What happens when you bring 15 seniors from your community together with 2 art facilitators from Europe and introduce them to 25 cans of spray paint? Pure creative joy! 

On Friday, September 25 Lara Seixo Rodrigues and Duarte Cavalinhos landed in Toronto from Lisbon, Portugal to assist Latcham Art Centre in a program called Street Art Seniors of Stouffville (SASS), based on their award-winning LATA 65 program. With funding from the Canadian Government (The New Horizons for Seniors Program-NHSP) and the Whitchurch-Stouffville Legacy Fund, Lara and Duarte led 15 unique and fearless seniors from Stouffville, Ontario in two full days of workshops where they learned about the origins of street art, were introduced to the work of a variety of prominent street artists and explored the technique of stencil cutting. From the time the knives hit the hands of the SASS group, there was no stopping them!  

On the third and final day of the program, this energetic group engaged in creating a vibrant street mural celebrating what they had experienced together and showcasing each participants uniqueness with their individual “tags.” The excitement and joy of connecting and art making radiated from the group, warming an otherwise chilly fall day! 

There were so many people responsible for the success of this project, and the Latcham Art Centre team would like to extend a BIG thank you to all those involved including Lara and Duarte, our participants, our youth volunteers, the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program, the Whitchurch-Stouffville Legacy Fund, The Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, Paradox Pictures, Schell Lumber Home Building Centre, Mayor Lovatt and Council, Nora Jones and Joao Carrolo. We would also like to acknowledge the Young Canada Works program for committing to fund a staff resource for this event.