City gives reprieve to arts program

Toronto has offered a last-minute reprieve to an arts program for women living in poverty, pledging to continue funding the 17-year-old project that had been threatened by changes in grant criteria.

There had been a solemn mood at Metro Hall on a recent Monday at the Women’s Art Afternoon annual exhibition. It was expected to be the last show giving the women a chance to show off the art they worked on every Thursday — a day they looked forward to all week.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do on Thursdays now,” a participant, who gave her name only as Sylvia, told the Star in November.

Following the Star’s coverage, the city’s Shelter, Housing and Support Administration said it would find the yearly $21,500 needed to fund the program.

Josie Ricciardi, who founded and runs the program, said she would announce the news to the class Thursday.

The city’s response shows participants “that their voice matters, and that if they stand up for what they believe in, it can have impact,” Ricciardi said.

For seven years, Women’s Art Afternoon had received funding through the Fred Victor drop-in centre at the Adelaide Resource Centre for Women, where the classes are held, as a program that supports homeless people. It continued to be operated by the Regent Park Community Health Centre.

But funding changes meant the organization had to reapply for money from the city, for which it didn’t qualify. The new grant criteria was that the money had to be used for meeting basic needs, such as food and shelter.

The department still has to work out where the $21,500 in operating costs will come from, which may be from Fred Victor’s budget, or “onetime funding” until the city provides permanent funding.