The art of neighbourhood life

Most mornings when I step outside my door at Philips Square, I look across the street and see something that makes me quietly grateful to live where I do. It isn’t just the park or skyline view — it’s the steady rhythm of people coming and going through the doors of the Forum Art Centre at the corner of Eugenie Street and Taché Avenue.

Children clutching sketchbooks. Teens balancing portfolios under their arms. Adults with aprons dusted in clay or paint. Seniors greeting one another before class. Newcomers stepping into their first art lesson in Canada. Almost every day, in every season, this little building fills with people ready to make art — and in doing so, they make community.

The Forum Art Centre has been part of Winnipeg’s creative landscape for more than 60 years, offering art instruction and inspiration to thousands. Founded in 1964 by a group of artists and educators, it has survived relocations, funding challenges and the changing tides of art education. Its mission has remained remarkably consistent: to make art accessible, to foster creativity and to build connections through shared expression.

Housed today in a former city library on Coronation Park, the centre feels perfectly at home. On warm days, artmaking may spill outside — easels under trees, sketchbooks open on park benches, students painting in the open air. It’s art and nature in easy conversation. Inside, the hum of creativity continues with drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking and mixed media. Many of Winnipeg’s most celebrated artists have taught here, passing along their craft, discipline and love of art to the next generation.

If someone can’t afford the full cost of a class, the Forum finds a way to help through scholarships and bursaries. Outreach programs bring art into schools, seniors’ homes and community centres, extending the Forum’s reach far beyond its walls. Its volunteer board and staff work tirelessly to keep the lights on and the brushes moving, guided by a simple but powerful belief: that art should be for everyone.

But the Forum is more than an art school — it’s a neighbourhood anchor. Step outside and you feel its presence woven into the rhythm of a four-block stretch of Taché between St. Mary’s and Marion. Here, creativity and community intermingle in the most Winnipeg way possible. Within steps are Big Sky Run Company, Coronation Lanes, White Lion Strong, Shirley’s Dance Studio, Frenchie’s Records and Coffee, Thyme Café, Le Croissant, Mrs. Mike’s, Nola, Bar Accanto, Fortify, Pasquale’s, The Wood Tavern — plus plenty of services like salons, a barbershop, massage, dentist, florist, attorney and shoe repair. And I’m sure I’ve missed a few!

Together they form a pocket of vitality — a reminder that great neighbourhoods aren’t designed from above; they evolve through the daily habits of people who live, work and create there. The Forum Art Centre is the heartbeat of this ecosystem right here in St. Boniface’s Norwood Grove — the place that reminds us that art belongs in everyday life, not only in museums or galleries. Its members, students and staff help sustain the surrounding businesses — grabbing a coffee before class, lunch after a workshop or a celebratory dinner after a show. It’s a cottage industry of creativity, another small but powerful economic driver. Maybe you read the recent Free Press story citing a Probe Research poll, which reported that Manitoba’s creative and cultural industries generated more than 20,000 jobs and $1.75 billion in economic value in 2023.

When you peek through the Forum’s front windows, you might see students working on portraits or landscapes, abstract forms taking shape, colours layered and blended, stories forming in paint and charcoal. But if you linger a little longer, you see something even more important: people talking, laughing, learning — sometimes struggling — but always connecting. In a world that often feels disconnected and hurried, the centre offers a slower, more meaningful rhythm — one based on attention, curiosity and care.

I’ve come to think of the Forum as a kind of civic classroom — not only teaching art, but nurturing the values that help a community thrive: patience, respect, openness and imagination. Every drawing and painting session is also a quiet act of belonging. And that’s no small thing in a city that needs more spaces where people can feel both safe and inspired.

The centre’s story is also a reminder of the power of small organizations. It doesn’t have the scale or budget of a museum, but its impact is profound. Run by volunteers and a few staff and sustained by tuition dollars, grants and donations, it endures because people believe in it — because they’ve seen what happens when art becomes part of everyday life. In many ways, the Forum represents the best of Winnipeg: resilient, welcoming, unpretentious, creative and deeply human.

Some evenings, when I look across the street and see the lights glowing through its windows, I’m reminded that art is not just something we hang on walls. It’s something we live with — a thread that ties us to our place, our neighbours and ourselves.

As Winnipeg continues to evolve, we would do well to cherish and support spaces like the Forum Art Centre. They are not luxuries; they are necessities — the quiet, steady forces that keep our communities alive and connected.

Because when a child picks up a paintbrush for the first time, an older adult returns to art after decades or a new neighbour finds their voice through colour and line, something larger happens. It’s not just about making art — it’s about making home.

Stephen Borys is president and CEO of Civic Muse, and a former director and CEO of the Winnipeg Art Gallery.