A Beautiful Work in Progress
BEING began in 2002 under the umbrella of the Down Syndrome Association for the National Capital Region. It operated only a few days a week with a handful of artists and two part-time staff. The contents of the studio were kept in a portable wooden box in a rented room at the McNabb Recreation Centre.
The initial group of volunteers secured funding from the Trillium Foundation and the Community Foundation of Ottawa which allowed the organization to move to a permanent location at the Bronson Centre, and to operate five days a week. The non-profit organization was finally incorporated in 2005 as “H’Art of Ottawa”.
In the years since then, there has been a rapid increase in the number of member-artists and in the number of exhibitions. The studio, now situated in the Bronson Centre, was reborn as BEING in 2017. It supports the creative pursuits of nearly 50 artists.