Understanding the Impact of the Arts on Immigrant Integration
- Date
- April 23, 2025
- Time
- 2:30 PM EDT - 6:30 PM EDT
- Location
- Hybrid (In person at Mabelle Arts, 38 Mabelle Ave, Toronto, new building at Mabelle Park, and via Zoom)
Join us for an interactive event exploring how the arts fosters immigrant integration in Toronto. This event will share insights from two innovative partnership research projects led by the Canada Excellence Chair in Migration and Integration program (CERC Migration) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU): FIT-ART, a partnership with Toronto Arts Council (TAC) examining its Program for Newcomers and Refugees, which supports newcomer artists as well as arts-based initiatives that address newcomer challenges; and Leveraging Community Arts, a collaboration with Mabelle Arts, focusing on the five-year Welcome to the Neighborhood program.
Despite growing evidence that creative engagement enhances newcomers’ well-being and sense of belonging, many of these initiatives remain short-term and difficult to evaluate. By showcasing our research findings, the event aims to highlight the social impacts of arts-based interventions while tackling the pressing need for better documentation and collaboration between the arts and settlement sectors.
| PROGRAM | |
|---|---|
| 2:30 – 2:45 PM | Welcome |
| 2:45 – 3 PM | Introduction and art-based activity Annie Katsura Rollins, Mabelle Arts |
| 3 – 4:40 PM | Panel discussion: Understanding the Impact of the Arts on Immigrant Integration Chair: Kadija de Paula, Toronto Arts Council (TAC) Discussant: Zhixi Zhuang, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) This panel asks: How can we employ a variety of research methods to better understand and communicate widely, the subtle, often intangible ways that creative projects shape life experiences of immigrants and newcomers in Canada? We bring together researchers and practitioners from the FIT-ART and Leveraging Community Arts projects, to tackle the challenges of assessing and articulating the impacts of arts-based interventions on immigrant integration. By highlighting findings from both projects, this panel aims to (1) showcase emerging insights, foregrounding how arts-based initiatives can contribute to newcomer integration, inclusion, and a sense of belonging; and (2) spark dialogue among stakeholders, on developing more robust, collaborative approaches to evaluation. Speakers will discuss strategies for bridging the gap between the arts and settlement sectors, exploring how these often silo-ed worlds can work together to recognize and scale the social benefits that creative practices bring to immigrant communities. Lessons from the Welcome to the Neighborhood Program | Annie Katsura Rollins (Mabelle Arts) & Alka Kumar (CERC Migration, TMU) Lessons from the Toronto Arts Council’s Program for Newcomers and Refugees | Jérémie Molho, (CERC Migration, TMU), Shawn Newman, (Skills for Change), Tomée Tzatzanis, (CERC Migration, TMU) Reflections on the Impact of ‘experiential’ learning | Karian Chen, Asra Khan, and Dorian Davidson, Research Assistants, (CERC Migration, TMU) |
| 4:40 – 5:20 PM | Dinner break |
| 5:20 – 6:30 PM | FIT-ART Film Screening (portraits of newcomer artists in Toronto) Introduction by Kelly Langgard, Toronto Arts Council’s Director & CEO, and discussion with filmmaker Ogo Eze and featured newcomer artists Aitak Sorahitalab and Tarek Ghriri |
In partnership with:
