Youth Outreach: Connecting to Community Through Art – for elementary and high school students with (dis)abilities

This program provides arts programming to youth with intellectual and/or developmental delays in elementary and secondary school in the Life Skills and LRC classes.  We meet students once a month throughout the school year at Centre Wellington District Secondary School, Elora Public School, John Black Public School in Fergus, Arthur Public School and Victoria Cross Public School in Mount Forest. These sessions offer guided art instruction and contemporary art ideas led by an ECFTA Arts Educator.

The program is free to students.  Project themes are centered around community building and emphasize collaboration and success through personal artistic expression. The goal is connecting students to the community in meaningful and creative ways.

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SUPPORTIVE ARTS | Weekly inclusive ART & mindfulness WORKSHOPS

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY classes for adults with varying abilities. September through June.

Please visit our PROGRAMS-ADULT WORKSHOPS page for more information or to register for FALL, WINTER, or SPRING session blocks.

SUPPORTIVE ARTS is a unique and inclusive program offering arts-based learning opportunities and compelling artistic experiences to individuals with varying abilities.

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2025 SUMMER CAMPS!

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

REGISTRATION IS OPEN! 

SCROLL DOWN TO JULY/AUGUST TO SEE WEEKLY CAMP DESCRIPTIONS

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ARTFUL AGEING FOR SENIORS: CONNECTING TO OUR COMMUNITY THROUGH ART FOR OLDER ADULTS IN LONG-TERM CARE AND RETIREMENT LIVING

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

DISCOVERING CREATIVITY AND CONNECTING WITH OTHERS!

 

ARTFUL AGEING is a pilot project for seniors offered through the Elora Centre for the Arts as part of our growing Outreach program.

Monthly guided art sessions are designed especially for long-term care and retirement living residents and are offered on-site at Heritage River and Wellington Terrace in Elora and at Caressant Care, Fergus.

 

Whether residents are new to art making, bring some artistic experience, or just love expressing themselves, we are here to serve our older adult community through the exploration of materials, artists, and ideas in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

 

Led by ECFTA Art Educators, each month offers a new and exciting program that’s playful, engaging, and full of learning!

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SUPPORTIVE ARTS WEDNESDAY MORNINGS

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

SUPPORTIVE ARTS SPRING

WEDNESDAY MORNINGS

10 AM – 12 PM

MARCH 19-JUNE 18, 2025  

 

Weekly inclusive art & mindfulness classes for adults with varying abilities. We offer Wednesday morning and Thursday classes, September-June! 

$280.00

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SUPPORTIVE ARTS THURSDAY MORNINGS

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

SUPPORTIVE ARTS SPRING

THURSDAY MORNINGS

10 AM–12 PM 

MARCH 20-JUNE 19, 2025 

Weekly inclusive art & mindfulness classes for adults with varying abilities. We offer Wednesday morning, Thursday morning & Thursday afternoon classes, September-June! 

$280.00

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SUPPORTIVE ARTS THURSDAY AFTERNOONS

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

SUPPORTIVE ARTS SPRING

THURSDAY AFTERNOONS

1 PM-3 PM

MARCH 20-JUNE 19, 2025 

 

Weekly inclusive art & mindfulness classes for adults with varying abilities. We offer Wednesday morning, Thursday morning & Thursday afternoon classes, September-June! 

$280.00

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Annual Elora en Plein Air Festival

The annual Elora Plein Air Festival features selected artists from all over Ontario (and beyond!) who will be painting outdoors throughout Fergus, Elora and surrounding countryside.  Some even paint at night to capture the magic of nocturne views.  There are several events that take place throughout the festival, such as interactive painting opportunities, Quick Paint competitions, walking tours, film music and great food.  The week ends with a show & sale on May 18th in the gallery at the Elora Centre for the Arts.

Free Event

ABSTRACT EMBROIDERY WITH AHMRI VANDEBORNE

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Artist Ahmri Vandeborne joins us for a Thursday evening introduction to embroidery this May. Learn how to take an abstract idea from paper to fabric in this easy-going, loose and freestyle approach to embroidery!

Get Tickets $65.00 7 tickets left

Elora Plein Air Festival Show & Sale Event

This is the culmination of the artists' efforts throughout the week, and they will be on hand to share and celebrate the end of the event.  In the gallery, you can view and purchase the beautiful work created, meet the artists and vote for your favourites!  Everyone is welcome.  Admission is free.

Free Event

SCULPTURAL NEEDLE FELTED HARE

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Join us for a transformative experience with fibre artist Megan Cleland into the world of Sculptural Needle Felting. Whether you’re an experienced felter or a curious beginner, this 2-day workshop promises an engaging blend of artistry and fun.

