What
Programs
Awesome Arts
Awesome Arts is an award-winning community engaged arts program that
allows participants of all ages to explore issues important to their
community through the arts. Held in partnership with community
organizations, Awesome Arts offers an exciting series of workshops
culminating in a public celebration.
Awesome Arts – Sandy Hill
In the Fall of 2018, MASC held the 4th Awesome Arts program and festival
in Sandy Hill in partnership with the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre
(SHCHC). Over the course of two months, 49 Awesome Arts workshops
were offered to over 172 residents. The free Festival was held on
November 16, 2018 and was attended by over 250 Sandy Hill residents.
Four community organizations (SHCHC, Viscount Alexander PS, Christie
Lake Kids and Ottawa Community Housing) were involved in the Awesome
Arts program and the community was fully engaged over the course of
three months in dynamic arts activities. There were numerous legacy
projects (murals, photo exhibit and videos) left in the community and
the positive results of the program will be felt for a long time.
Awesome Arts – Lowertown
2018-19 was the 9th annual MASC Awesome Arts en folie program and
festival held in Lowertown, Ottawa. From October 2018 to June 2019,
MASC Awesome Arts en folie offered 122 workshops to over 397 residents
in Lowertown between age 5-95.
This program was the third and final year of MASC’s Ontario Trillium
Foundation Grow Grant. MASC succeeded in growing the program to offer
arts experiences throughout the year in both English and French,
accessible to all residents of the community. Along with our community
partners (Lowertown Community Resource Centre, Patro d’Ottawa, Centre
de services Guigues, York St. PS, Ottawa Community Housing, Options
Bytown), we were able to reach thousands of residents including those
who are marginalized within the neighbourhood. We also worked with
Phyllis Novak from SKETCH in Toronto who developped a comprehensive
Theory of Change, Evaluation Framework and set of Evaluation Tools as
well as an Evaluation Report to be used for Awesome Arts in the future.
Over the last nine years, MASC is proud to have offered in Lowertown:
• Over $500,000 in funded arts activities
• 1225 workshops involving more than 2000 participants
• 9 Festivals attended by over 2750 residents
• 275 performances
Together with professional artists, Lowertown residents have created:
• 82 videos: available on our “Awesome Arts en folie” YouTube channel
• 15 murals & 7 pieces of public art
While MASC will be working with new neighbourhoods to develop
Awesome Arts programs in other areas of the city, we look forward to
working with our Lowertown partners who continue to be interested in
offering arts programming in this richly diverse bilingual community.
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