🍂🍁 Fall News from Thinking Rock Community Arts 🍁🍂

Fall Updates from
Thinking Rock Community Arts

A harvest of news from Thinking Rock!
Read on for details about:

The Summer Team
Programming Highlights, Plans + Open House Invitation
Other Great News: Arts Across Ontario, OAC Exhibition Assistance, Save the Date: OAC Virtual Grantwriting Workshop + Rainbow Registration

The Summer Team

This July, three students - Devaney Boulter, Ivy Carter and Gracie-Mae Morden - joined our summer team, thanks to support from the Canada Summer Jobs and Summer Employment Opportunities programs. Read more about each of these incredible youth by clicking their names.

Each worked on special projects: Devaney designed the Kindness Rocks project and an Orange Shirt Day Making Night with a live beading activity; Ivy researched the intersections of community arts and social work practice, which she continues to study at Nipissing University; and Gracie-Mae designed the foundations for a community-based workshop she continues to develop in the field at her Co-Op placement this semester.

ID: Summer team members (clockwise from top left) Ivy, Gracie-Mae and Devaney at our August 2025 Open House.

Programming
Highlights

Our team worked all across Algoma and online to bring the Social Fabric project to communities, hosting Workshops, Making Nights, Drop-Ins, Social Fabric Labs, Communi-Bees and Outreach events with the support of a network of partners Algoma-wide.

Some highlights include the installation and launch of our Interwoven Project mural at TRHQ (supported by the New Horizons for Seniors Program); new program partnerships with the Bruce Mines & Plummer Additional Union Public Library, and Central Algoma Secondary School; our return to AlgomaTrad Family Camp to share community-engaged arts with learners of all ages; participating in Thessalon’s first-ever Pride Fest; and presenting at NORDIK Institute’s AGM about our collaborative In Service of our Stories research report, which will be released this Fall.

You can find more information about our past programs in our annual reports and archived newsletters.

ID: Summer team member Ivy shares the UFO (UnFinished Object) project with a community member at the 2025 Fibre to Fabric Festival in Desbarats, August 2025.

Fall Programming Plans

Read all about our current and upcoming programming plans via our Instagram and Facebook, our website events calendar, and our Fall 2025 programming update. You can also subscribe to our newsletter here. Save the dates and plan to join us - we look forward to crafting community with you!

ID: Summer team member Devaney leads a special Orange Shirt Day Making Night, including beading kits and instruction for Orange Shirt Day pins, at TRHQ on September 30th, 2025.

You are Invited:
Open House @ TRHQ

On Thursday, December 11th from 6:30pm to 8pm, we’ll host a public Open House at TRHQ (199 Main Street in downtown Thessalon, ON).

Stop by to visit our space, meet members of our team, participate in our Social Fabric project, and learn more about our free, inclusive community arts-based programming!

For details, email info@thinkingrock.ca. We look forward to celebrating with you!

ID: A summer photo of TRHQ, Thessalon, showing our storefront space and Interwoven mural.

Arts Across Ontario

We’re excited to have been included, alongside colleagues working across the province, in Nordicity’s Arts Across Ontario report!

Developed with support from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), the report reveals how deeply the arts shape our province. This new Regional Economic Model shows that arts activity – and its economic impact – happens in EVERY part of Ontario. It’s a game-changer for local planning and investment.

For more info, read the news release and explore the full report!

ID: The cover of the Arts Across Ontario report and the accompanying map of Ontario, showing Culture GDP by region (source: OAC).

OAC Exhibition Assistance

We’re proud to be new recommenders in the OAC’s 2025-26 Exhibition Assistance Program!

We support contemporary art practices and presentations/projects across all disciplines, with special priority given to artists and collectives living in the Algoma District of Zone 5, at all stages of their careers. We accept and assess applications at two deadline dates annually (October 1 + January 15).

Click here for more information about the program and our process!

ID: Yellow and orange text boxes saying “OAC Exhibition Assistance”, “We are accepting applications”, and “Apply by January 15th @ 11:59pm” float above a colourful abstract drawing with the OAC’s logo below.

Rainbow Registration

Did you know? Thinking Rock is Rainbow Registered! This means that we meet a stringent set of standards to ensure that 2SLGBTQI+ community members feel more welcomed and accepted in our work. This national accreditation is administered by Canada’s 2SLGBTQIA+ Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC) with Tourism HR Canada. To read more about the program, click here.

ID: A photo of our sandwich board outside of TRHQ, promoting our Pride Morning Make event, part of Thessalon’s first-ever Pride Fest in June 2025. The Rainbow Registered logo floats above the bottom of the image.

ID: Images of 2024-25 activities, from left to right - Top row: Elizabeth Creith delivers a hybrid Interwoven Workshop called Weaving with Words; a woven reflection on community, created at Northland Adult Learning Centre (NALC); participants prepare window weavings at NALC. Middle row: Pumpkin poses pretty at TRHQ; a braiding-themed drop-in at the Old Stone House; a blanket fort created at the Ketegaunseebee Public Library. Bottom row: intergenerational participants work on Social Fabric activities at the Northern Community Centre; collaged quilt blocks reflect on the light and dark of life; Isabelle Michaud delivers an Interwoven Workshop called We Be-Lung Together.

Donate

Your support helps us to grow and thrive!
We accept donations through our website or by cheque.

Though we’re not able to offer charitable receipts at this time,
we offer huge amounts of gratitude and love to all of our donors!

Miigwetch, Merci & Thank You
to our Funders, Supporters and Partners!

For a full listing of funders, supporters and partners past and present,
please visit our website here.

Fall Updates fromThinking Rock Community Arts