz. Thanks to the support of The Huff Family Fund/The County Foundation participants participated free of charge.
Art for Wellness
—
Are you a local community organization interested in partnering with us to deliver this type of programming to the residents you serve? Please reach out to Programs Manager Sarah Burtscher at sarah@countyarts.ca with any questions or to learn more.
If you’d like to stay in the loop about new/future Art for Well-Being programs, make sure you join the County Arts Lab Mailing List!
Receive our monthly newsletter, the go-to resource for local arts events.
Subscribe TodayReceive the latest Lab news and early bird access to class registrations.
Subscribe Today
