Six Powell River organizations are recipients of BC Arts Council grants announced on September 4. These include Friends of Film Society of Powell River, Malaspina Art Society, Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy Association, Powell River Academy of Music, Powell River Council for Arts and Culture, and Powell River Brain Injury Society.
The brain injury society will put the funds toward a project called Big Hearts, which stands for Brain Injury Group Harmonious Engagement of the Arts, said support worker Samantha Sherman, who devised the program and wrote the grant applications.
“The main portion of the project helps fund our art program and engages artists in the community as well as the artists we have in the society,” she said.
Powell River artists will teach workshops and in-house talent will also receive needed financial supports.
“We have the funding now to help artists in our society pay for supplies so they can produce artwork and then sell it as an income,” added Sherman. “Some of the people here have amazing talent.”
Another aspect of the program, entitled Unmasking Brain Injuries, involves clients creating masks as a visual representation of brain injury. This will culminate in a gallery showing of the artist’s work in February, and the masks will then be exhibited by brain injury groups around the world. For clients participating in the program there is great therapeutic value in art beyond creating.
“It helps you a lot with communication skills,” said participant Shelley Lewis. “We suffer a lot with communication problems.”
Artist-in-residence Jimmy Wilkins has been part of the program since 2003 and said observing the changes art makes in participants’ lives is hopeful.
“This class has inspired me beyond belief,” said Wilkins. “You see people do things they never thought they could do; that’s the most pleasing part of it.”
Arts and culture is thriving in the province and contributing to the economy, according to data from BC Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. BC has the most working artists in the country per capita and cultural activities added $7.2 billion to the provincial gross domestic product in 2016.
The possibilities to bring the artistic community together in a new way through the Big Hearts program is exciting to brain injury society executive director Deborah Dee.
“Our groups are reaching out to artists instead of the other way around,” said Dee. “Bringing everybody together here, it’s been amazing to see.”
