What to know
- The Centres provide classes in mediums including weaving, machine knitting, ink wash painting, spoken word, linocut stamp carving, sewing, needle felting and more alongside free gallery exhibitions and community art experiences.
- These arts hubs are part of the City of Toronto’s cultural centres and play a crucial role as part of the Culture Connects: Action Plan for Toronto’s culture sector, a 10-year strategy that aims to expand cultural access and strengthen community belonging across the city.
- Frequent attendees say the Centres’ beginner-friendly instructors, smaller class sizes, and accessible locations make it easier for residents to explore new artistic skills, with Toronto resident registration opening June 3 and non-resident registration beginning June 13.
Within Guild Park and Gardens, the Clark Centre for the Arts, is a place to be for community members of all skill levels to take almost any kind of art class.
The Centre was opened in 2022, with the goal to bring unique art and creative experiences to Torontonians and operates as an art hub along with Cedar Ridge Creative Centre in Scarborough.
“The Cultural Centres celebrate the arts, community, great artists and really connects on the ground level in Scarborough,” Senior Arts Consultant Lila Karim told Now Toronto. “We also provide affordable registered art programs for folks to register and learn more about arts.”
Some of those courses include fibre arts, painting, drawing printmaking, photography, pottery, and much more. The courses give students of any skill levels a chance to try different art methods for the first time during a three-hour class.
“We offer free programming, like our art gallery exhibitions, but we also have our affordable registered art classes – you can register through the City of Toronto register portal,” Karim explained.
Culture Connects aims to create a city where everyone, everywhere, can discover, create and experience culture, and where culture is valued and is an integral part of our daily lives. The Plan began in 2025 and will continue serving culture and the arts to Toronto until 2035, as the population of the city “diversifies.”
“Our changing city provides an opportunity to ask ourselves, ‘who is Toronto?’ and challenge cultural organizations, producers, creators, and funders to broaden cultural offerings in order to support a deeper sense of community and belonging,”
The Clark Centre for the Arts has been a hub for frequent attendees like Pam. She said she enjoys trying classes she’s never done before, exploring the different mediums of art at least once per method.
“I had many thoughts or the ambition [to create], but never really the time or opportunity,” she said. “This is in the neighborhood, and it’s a nice setting, so [I took] advantage of these opportunities.”
From her classes, she’s created Batik print art, a style of Indonesian wax-resist dyeing of cloth to create intricate patterns, as well as participated in origami bag making, machine knitting, and needle felting.
“The instructors are really great with beginners, you don’t have to have
any experience, they’ll coach you or show you and help you,” Pam explained. “The class sizes are nice, they’re not 35 people, it’s sort of small groups, so everybody can have attention to detail if you want it or need it.”
For those interested in getting a taste of the art world themselves, Toronto residents are able to sign up for classes, with registrations opening on June 3, while non-residents can sign up beginning June 13.
