Strength Within

An arts program for people with special needs

The Strength Within program has been successfully operating for the last 10 years, providing individuals with disabilities and special needs the opportunity for self expression and personal growth through creative development, while assisting them to integrate with their communities and prevent isolation. This program operates on Salt Spring Island and in Vancouver.

Working in collaboration with health care professionals and  educators, the workshops for this program are conducted by a wide variety of artists, including musicians, percussionists, dance and movement instructors, theatrical specialists, mime artists, puppeteers, story-tellers, film makers, visual artists and crafts people. Whenever possible, instructors who have disabilities or special needs themselves are hired in order to provide empowering role models for the participants, while personalized programs are designed for each individual based on an assessment of their needs.

THE STRENGTH WITHIN PROGRAM  utilizes the following therapeutic and artistic goals:

• to promote socialization and interaction with others;
• to build self esteem through validation and successful musical experience;
• to promote communication skills and emotional expression;
• to develop concentration skills and learning ability;
• to increase auditory skills;
• to develop hand-eye coordination, as well as gross and fine motor skills; and
• to provide an opportunity for enjoyment and creative expression.

The Salt Spring Island component provides biweekly music sessions for approximately 30 people with physical and mental disabilities.  These workshops  are held in partnership with the Salt Spring Island Community Services Society, Choices and the Gulf Islands Families Together Society (GIFTS). Our objective is to provide enriching, educational and enjoyable music and movement workshops to members of the Salt Spring Island community with mental and/ or physical disabilities.  It is our intention that these individuals will benefit from social and cultural connection, physical, mental and emotional activity and music and art therapy.  Overall, we aim to reach out to marginalized individuals and help them live healthier and more engaged lives in the community.

Ptarmigan has presented the Disabilities Music Program seasonally since 2003.  The music sessions are approximately 2 hours long and include 2-3 musicians, one of whom is an artist with a disability.  This artist provides a wonderful role model for the clients who sing, dance, drum, assist with set up of the sound system and take part being ‘part of the band’, singing into microphones and playing instruments.

In Vancouver, Ptarmigan presents the Strength Within interdisciplinary performing arts program for survivors of childhood cancer (in cooperation with the BC Children’s Hospital) and for children with other serious childhood diseases (in cooperation with the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation). The startup funding for the program was provided by the BC Arts Council and the Canada Council in the spring of 2011.  A team of professional artists facilitate arts workshops once every two weeks with two age ranges of children: 6 to 12 year olds and 13 to 19 year olds. The disciplines included are music, songwriting, drama, theatre sports, dance, story and script writing, stage production, makeup and costuming, sound recording, multi-media production and film making. The group will participate in the workshops for 18 months, at the end of which a staged production will be produced, the theme of which will be chosen and developed by the participants during the workshops.

The purpose of the program is to give youth who have experienced serious illnesses an opportunity to engage in hands-on artistic practice for enjoyment, personal growth and self- expression. It gives them a social opportunity to interact with other young people who have experiences like their own. For most of the participants, their childhoods have been turned upside down by having to fight for their lives. Most aspects of a normal adolescence have been affected by their disease: family, relationships, schooling, appearance, self esteem, sexuality and career prospects. Our program provides a welcome artistic sanctuary from all of these serious challenges. It gives them a safe place where they can try singing, dancing, acting, clowning and other artistic mediums in a happy atmosphere, free of pressure, and mentored by professional artists.

Ptarmigan successfully delivered a Strength Within program at the BC Children Hospital in 2004-2005 with sponsorship from the Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund. After 18 months of workshops, the 15  participants – under the mentorship of 8 Ptarmigan artists – performed a moving 35 minute stage production which was an expression of their journey through surviving cancer. This production was presented at the SIOP International Cancer Conference in Vancouver in Sept. 2005.