We are thrilled to present the second iteration of the Art for Social Change Workshop Series, taking place June - August, 2026. This workshop series is led by artists, activists, and facilitators exploring the power of art to create inner and outer change. A huge thank you to OPIRG Guelph for supporting this series.
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
What does it mean to resist – not just in moments of urgency, but as a sustained practice, as sacred ritual? Ritualizing Resistance is a zine-making playshop that invites storytellers to explore resistance as something we return to, tend to, and transform through intentional acts.
We are living in times of climate chaos, violent displacement of innocent people, corrupt regimes that disregard the health and wellbeing of citizens, and the continued ravaging of the natural world. It is more critical than ever for us to speak up and share our experiences. Our stories have the power to heal relationships, reinforce our collective memory, resist systems of oppression, and to create change.
Through creative writing, arts-based prompts, and critically curious conversations, we will speak truth to power while envisioning equitable and just futures for all. We’ll play with simple prompts to draw, doodle, and write to create our own zines. This is a space for writers and artists of all levels, especially those seeking to connect their creative practice to social change, healing, and community.
Justine Abigail Yu (she/her) is the founder of Living Hyphen, a community that explores what it means to live in between cultures as a hyphenated Canadian – this is, anyone who calls Canada home but has roots elsewhere. She is an award-winning facilitator whose work has appeared in the Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, CTV National News, and CBC. Recognized as a “Changemaker” by the Toronto Star, Justine is a fierce advocate for equity, justice, and collective liberation. Her mission is to stir the conscience and spur social change.
Ritualizing Resistance: A Zinemaking Playshop with Justine Abigail Yu
Saturday, July 11, 1 - 4 pm, 119 Wyndham St. N, Guelph ON
This 4-hour workshop invites participants to break the mold! Unlearn the flat, typecast characters absorbed from mainstream media and create layered, nuanced characters that reflect the complexity of ourselves and our communities.
Through a mix of physical exploration, writing, discussion, and play, this workshop examines how character creation can help unpack social constructs, hierarchies, and limited beliefs. Expect movement, writing, talking, (maybe even) laughter, and reflection. Participants will leave with a deeper sense of creative agency and a handful of characters rooted in honesty, care, and power.
Techniques include Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, Laban Movement, status play, mime, and guided free writing. The work is physical and reflective, rigorous and joyful.
Elly Pond (she/they) is a performer, writer, and facilitator with foundations in both classical and experimental theatre. Originally from Guelph, Elly studied Acting for the Theatre at Concordia University and has since performed theatre and comedy in Montreal, Toronto, Vermont, New York City, and Singapore.
Their performance and production credits include collaborations with Imago Theatre, Guelph Comedy Festival, Bread & Puppet Theatre, National University of Singapore, and Repercussion Theatre. They currently produce comedy festivals with Bad Dog Theatre in Toronto. Elly also teaches acting at Concordia University and runs improv workshops for Queer youth in Montreal.
Elly’s creative focus lies in dark comedy, everyday magic, and ensemble-driven storytelling. Their current projects explore feminine rage, climate collapse, cult dynamics, and chosen family. Across mediums, they aim to craft stories that are witty, political, emotionally charged, and a little bit strange.
Beyond the Stereotype: Creating Authentic Characters with Elly Pond
Sunday, July 26, 1 - 5 pm, 119 Wyndham St. N, Guelph ON
PAST WORKSHOPS
Embodied Artivism with Jothi Saldanha
In this workshop, Jothi guided participants through somatic practice, collective art-making,and a soothing sound bath meditation, exploring where sacred rage, grief, and emotional truths live within us. This experience invited participants to acknowledge and express feelings of anger, frustration, overwhelm, and loss. With gentle guidance, we held space for these powerful emotions—however uncomfortable they may be—and met them with empathy, curiosity, and compassion.
"Whose Streets? Our Streets!" Protest Printmaking with Pardis Pahlavanlu
In this skill-building and community-mobilizing workshop, participants engaged the relationship between art and social movements by making their own linocut protest media.
In a space prioritizing connection, solidarity, and knowledge sharing, participants designed and carved an image for their chosen social movement and printed their protest designs on placards. Folks swapped their carved designs with each other to use on their own media, as well as on a communal poster, with the slogan “Whose Streets? Our Streets!”.