#mabellearts

With a deep connection to environment, the arts, and social justice, Dani Mailing has over a decade of experience in the philanthropic sector. Dani has held management roles at Roy Thomson Hall, Massey Hall, EcoSpark, and Small Change Fund, and currently divides her time between her role as Program Officer at the Catherine Donnelly Foundation, and Mabelle Arts. Dani currently volunteers her time as a program committee member at the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers Network, and as treasurer on the planning committee for Be Good Be Social, a free social media conference for non-profits. Dani holds a BFA from York University in Visual Arts and Womens’ Studies.

Fiona Raye Clarke is a Trinidadian-Canadian writer, playwright and community artist. Her work features images and stories of people of colour, particularly Black youth, with a view to further weaving the Black experience into the Canadian cultural imagination. She is the editor of the youth anthology Basodee: An Anthology Dedicated to Black Youth published in 2012 and editor of the forthcoming anthology Black Like We: Troubleshooting the Black Youth Experience, which was the winner of the ArtReach Youth Arts Pitch Contest. Fiona was part of the 2014-2015 InspiraTO Playwriting Academy which produced her ten-minute play Broken Window and was the winner of the Neighbourhood Arts Network BMO Seeds Fund for her literacy project in partnership with the Parkdale Library. Fiona is currently a graduate student at Osgoode Hall Law School and has worked since January 2015 with Jumblies Theatre and its Offshoots: Arts4All, Community Arts Guild, Making Room, and MABELLEarts.

Fadwa Ghanem met Ruth Howard, artistic director of Jumblies Theatre, in November 2006 shortly after moving to Canada. Fadwa and her whole family were part of the Jumblies’ production Bridge of One Hair in 2007. After Jumblies moved on to other neighbourhoods, she volunteered with MABELLEarts in the Mabelle Ladies Cooking Circle, Mabelle Sewing Room and in the park with her children. In the summer of 2014, Fadwa worked with MABELLEarts as a cooking coordinator and workshop/office assistant, thanks to a position funded by St. Stephen’s House, and continues to help with cooking, sewing and other projects. At MABELLEarts, we drink Fadwa’s sage tea at every special occasion. Fadwa is an expert at many types of cooking, and enjoys working with the other ladies in the Cooking Circle, cooking together in kitchens and over the open fire in the park. She has many hopes for the future of the park, and says: “The Mabelle Park is a good place and there is fun for everybody there – everybody can enjoy it, not just young or just old people. I would like to see more faces in the park because what we make there helps the children and families, especially new-comers. When we came as newcomers, we found MABELLEarts and it helped us, and helped my children – it gave us confidence and a community.”

Artist Fiona Clarke and Mabelle Community Leaders travelled further into Etobicoke yesterday, leaving sparkly traces behind and spreading the word: "MABELLEarts is coming to the West Mall Park!" 

Our second Mobile Mabelle Workshop with The RAY (Rathburn Area Youth) - making stencils, copper medallions and exploring the nearby are through audio and photo. 

Rolling up to our first workshop at the West Mall Park last week! 

The artistic vision of all MABELLEarts projects grows from the belief that art making and sharing is an essential part of everyday life. We believe that the act of making beautiful a shared space, object or event is essential to the role of the artist and the promise of urban renewal. This has always been the role of art – to enliven communities, spark conversations and engender a sense of shared ownership and power in neglected places. MABELLEarts has grown out of a long-standing commitment to be in the community in which we work, sharing everyday life with people living there and working with them to develop solutions to often- complex problems. As we work together to fix what is broken, we uncover opportunities to teach and learn, get to know one another and become friends. We learn to work together to make positive changes in our neighbourhood, we begin to see our own lives, stories, hopes and dreams reflected in our surroundings – often for the first time.

As we continue to work in the Mabelle Park and with Mabelle Neighbours, our desire and curiosity for expanding our projects has increased to include other parks, public spaces and unexpected corners of the city. Mobile Mabelle is our first step in reaching these locations, bringing the knowledge and experience we have gathered through years in the Mabelle Neighbourhood, along with Mabelle Community Leaders, to other locations in Etobicoke!