Challenge Question
How can new arts and culture spaces help repair some of the cracks and tears that have been created and exposed through the COVID-19 pandemic?
Partner: Markham Arts Council
Project Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the cracks and tears that exist within our current societal fabric. The arts have the capacity for tremendous social impact and are a great way to allow communities and cultures to work with each other and focus on similarities instead of differences. Within any community, an increased offering of arts-related programming helps improve overall health, educational standards, economy, and quality of life, and it allows those involved to focus on positive, practical, solution-oriented philosophies. Given these and countless other benefits, the goal of this project is to explore how the arts can be more meaningfully incorporated into the lives of local citizens in the Markham area to help them understand and thrive in a diverse environment. Interested students may have backgrounds in various artistic fields (AMPD students are welcome, as are those from other schools), as well as the social sciences, community engagement, education, public policy, and mental health.
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Partner Video
Organizational Profile
The Markham Arts Council was established in 2004 with the mission to serve and enhance our community’s well-being through the arts. We provide arts and cultural education and awareness to the public with a wide offering of programs and events, and we support the work and development of emerging and established artists in the visual, literary, and performing arts through collaborative projects and initiatives. Our goal is to build a stronger arts community that is both diverse and unified and that encompasses literary arts, experimental art, visual arts, new media, music, dance, performance, and dramatic arts. The services of the Markham Arts Council cater to the general population, particularly those who have limited accessibility to the arts and arts-based programming and are therefore unable to reap the benefits the discipline has to offer.
Partner Website
Learn more about the kind of work the project partner does by browsing their website.
Additional Resources
The Arts Don't Just Heal, They Also Unify and Inspire Action
Demonstrating the Social Impact of the Arts
5 Ways Arts Projects Can Improve Struggling Communities
Transforming Communities Through the Arts
Creating Change through Arts, Culture, and Equitable Development
Key Words
- Arts Programming
- Community Engagement
- COVID-19