Our Cause
We believe that every child should have the opportunity to create. Art gives young people space to experiment, communicate, imagine, and express ideas that can sometimes be difficult to put into words. But meaningful opportunities to explore art are not equally accessible. Classes can be expensive, specialized materials add up quickly, transportation can be a barrier, and not every school or community space has the resources to offer frequent hands-on visual arts programming.
Hands & Canvas was created to help close that gap by bringing free, welcoming art experiences directly into places young people already know — including schools, community centres, after-school programs, and youth organizations.
Our workshops are designed to make art feel exploratory rather than intimidating. We care less about every child leaving with the same “perfect” finished piece and more about giving young artists room to experiment with unfamiliar materials, change their minds, make mistakes, and discover what they actually enjoy creating.
As Hands & Canvas grows, that mission is expanding beyond in-person workshops through original creative resources, our upcoming colouring book, and Hands & Canvas: Beyond the Studio. The goal remains simple: make creativity easier to access and help more young people feel that art is something they are allowed to explore, enjoy, and make their own.
Our Story
Hands & Canvas really started with my own love for art.
I’ve always liked making things, whether that meant painting, drawing, trying a material I had never used before, or starting a project without really knowing how it would turn out. Art became one of the places where I could experiment without needing to have everything figured out first.
When I started thinking about Hands & Canvas, I wanted other kids to have that same feeling.
One of the moments that stuck with me happened during an early workshop. A child sat in front of their paper for a while without starting. Everyone else around them was already drawing, painting, or choosing colours, but they seemed nervous to put anything down. When I asked what they wanted to make, they told me they weren't good at art.
I remember telling them that they didn't really have to be.
They eventually picked up a marker and started with one small line. A few minutes later, that line had turned into a character. Then there was a background, a story, and another piece of paper because they wanted to make something else.
It wasn't some huge dramatic moment. They probably went home and thought of it as just another afternoon. But I kept thinking about it.
It made me realize how quickly kids can decide that they are either “good” or “bad” at art, when sometimes they just need the chance to try without worrying about whether what they make looks right.
That became a big part of what I wanted Hands & Canvas to be.
At first, the idea was pretty simple. I wanted to bring art supplies and projects into places where kids already spent their time and run workshops that were completely free. I didn't want the projects to feel like everyone had to leave with the exact same finished piece. I wanted kids to be able to change things, use strange colours, make mistakes, start over, or take the project somewhere completely different from what we had planned.
I honestly didn't expect it to grow as much as it has.
One workshop led to another. I started reaching out to community organizations and schools. Some conversations turned into partnerships, those partnerships introduced us to new communities, and more volunteers started getting involved.
Hands & Canvas has now reached more than 160 children and youth, provided over 100 hours of free art programming, and grown to a team of more than 20 volunteers. We've worked with and are expanding through organizations and programs including BGC Toronto Kiwanis, additional BGC Greater Toronto branches, YMCA, KickStart After School, Kensington Community School, Ralph Thornton Community Centre and its after-school programs, Regent Heights Public School, and Art City, with more still to come.
But the numbers aren't usually what I remember after a workshop.
I remember the tables at the end, scraps of coloured paper everywhere, paint mixed into colours we definitely hadn't started with, cloudy cups of brush water, half-used pieces of tape, and kids carrying their work out the door.
I remember someone asking if they could take an extra piece of paper home.
I remember kids showing me something they had changed from the original project because they thought their version was better.
Those are the moments that made me want Hands & Canvas to become more than a series of workshops.
We're now working on the Hands & Canvas Colouring Book, which will give kids another way to draw, design, imagine, and add their own ideas to a page. We're also developing Hands & Canvas: Beyond the Studio, so artists and volunteers can create cards, bookmarks, artwork, colouring pages, art kits, and other pieces for children we may never be able to meet through an in-person workshop.
Hands & Canvas has changed a lot from the idea I started with. But the part I care about most hasn't really changed.
I want more kids to have a place where they can pick up a pencil, paintbrush, piece of clay, or whatever happens to be on the table and feel like they're allowed to make something that is completely their own.
