We started the Art 1400 project with the idea of creating artistic space for the community to increase resilience as the world was experiencing a major shock due to covid 19. The first phase was launched on International Women’s Day, and we received a great deal of feedback. This was highly encouraging and inspired us to continue with the project and enter into the second phase. So for the second phase, we tackled community resilience building through art focusing, on how art has helped the community during the Pandemic. And our next exhibition will start in mid-summer 2021.

The idea of using art as a way of dealing with the crisis is gaining popularity among local, national and international organizations. In the World Bank case in 2019, inspired by a quote from De Vinci, the World Bank launched a program entitled harnessing creativity for change: The art of resilience; using art for communication about natural disaster[ii]s.

Art’s healing power and its ability to empower communities have been used for facing challenging social situations. In Covid-19, the Pandemic has affected communities not just as a health crisis but also as a social and economic crisis. In this brief paper, I will give a few examples of the use of art for resilience in various situations, some of which touch upon Iranian Canadian precisely.

Arts, Social Crisis and Community Resilience

a) Migrant and asylum seekers:

As an example of how arts bring resilience in the face of social crisis, a program in Paris focusing on migration and refugee started some time ago due to the influx of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa in Europe and rising anti-immigration sentiment and social tensions as a result of it. A program designed to create a different portrait of the refugees and migrants; a center was designated to provide opportunities for artists. Abdul Saboor, who used to work for the US military, had to flee from Afghanistan once the US military started to pull out. He became a refugee and traveled a dangerous road to find a refugee in Paris. With a camera, he took pictures of all the terrible passages and camps that he had to pass before reaching Paris, where he could not speak the language. In an interview with the American PBS channel, he said after his photo exhibition that he felt better, “So we feel lonely. We feel — there is a lot of problems. But when we are together, when we speak, when we share this story, it makes us a little less stressed, makes us little — keep fighting. So it is good to have this place” Referring to the place where he held his exhibition. He continues,” because when they see our artwork, they don’t see it as a refugee. They see it as an artist, and the artist makes this thing[iii].”

b) Urban Poverty:

In, Cateura, a slum alongside a landfill, located not far from Paraguay’s capital city, Asunción people lived from wastes that were dumped. Every day, about 3 million pounds of solid waste has been the only source of income for the inhabitant who lives as scavengers.. Children regularly get pulled out of school to help during rainstorms, landfill floods, and residents to deal with water contamination. “To be honest with you,” says 16-year-old violinist Noelia Rios, “there was practically nothing in Cateura. What there was most were drugs.[iv]“

It was Favio Chavez, an environmental engineer disturbed by the scene, who gathered a team to help him use trash to build a musical instrument and brought children and adolescents to learn to play music. It became subject of a documentary and gathered international attention as,” Chavez says. “I saw that there were a lot of children there, and I had the idea to teach them music in my free time.”” It was mainly to be able to create awareness on children’s issues,” Amarilla says. “The uniqueness of the story that I ended up picking was that it contained a powerful emotional component and very inspiring.” The project became successful, and since then, the Recycled Orchestra has performed for politicians, monarchs, and Pope Francis. The group plays Mozart, Paraguayan folk music, even Frank Sinatra[v].

c) Conflict Resolution:

The art, in this case, music, has been used in places as a way of conflict resolution. Musicians Without Borders (MWB) is an umbrella organization designed to promote peace and bring social changes. MWB organizes events in collaboration with a local organization. It was founded in 1999 by Laura Hassler, an American peace activist, and musician. The project has held workshops, dance, theatre, and songs to help children in orphanages and hospitals in a safe environment. The project has worked in places such as Rwanda, Uganda, and Bosnia.

d) Art, Youth Resilience and the Pandemic

Chokecherry Studios project, a Saskatoon youth arts organization, in partnership with the Remai Modern gallery in Saskatoon, to create new work responding to a professional exhibition. This project was designed to help young people to build resilience.

