Mission And Mandate
Who We Are and What We Do
Based in Thessalon, Algoma District, Northern Ontario, we co-create art with and for the people living along the North Shore of Lake Huron, from Genaabaajing (Serpent River First Nation) to Baawaating (Sault Ste. Marie) and all points in between. We’re a team of artists, cultural workers and community members of Indigenous, Newcomer and settler descent who co-create spaces for dialogue, mutual understanding and artful social change through multidisciplinary, multi-generational, cross-cultural community arts projects.
Through our free and inclusive artistic programming, we invite people of all Nations, ages, abilities, backgrounds and identities to join us in playing, making and dreaming about this special place we call home – as it was, as it is, and as it might yet be. We learn more everyday about what that invitation, the spaces we hold together, and the ways we show up for each other can and must look like, and we bring this growing understanding to our work.
Read more about our work here, in English, et ici, en Français!
Read the story of our early days, written by our Founder, Robin Sutherland, here!
What We Believe For Our Communities
We believe that if Central Algomans of Indigenous, Newcomer and settler descent co-create community arts projects and presentations, then we’ll build relationships across cultures and communities, and that opportunities to live, work and play in the arts will increase across the region. Ultimately this will lead to more inclusive, vibrant and resilient communities across Algoma.
About Community Arts
Community Arts activities involve professional artists and community members working together to design and develop a creative experience.
This practice is an established, socially-minded approach to art-making that puts as much focus on the creative process as the end product.
It provides new ways for people to come together across perceived barriers and social divisions; allows communities to tell their own stories in their own voices; and offers access to creative expression and artmaking for all.
