The Happening

On October 9, 2013, Her Excellency Sharon Johnston hosted an evening dedicated to exploring the relationship between mental health and creativity: "For every Canadian, a healthy mind is as important as a sound and vigorous body. Most people who consider themselves mentally fit have at some time in their life experienced a panic attack, irrational fear or unexplained sadness," stated Her Excellency. "For this reason, all of us here should have a visceral capacity—an openness of heart and mind—to understand, to feel in your gut, the effect mental illness could have on a person. Although, even then, we can only begin to imagine the horrific impact serious mental illness has on an individual," said Her Excellency.

For over 25 years, Workman Arts has empowered aspiring, emerging and established artists with mental illness and addiction issues to develop and refine their art practice through multi-faceted arts training programs and public performance/exhibition opportunities in five disciplines: music, theatre, visual, literary and media arts.

Workman Arts was founded in 1987, by executive/artistic director Lisa Brown.

Mad Couture Catwalk was developed collaboratively with artist and educator Elena Soní, who designed four original garments in cotton ducking as a “blank canvas” for each participating artist. Ten Workman Arts members, working with range of artistic media, were then selected through an adjudication of formal proposals.

The first Madness and Arts Festival was conceived and produced by Workman Arts in 2003. In 2006, Germany hosted the second festival, which featured CATWALK, a new and exciting part of the program. It was this presentation that inspired the creation of the Mad Couture Catwalk.

The evening concluded with a presentation of the Mad Couture Catwalk, a runway-style presentation of wearable art created by Workman artists that challenges norms, shifts boundaries and engages in dialogue about mental health and addiction issues.

Their Excellencies listened attentively as those in attendance shared their personal stories.

Ms. Clara Hughes, Olympian, humanitarian and motivator, shared her personal experiences on the challenges associated with mental illness.

Ms. Brigitte Gagnon, a physical educator at l’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, also shared her thoughts during the discussion.

Mr. Stephen Kurelek launched the discussion that followed the screening of the documentary William Kurelek’s The Maze - a film that recounts the life of his father as a Canadian artist struggling with mental illness.

The group discussion featured Susan Aglukark, Inuk singer, songwriter and keynote speaker who shared her thoughts on how creativity and mental health come together.