Don’t miss this opportunity to create, connect, and be inspired!

Get Tickets $225.00 12 tickets left

FREEFORM FIBRE SCULPTURE

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

COILING, WRAPPING & FREESTYLE WEAVING with Dianne Kennedy Cruttenden

Join Tapestry Weaver and Fibre Sculptor Dianne KC and let loose for a day of creative expression coiling, wrapping, twisting and creating your unique freeform sculpture!

Get Tickets $110.00 9 tickets left

Meet the artists of “Sticks and Stones” Opening Reception

Opening Reception: Olivia Mae Sinclair & Alek Bélanger
An Exhibition of Story, Resilience & Renewal
Admission is Free

You’re invited to join us for the opening reception of a compelling new exhibition featuring the works of two incredible artists: Olivia Mae Sinclair and Alek Bélanger.

This dynamic exhibition brings together Sinclair’s richly layered textiles, emotive paintings, and evocative photography with Belanger’s powerful visual reclamation—where poetic affirmations are embedded on pages pulled from gay conversion therapy books, alongside large-scale photographic works that challenge and inspire.

Free Event

BREAKING BOUNDARIES: USING LIMITATIONS TO EXPAND CREATIVITY IN PAINTING WITH AHMRI VANDEBORNE

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Find out how creative you can be when you set your own rules while painting! What happens when you only use two colours? Or when you have to use a tiny paint brush on a large canvas? Or when you use dice to choose what type of lines you paint and what colours you use?

Artist Ahmri Vandeborne will guide artists in a playful evening workshop setting limitations on tools and processes to help expand your creativity!

Get Tickets $65.00 10 tickets left

INTUITIVE ABSTRACT PAINTING

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Join Stratford artist Sal Cucci for an introduction to intuitive abstracts and explore your personal expression in this  playful and inclusive weekend!

This immersive 2-day workshop will appeal to painters of any level, whether you are beginning your abstract journey, or would like to deepen your practice.

Sold Out $290.00

LET’S VAN GO! JUNE PA DAY FOR KIDS

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Young makers! Take a stroll through the vibrant world of Vincent Van Gogh and explore his use of colour and line to create motion, emotion, and intensity! Let's explore the sunny side of painting and using LOTS of vibrant yellow, yellow, yellow and practice Impressionist methods of art-making, as we work together to recreate Van Gogh’s luminous sunflowers on canvas!

Sold Out $70.00

Ontario Craft Gin Festival 2025

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

The Ontario Craft Gin Trail warmly invites you to the inaugural Craft Gin Festival on the grounds of the Elora Centre for the Arts.  This is a 19+ event.

SCROLL DOWN TO PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS NOW!  $19 per person ($16.82 + HST)  (Tickets available at the door for $20 cash only)

Gin Lovers Unite!

Get Tickets $16.82 149 tickets left

‘The Secret Garden’ presented by the Elora Community Theatre (evening performance)

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Join us for an open-air performance in the beautiful yard at the Elora Centre for the Arts, presented on the pavilion stage by the Elora Community Theatre!

Get Tickets $15.00 – $22.12 200 tickets left

‘The Secret Garden’ presented by the Elora Community Theatre (matinee performance)

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Join us for an open-air performance in the beautiful yard at the Elora Centre for the Arts, presented on the pavilion stage by the Elora Community Theatre!

Get Tickets $15.00 – $22.12 200 tickets left

‘The Secret Garden’ presented by the Elora Community Theatre (evening performance)

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Join us for an open-air performance in the beautiful yard at the Elora Centre for the Arts, presented on the pavilion stage by the Elora Community Theatre!

Get Tickets $15.00 – $22.12 200 tickets left

‘The Secret Garden’ presented by the Elora Community Theatre (matinee performance)

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Join us for an open-air performance in the beautiful yard at the Elora Centre for the Arts, presented on the pavilion stage by the Elora Community Theatre!

Get Tickets $15.00 – $22.12 200 tickets left

FLOW+GLOW! ART & MOVEMENT CAMP

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

3-DAY CAMP FOR AGES 4-7

If your budding artist loves art, with a little get-up-and-go mixed in, this ART + MOVEMENT camp is for you!

We’ll invent our own junior yoga moves and get those ants in your pants dancing and singing, along with playful creativity and friend-making!

Get Tickets $210.00 5 tickets left

ART THEN+NOW! MINI MASTERS CAMP

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

5-DAY CAMP FOR AGES 7-12

Let’s time-jump into the art time machine and look at Art THEN + NOW! This camp is full-on art making, trying out new materials, and exploring the connections between art today and art of the past!

