Expect your next ride on a CTrain to look a little bit different than usual. Especially
if you take one specific car. Art takes on many forms and The City of Calgary public
art program has been advancing the field through inclusivity and broader community engagement
opportunities. One example is art as social practice. Instead of just one artist determining
the look and design of an artwork, with social practice, the content of the art is designed
and created by community participants for the benefit of both themselves and the broader
community. Recognition. Validation. Reassurance. Led by artist Dick Averns, is one such project
addressing the question, "How do you create a framework for mental wellness?" Members
of the public from all walks of life were invited to attend free half-day workshops
in which collage, drawing and text were used to foster self-expression. Participants created
visual narratives to improve their own mental wellness and that of community members who
were given the opportunity to view the art. Over 270 people expressed interest in attending
workshops. Subsequently creating almost 200 artworks. Participants were then given the
opportunity to share their art at one of six community-based popup exhibitions lasting
between one day and three months. At the conclusion of the year-long project, 40 artworks were
selected for wide-spread distribution on billboards, City buses and trains and posters at Transit
stops. The need to improve individual and collective mental wellness became part of
an emotive public conversation. A public launch was held on a City bus to showcase and celebrate
the project artwork. And so, we went to this workshop, and it was
exploring the role of artists as changemakers. And the thing that Sean said to us after we
went through the process was, I really do think you have a solution. And it's about
finding the problems. And I think this is one of the solutions that Dick and all of
the artists who are involved in creating the pieces that we see on the bus, and on the
streets, and on the Transit stops are doing and one of the lines that really struck me
was about bringing something that's invisible, visible. For those of us who don't even sometimes
see it. We don't even notice. We don't even acknowledge it. It's not even on our radar.
And art has a way of getting it on our radar. Artists have in particular been instrumental
in exposing these issues. In provoking meaningful discussions and creative outcomes that connect
communities. Particularly through public art. We have come to realize that art, in all its
forms, can be restorative and healing to both the artists who create it and the audience
that views it. This framework for mental wellness has been displayed in the artworks created
for this project. We have proudly displayed the artworks in our windows along 12th Avenue
to support this project and its intent. And to help generate public and community interest
and thought for those who view it. The City of Calgary's public art program established
Avern's initiative, having first offered a series of mentored workshops, enabling six
competitively selected artists to learn from leading international social practice artists.
Artists led three separate workshops culminating in
a month-long exhibition of proposals at the Illingworth-Kerr Gallery. From this, Averns
won the inaugural social practice award. What was really valuable from participating in
the workshop program was building the confidence to address difficult to deal with subject
matter. And then translate that and create a catalyst for a wide range of community members
to translate their own mental health experiences for much wider audiences. The project curator
has developed 189 pieces through workshops over the course of a year. And now, they're
being displayed on this CTrain. One of the most important aspects with art as social
practice is providing community members with meaningful voice. Recognition... validation...
reassurance achieves this through establishing wide-ranging, community partnerships with
12 organizations serving both individuals in need and people whose mental health may
not be currently served. Our collaborators included the Fresh Start Recovery Centre so
rehab, addiction, treatment facility for males. Disability arts festival, entrepreneurs out
of a co-working space and also ran a workshop for health care providers at the Foothills
Hospital. As the lead artist, much of my motivation does stem from lived experience. I wasn't
diagnosed with teret's syndrome until I was 41 so spent a lot of my life without being
treated effectively. I am able to turn that around through projects like this and work
with others in the community. What makes this project important is it brings individuals
into a workshop so that they can think about their own experiences with their own mood
disorders and how this can be expressed through a series of artworks or collages. And it actually
normalizes the process of dealing with mental health internally and sharing that with the
community. We know that including lived experience is the best single way to reduce the stigma
of mental illness. Research has born that our in so many different ways. We know that
by including lived experience, it shows that people with mental illnesses are just like
you and I. Art activities such as this really hint at new ways of providing treatment for
those with mental illnesses or those with mental health challenges. With social practice
as public art, we believe greater community inclusion can address real-world challenges.
I think the value also of running this as an applied research project with a research
ethics board approval, informed consent documents allowing community participants to have anonymity,
use pseudonyms if they wish. It really helped instill a level of rigour in the platform
that we built this program out of and really surprisingly, 98% of participants were willing
to donate their artwork and then have it viewed by strangers in pop-up exhibitions, billboards
and transit. The 187 personalized artistic expressions of mental wellness created for
this project are a testament to the positive contributions that public art and social practice
can make towards collective community wellness. Recognition... validation... reassurance...
how do you create a framework for mental wellness?