This is the first in a five-part series examining the role of art in health care.
“We are a planet of 8 billion artists.” – Dr. Daisy Fancourt, author of Art Cure
For newcomers to Canada, creativity isn’t just a pastime – it can be a lifeline. As newcomers navigate the challenges of settling into a new country, community arts spark connection, belonging and mental wellbeing.
Distinct from the professional arts – the kind one might associate with at a night out at the opera or on the walls of a major gallery – community arts more often involve a professional artist collaborating with people who may not otherwise engage in the arts.
While definitions vary widely, it has been described as “an umbrella practice sheltering many arts disciplines, populations and social contexts of cultural activity.” Groups and communities with diverse identities share the aim of raising awareness about social, political and environmental issues. Often taking place in neighbourhood spaces, community arts are typically focused on the transformational qualities of the creative process in and of itself and merge with the community in parks, apartment buildings, libraries, community centres, storefronts and street locations.
Community arts practices are a modern iteration of some of humanity’s oldest practices of collective expression and are anchored within various cultures around the world.
Take, for example, Mehndi, a form of intricate henna body art used across South Asian, Middle Eastern, North African and Indo-Caribbean contexts. Or Tatreez, a form of embroidery primarily practiced among women in some parts of the Middle East. In Afro-Brazilian cultures, capoeira is a group-based, traditional martial art with performative elements that brings together ethnic groups through music and movement.
More recent perspectives on community arts link it to concepts and ideals such as cultural democracy, social change and even social wellness. A broader view of human health considers the wellbeing of a collective – a community, even a nation – as an aspect of what it means to be a thriving member of society. Community art expression has become part of that wellbeing continuum.
Our research team looked at a specific collective case of community arts engagement in Canada: newcomers to Canada. Rather than a strictly time-based criterion, many immigrant and refugee-serving settlement agencies use the term newcomer to include people with all immigration statuses, such as permanent residents, protected persons (refugees) and temporary residents, regardless of time spent in the country.
Given the reality of newcomers’ social location at multiple systems of oppression – often with intersecting ethnic, racial, gender or language issues – newcomer mental health is generally rated lower than non-migrants. Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder are often higher amongst newcomers than that of non-migrants.
With this evidence in hand, our team wondered about the connection and prevalence of community arts programs for newcomers in Canada, particularly programs that focused on mental wellness.
Our research team, made up of university researchers, graduate and undergraduate trainees and health and community service providers with experience working directly with newcomers and community arts programs, asked: What does current research reveal about the impact of community arts on improving mental wellness for newcomers in Canada?
We started with a scoping review to assess the state of the current academic research, and then a broader environmental scan mapping publicly accessible sources. Together, these illuminated the role of community arts in fostering mental wellness for newcomers and identified emergent best practices for developing effective community arts programs sensitive to the distinct needs of newcomer communities.
We found that in almost all provinces and territories, community arts were implemented in a variety of settings including schools, community centres, art galleries, museums, community arts organizations, settlement agencies, community health centres, charitable organizations, dance studios, athletic centres and shelters.
The findings captured a wide range of community arts modalities: visual arts (painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, murals, clay, hand-mapping, block play); media (photography, animation, videography, 3D construction); textiles (crochet, embroidery, floral mandala patterns); dance (ballet dance, Zumba, movements); sound (drumming, vocal training, sound art, music sessions); performance (play, theatre); oral (storytelling, narrative-based work) and written (creative writing, journaling); and outdoor activities (sports, gardening, picnicking).
Effective community arts programs were hosted at low-barrier, community-based, easily accessible geographical hubs. Free or low-cost activities encouraged greater program participation. Key enablers to engage newcomer communities included language accessibility, flexible scheduling and transportation assistance. Many organizations offered translated materials, childcare and support services, creating a safe and trusting environment for newcomers to express themselves through art.
How community arts promote mental and social wellness
Building community
Community arts engagement is a key facilitator of community building, enabling individual moments of creative transformation while simultaneously allowing space for collaborative growth. Creating art in a group environment helps individuals form new friendships, build support networks and reduce feelings of loneliness, encouraging participants to connect and care for their newfound communities. Within community arts spaces, newcomers develop relationships built on trust, security, inclusion and acceptance, increasing their happiness. Arts engagement fosters social wellness by linking collective action with relational depth.
Bridging Past/Present/Futures
Migration compels newcomers to confront complex emotions while managing settlement-related stressors. This became apparent when newcomers document homesickness, nostalgia and memories through photographs, drawings and stories, allowing them to reconcile their pre- and post-migration experiences. Community arts can act as a bridge between past, present and future. Community arts initiatives do not shy away from negative emotions; expressions of such feelings are welcomed, while the stigma around them is challenged.
Reflecting Diversity
Tailoring community arts programs to reflect newcomers’ cultural, linguistic and intersectional identities is central to participant engagement. Community arts interventions led by facilitators with lived experience as newcomers support the tailoring of initiatives. The majority of community-based arts interventions use a mix of art forms, with visual arts, performing arts and literary arts being central. These diverse approaches help engage participants and promote community cohesion.
We found that community arts extends beyond clinical or health-services aligned outcomes to generate transformative cultural spaces conducive to improved social and mental wellness. Such initiatives destigmatize mental health issues and promote dialogue, empathy and understanding within diverse communities.
Reframing community arts as a sustainable, culturally responsive approach to supporting mental wellness highlights its role as an essential social infrastructure that nurtures a sense of belonging for newcomers.
