Blog

Hello everyone and happy Spring!

I love March. For me, it is the milestone of hope and the light at the end of a long winter. It brings singing birds, more daylight, and new fresh buds. This March our newsletter theme is Art and the wonderful things art does to us and for us. For me, art brings focus and peace. When we focus intently on something, our brains build strong connectivity between areas and pathways. Art often engages both hemispheres of the brain, which also helps bring our emotional memories to a more rational perspective. Focusing on art can help us to regulate our bodies and our breathing and the vibration of art, and through visual experiences of colour and light, can bring healing and transcendence. Art can be both intimately personal as well as public and relational and can help us understand ourselves and understand others. It can help us share our past and dream for the future. This month, we feature our own Interactive Art Program and Artistic Programming Facilitator, Hollis Hunter, as well as our incredible friends at iHuman Youth Society, who focus their entire organization on building self-esteem through the Arts. We also shine a much-deserved spotlight on our incredible funding partners at the Home Depot Orange Door Project. And finally, we have an interview with our wonderful Executive Assistant and Manager of Administration, Karen Reed, and her experience in establishing a bequest for YESS in her will. I hope this Spring you can all find a little time to do a little art, whatever that may look like.