Sold Out $350.00

ART TECHS! THE SCIENCE OF ART CAMP

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

5 DAY CAMP FOR AGES 7-12

If you love to experiment, innovate, and collaborate then this camp is for you! This STE(A)M-injected camp brings super-sonic art making to young artists who love bright colours, bright ideas and are curious about how science and tech can POWER their ART explorations!

Sold Out $350.00

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ART! THE ART OF NATURE CAMP

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

5-DAY CAMP FOR AGES 4-7

Let’s answer the call of the wild in this nature-inspired camp, designed to bring out the WILD artist in you! We’ll use our creative nature to wander, wonder and engage with the wild world all around us in a week of fresh-air creativity, nature explorations and outdoor play!

Sold Out $350.00

ALEXANDER CALDER! KINETIC CIRCUS CAMP

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

5-DAY CAMP FOR AGES 7-12

Ready for a week of avant-garde awesomeness? This kinetic camp will introduce young artists to American Modernist, Alexander Calder’s 1931 Cirque! A moveable feast of characters, contortionists, fire eaters, hi-wire performers and circus animals. We will spend the week creating our own kinetic circus fun!

Sold Out $350.00

POP UP BOOKS! STORYBOOK ART CAMP

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

4-DAY CAMP FOR AGES 4-7

Junior artists! Turn your fave book into a power pop-up 3-D Diorama Story Box. We will start each morning with a story and then get to work exploring visual story-making and transform our own favourite stories from home into sculptural ART!

Sold Out $280.00

POP UP BOOKS! YOUR FAVE KIDS-LIT CAMP

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

5-DAY CAMP FOR AGES 7-12

Young Makers! Turn your fave book into a power pop-up  Diorama Story Box. Let’s explore visual story making and transform each of our favourite storybooks from home into sculptural Kid-Lit ART!

Sold Out $350.00

EARLY BIRDS+NIGHT OWLS! RISE+SOAR CAMP

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

5-DAY CAMP FOR AGES 4-7

Birds of a feather flock together in this week of high-flying fun! Join us for creative making inspired by our feathery friends! Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl we’ll spread our art wings and soar together and make memories that take flight!

Sold Out $350.00

DARK SHADOWS! THE IMAGINARIUM OF EDWARD GOREY CAMP

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

4-DAY CAMP FOR AGES 7-12

Love to draw and shadowy storytelling?! Join us for some old-timey illustration inspired by American Gothic writer and illustrator Edward Gorey. Let’s explore the world of fancy-fine-line drawing, graphic story-telling and dark humour in this week of drawing and doodling.

Sold Out $280.00

SUPPORTIVE ARTS WEDNESDAY MORNINGS

SUPPORTIVE ARTS FALL

WEDNESDAY MORNINGS

10 AM – 12 PM

SEPTEMBER 17-DECEMBER 17, 2025  

registration opens June 2, 2025 at 10 am

Weekly, inclusive art & mindfulness classes for adults with varying abilities.

Join us Sept to June for weekly guided 2-hour workshops designed to support adults of all abilities. Each session embraces diversity and friendship through explorations in art making, movement, mindfulness and music. Every week is as unique as our participants! 

$280.00

Click Learn More for ticket availability

SUPPORTIVE ARTS THURSDAY MORNINGS

SUPPORTIVE ARTS FALL

THURSDAY MORNINGS

10 AM – 12 PM

SEPTEMBER 18-DECEMBER 18, 2025  

registration opens June 2, 2025 at 10 am

Weekly, inclusive art & mindfulness classes for adults with varying abilities.

Join us Sept to June for weekly guided 2-hour workshops designed to support adults of all abilities. Each session embraces diversity and friendship through explorations in art making, movement, mindfulness and music. Every week is as unique as each of our participants! 

$280.00

Click Learn More for ticket availability

OPEN STUDIO FALL MONDAYS

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

MONDAY AFTERNOON 6-WEEK SERIES

Join us Mondays 1-3:00 pm this Fall! Open Studio is designed as open-flow studio time, loosely guided by artist Eileen MacArthur for artists who have some experience and would like specific guidance to develop or resolve their work. Classes will be collaborative and relaxed and offer both individual and group critiques, as well as affording the students to opportunity to experiment with various methods and materials.

Get Tickets $180.00 9 tickets left

SNOW COVERED FARM OIL PAINTING WITH RICK WORTHINGTON

Elora Centre for the Arts 75 Melville Street, Elora, Ontario, Canada

Snow is more than just white paint. It's a delicate dance of light, shadow, and subtle colour variations.

Join Elora artist Rick Worthington for a relaxed day of oil painting and learn how to capture the serene beauty of a late winter landscape. In this guided workshop, artists will paint a peaceful, snow-covered farm during the last days of winter, while exploring the techniques Impressionist painters used to bring scenes to life!

Get Tickets $150.00 9 tickets left