MASC Newsletter Winter 2019-20 English 2019 Newsletter in single pages | Page 8

The MASC
Seniors
Program
“It is hard to find things
that bring pleasure to
Alzheimer’s patients, but
this certainly did.“
Daughter of a senior
living with Alzheimer’s
Since 2009 more than 3000 seniors benefit
annually from professional artists performances
and hands-on workshops. MASC artists provide
rich experiences including performances in
opera, storytelling, Celtic music as well as
animation video, drumming and Indigenous
hoop dance workshops, just to name a few!
After participating in a jewelry making workshop,
one participant shared that this was the
“Best workshop I have been at! All was great:
interaction awesome, results awesome,
knowledge awesome!”
As with all communities, there is quite a diversity of
abilities, interests and venues which serve older
adults. Through our program, MASC is also
privileged to work with those living with Alzheimer’s
with richly rewarding results for all involved.
Subsidies are a key part of the MASC Seniors
Program, allowing venues who work with seniors
who have limited funds for arts programming to
be able to make these events happen. Pat
Goyeche, Community Program Coordinator was
thrilled to “…have been able to bring great joy,
great artistry, and a lot of fun to our seniors…”.
MASC is grateful to the City of Ottawa - Rural
Initiatives and the Crabtree Foundation for
providing these key subsidies without which,
many of these experiences would not happen.
Subsidi
Availab es
le!
Access to
the Arts
for All!
“There is little doubt that in
the years to come many
authors, poets, painters and
performing artists will
attribute their success to an
initial spark ignited by an
experience with MASC.”
Anonymous Donor
MASC is very privileged to have funding from
many sources including the City of Ottawa,
Crabtree Foundation, Ottawa Community
Foundation, TD Bank Group and Cajole Inn
Foundation.
Throughout the years, subsidy funding has
allowed school and community venues located in
underserved and rural areas to welcome MASC
artists. With this support, St. Michael School
Corkery in Carp hosted Masabo and Fana Soro
who presented “Celebrate Africa” in which
students got to experience traditional songs,
stories and dance from West Africa. The artists
offered great messages to the students about
what was important in life such as “Always have
fun and have a good heart because that is
what matters.”
Another project brought cj fleury into
Gloucester High School to work with some
of the newest Canadians at the school.
Learning a new language and cuIture takes
time and it isn't always easy for them to find
a vehicle for self-expression.
The piece of artwork they created represents the
diversity of the students’ backgrounds and their
hope for their future. As it is a mobile, the
movement of the suspended butterflies
represents their past movement around the globe
and their movement toward the future.
As the teacher mentioned, this project “allowed
for the rest of the student population to see
the contributions these students make to
school culture.”
We truly appreciate
the generosity of our
funders and we are
looking forward to
what projects are
possible for this
upcoming year.