Inspirations Studio will soon be closing
Sistering’s pottery project is looking for new funding to stay open in 2018
Inspirations Studio, a place where low-income women create pottery pieces to sell and build a new life, is closing.
It was created 23 years ago by Sistering, an organization that offers support to homeless and vulnerable women in Toronto. The United Way’s Toronto Enterprise Fund has supported Inspirations Studio for the past 12 years, but won’t be continuing in 2018.
“Toronto Enterprise Fund’s mandate is to develop sustainable social enterprises that can cover business costs. Inspirations hasn’t been able to reach that level,” said Laura Quinn, a United Way spokesperson.
“They’re really more of a social program than a social enterprise, but they do good work.”
About 30 women work at the studio, at 2480 Dundas St. W. All have experienced homelessness and mental-health issues and receive income assistance. Each year, they sell more than $50,000 worth of pottery, and keep 80 to 100 per cent of their profits.
“Coming here a couple days a week, they’ve got a schedule, they’ve got a place to go, they’ve got people to celebrate holidays with, but they also have a group of people for when they need support,” co-ordinator Theresa Morin said.
She’s seen participants strive for sobriety so they can better their craft, find permanent housing and attend the program regularly, and gain confidence when people buy their wares.
To become sustainable, Inspirations Studio would have to take a larger percentage from each sale, which, Morin said, would result in it paying participants less than minimum wage.
“We were never really meeting what the United Way wanted us to be,” she said.
With a GoFundMe set up to raise $60,000 to sustain the project through 2018, organizers and participants, with support from the grassroots group Friends of Inspirations Studio, hope to find a new way to keep it open.
Throwing clay on the wheel, enjoying the feeling of its softness in her hand, Judith Tomlinson gradually shapes a bowl from it.
“It’s a free feeling. I don’t think of anything else but creating something. I feel in control of the moment,” said Tomlinson, who has been a potter with Inspirations Studio for 10 years.
Adecade ago, she was homeless and dealing with trauma, a disability and addiction. While staying in a shelter, she heard about the program and enrolled. She credits it with saving her life. “I can’t think about what it will be like with no studio,” she said. “It’s my entire life.
“I just pray things will fall into place.”