Reaching out through the arts

Barbara Black

Simon Gamsa loves his work with the Centre for the Arts in Human Development.

“It’s such a pleasant, open community,” the retired engineer said. A volunteer for five years, Gamsa was presented with a collage of artwork at an open house on May 4.

There is probably no better example of Concordia’s community outreach than this unusual facility, which brings adults with developmental disabilities to the Loyola Campus several times a week for therapy in music, dance and movement, art and drama.

There’s a waiting list to get into the three-year program, because it has shown such positive results. The gains in self-confidence and social skills are often remarkable.

Jan Johansson said her son, Brodie, had social difficulties growing up. “It took a lot of courage for him to apply, but it’s such an accepting place. There are no mistakes here. When you speak, everybody stops to listen.” Brodie seems happy for the first time in a long while, and she has learned something, too. “I’ve learned to sit back and let him make some decisions.”

While these people could not be more different as individuals, they seem to bond with one another and come to life. Gamsa said, “I don’t know if it’s the social interaction or the arts therapy that does it, but they come out of the sessions walking on air.”

Every year, about 10 students in the Graduate Program in Creative Arts Therapies do their clinical training at the Centre; students from other faculties have done internships or research options. Private donors, notably the Birks Family Foundation, have funded the open houses and the highly original theatrical productions, which happen every three years.

The productions are must-see events for the extended families of the participants and attract the public, too. Singing, dancing, saying their lines and moving around the stage, occasionally with a little discreet guidance— these can be outstanding achievements for people who may have felt marginalized despite the best efforts of their parents.

The productions were funny, colourful and poignant, free adaptations of stories such as Aladdin, Pinocchio or Alice in Wonderland that have a strong message about self-reliance and inner strength. The lessons learned onstage have taken root. As Brodie Johansson told the audience at the open house, “Being here makes me feel good about myself.”

The idea of putting people like Brodie on stage originated with social worker Lenore Vosberg. She had a strong feeling that performing in a play would be helpful for the people she worked with at the West Montreal Readaptation Centre.

She broached the idea to Stephen Snow, who was then a professor in Concordia’s Theatre Department. He invited her and her clients to participate in a course called Drama for Special Populations. By 1996, the collaboration had snowballed into a centre that combines therapy with clinical training, research and community outreach.

Vosberg is the director, and education professor Miranda D’Amico is the Centre’s director of research. Therapists Shelley Snow and Joanabbey Sack lead the music and movement sessions, and Elizabeth Anthony supervises the art therapy students. Creative Arts Therapies is now an academic department in its own right.

Part of the Centre’s mandate is public education, especially with the young. Every year, at least 20 Concordia students volunteer to help the participants at the Centre. Montreal schoolchildren and adolescents have helped with the theatre productions.

A new theatrical production is in the works, but instead of being based on the classics, it will be autobiographical. Thanks to a federal SSHRC grant, Snow is using a technique called performance ethnography to help the participants create a show about their own lives. A preview will be held in June by invitation only and the full production will be mounted in December.

Gamsa gives a lot of the credit to Vosberg, the originator of the idea for the Centre. “She’s got such courage, and she combines it with such care and concern for the participants.”