Ten young artists with Chokecherry Studios, a non-profit organization offering arts-based programs and mentorship for youth in Saskatoon’s core neighborhoods, were given the chance to “respond” to the Remai Modern exhibition entitled An apology, a pill, a ritual, a resistance.

The youth project, entitled Chokecherry Youth Response, includes works in mediums from paintings to poetry to hip-hop music.

Andrea Cessna, the co-founder of Chokecherry Studios, said young people have a unique perspective on the COVID-19 Pandemic. Since the original exhibition at the Remai was addressing different cultural and societal aspects of the Pandemic, one of the participants said there was value in letting these young artists respond to the Pandemic as well.

Chokecherry Youth Response aimed to allow the young artists to respond however they felt — with support from the studio. Cessna said they didn’t want to prescribe any format for the responses, to give the artists a chance to express their perspectives freely.

D) Art and the medical community

“Looking to the arts for solutions inspires our team, but further, we’re proud of what that means for the future of arts in health.” – Todd Frazier, Director, Center for Performing Arts Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital.

In this hospital, world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma is on the screens, playing a Bach cello suite. The idea has been to use music as a way of boosting the morale of healthcare workers. The Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM) at Houston Methodist Hospital facilitated the performance and conversation with Yo-Yo Ma as part of its MUSICARE response, created and led by CPAM Research Scientist Dr. Mei Rui, to the isolation caused by the increased safety restrictions that have prevented COVID patients from receiving visitors. Before the Pandemic, CPAM provided writing, music, and art-making programs, as well as concerts in public areas for patients and medical personnel delivered by community-based artists throughout the hospital. Once the COVID-19 crisis hit, the staff at CPAM had to find new ways to provide arts experiences to patients and staff to help alleviate the stress and isolation they were experiencing.

The same is true of arts in health programs across many parts of the US, which have had to find new and creative ways to reach their audiences in healthcare settings. These arts-based programs are a vital part of patient care, as the isolation that patients experience has led to higher levels of depression and anxiety. As a result, hospitals are often eager to provide arts experiences for their patients and staff to provide much-needed respite.

e) Canada community healing of indigenous people:

Canada’s first Indigenized art therapy program is supporting cultural healing in Indigenous communities. This program provides an interesting and important way marginalized communities and immigrants can benefit from art therapy programs.

The program is based in Toronto, and was an expressive arts therapy initiative. It was designed to combine art therapy as a way to combine cultural and therapeutic healing methods. It has been benefiting from a decade of studying and practicing art therapy and the teaching is healing through art as part of Canada’s first Indigenized expressive arts therapy certificate program at the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute

Art therapy involves using art to help a person express themselves and process trauma as part of treatment. The art they create is often used as a springboard for revisiting memories and telling stories to reveal the impact of their past experiences.

There are different kinds of art therapy based on various art forms; some art therapy involves creating visual art through drawing and painting, while others use digital art, photography, and textile-making. In the case of expressive arts therapy, however, Lavergne says therapists also draw from a variety of art forms like music, theatre, poetry, and dance as a way of engaging in a multisensory creative process[vi].

In conclusion, our goal to launch Art Project 1400 has been to inspire our community to benefit from the healing power of the arts, and some of the examples in this article can motivate our community leaders to use the skills to the benefit of the Iranian Canadian community. This could be in the form of a youth project, maintaining a connection with the cultural community of the country of origin while establishing links with Canadian broader society in general and the indigenous people of Canada in particular.

[i] Building resilience in the cultural and creative industries amid COVID-19 (unesco.org)

[ii]   Harnessing creativity for change: The art of resilience (worldbank.org)

[iii] This Paris program helps refugees tell their stories through art | PBS NewsHour

[iv] From Trash To Triumph: The Recycled Orchestra : Deceptive Cadence : NPR

[v]  Orchestra in Paraguay transforms trash into musical treasure – YouTube

[vi] Canada’s first Indigenized art therapy program is supporting cultural healing in Indigenous communities | The Pigeon (the-pigeon.ca)