Image by: Linda Carmel
Thank you Ontario Trillium Foundation
SAWITRI Theatre Group was awarded a seed grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for the “Stitch In Time Project” (SIT) in 2019 to provide participants access, especially those who are newcomers or face socio-economic barriers, to learn anew, or renew sewing and/or embroidery skills to artistically express themselves through fabric-art, making wearable/useable items that connect them to their culture. This pilot project concludes this month and we would like to thank everyone connected with it.
SAWITRI Theatre Group is grateful to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for supporting the “Stitch In Time” project and thanks all the participants and the artists and agencies who partnered to make this project a great success – Tanya Theberge, Carolyn Den Elzen, Asha Ponnachan, Anita Diwan, Sweta Surisetti, Elly Ball, Uzma Irfan, The Open Space, the Punjabi Community Health Services, Polycultural Immigrant and Community Services, Malton Women Council and Ruth Ann McKay at BridgeWay Family Centre. SAWITRI Theatre is very excited to have piloted this project and we feel that this is the start of a much larger movement to help women come together and build community through the art of sewing and embroidery.
The objective of this project was to help break down barriers: socio-economic; language; technology; etc. and make participants feel more connected to their community. The Stitch In Time project started in January 2020, was put on hold due to the COVID lockdowns and then pivoted to continuing online. Whether in-person prior to COVID, or online due to the ongoing lockdowns, SAWITRI provided a safe environment to the participants to enhance their fabric art skills and build community.
Says Co-Founder & Artistic Co-Director, Jasmine Sawant, “Fabrics are our second skin that not only protect but also provide us our cultural identity. Functional or fashionable they have been a part of the development of the human race. In these difficult times where more barriers and borders are being put up, we hope that the SIT Project will help take down some of these barriers and erase some of these borders”. |