Schools, Workshops & Education
The Flava Factory
The Flava Factory is the only dance studio in Ottawa dedicated to teaching and promoting the urban dance styles of Popping, Breaking, House, Locking, Hip Hop, Vogue, Waacking, and Dancehall.
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Ottawa School of Art
With a downtown campus and an Orleans campus, “The Ottawa School of Art offers a full range of specialized art courses including life drawing, landscape painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture, lithography, watercolour, etching, printmaking, and a wide variety of specialized short courses and workshops'' for children, teens and adults of all levels. The OSA offers a non-for-credit Arts Fundamentals Certificate, a one-year Portfolio Development Program and a 3-year Diploma Program.
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SPAO
“SPAO (School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa) is a leading Canadian Photographic Arts Centre, housing the only two-year photographic arts college in Canada, numerous evening and weekend part-time classes, a unique international artist residency and the only critical and independent gallery in the region dedicated to lens-based art.”
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uOttawa
“The Department of Visual Arts offers four undergraduate and two graduate programs that respond to your various interests and needs: a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), a Major in Visual Arts, a Major and a Minor in History and Theory of Art, a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) as well as a Master of Contemporary Art Theory.” Similarly, uOttawa’s Department of Theatre offers undergraduate and graduate programs in theatre studie and, acting, and its School of Music offers programs in performance, musicology, theory, composition, music education, piano pedagogy, and arts administration.
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Algonquin College
Algonquin College offers a wide variety of college-level courses and diplomas as well as a few Bachelor’s degrees in the arts, including in areas such as Animation, Applied Museum Studies, Interior Design, Illustration, Interactive Media Design and Photography. Several of its courses include a co-op option.
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Carleton University: SSAC
Carleton University’s School for Studies in Arts and Culture offers undergraduate and graduate-level programs in Art & Architectural History, Film Studies and Music.
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OAG
“OAG offers subsidized creative workshops and other programming for community groups across the Ottawa-Gatineau region, in addition to building community partnerships and projects that enrich and engage the lives of our community members including seniors; youth and adults carrying the experiences of mental illness; LGBTQ2S+; and participants of all ages.” For those between the ages of 15 and 25, the OAG Youth Council regularly hosts free art workshops with free snacks and supplies. For folks of all ages, OAG also hosts free observational sketching workshops, Sketchy Thursdays, on the last Thursday of every month. For families, OAG hosts Creative Sundays and Toddler Mornings.
https://oaggao.ca/learn/
https://oaggao.ca/learn/activities-and-public-programs/youth/
https://oaggao.ca/learn/activities-and-public-programs/adult-programs/sketchy-thursdays/
https://oaggao.ca/learn/activities-and-public-programs/kids-and-family-programs/
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada offers guided tours, webinars, workshops. Some activities are by reservation and must be purchased. The Gallery is always free on Thursdays and sometimes hosts free tours and art workshops.
https://www.gallery.ca/whats-on/event-calendar/month
https://www.gallery.ca/learn/for-adults
Ottawa Tool Library
The Ottawa Tool Library hosts introductory workshops on a host of subjects, such as basic tool safety, woodworking, drywall repair, plumbing, sewing and tiling. On Demo Nights, an expert delivers ideas and skills to attendees in a simple, approachable demonstration format. Its Tinkering School also offers programming for children aged 8-12 to learn safe handling of tools.
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My Urban Workshop
My Urban Workshop hosts woodworking courses in Nepean. It is not currently hosting events due to the pandemic.
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LOAM Clay Studio
LOAM is a pottery studio in Little Italy that offers wheel throwing and hand-building courses. Their six-week workshops are available seven days a week, morning and evening, and cater to all levels of experience. LOAM also offers private classes. They also host single sessions, including date nights on the wheel and afternoon handbuilding workshops. While most courses are taught by highly experienced LOAM studio staff, several master classes are offered every year with guest potters.
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Hintonburg Pottery Shop
Hintonburg Pottery is a pottery studio in Hintonburg that offers handbuilding and wheel throwing courses for youth and adults, as well as workshops and camps.
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Gladstone ClayWorks
Gladstone ClayWorks a non-profit pottery cooperative studio in Little Italy. While it mostly caters to its members, it also offers some courses for beginner and intermediate potters.
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DAÏMÔN
DAÏMÔN is an artist-run centre for media arts located in Gatineau. It offers "Cercles de pratiques" (Circle of Practices): peer-learning worskshops through which community members can interact and share their experience and expertise with each-other.
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Art House Café
The Art House Café in Centretown hosts several casual art workshops, either via drop-in or registration. Activities change regularly but typically include weekly or monthly figure drawing and clay nights.
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Digital Arts Resource Centre (DARC)
“Digital Arts Resource Centre (formerly SAW Video) is a not-for-profit, artist-run media art centre that fosters the growth and development of artists through access to equipment, training, mentorship, and programming.” Its courses and workshops include “making music with live coding,” “intro to screenwriting,” “intro to filmmaking” and more. Some are virtual and others are in person.
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Old Ottawa East Community Activities Group Figure Drawing
The Old Ottawa East Community Activities Group offers weekly figure drawing, typically on Wednesday mornings. Each pose is three hours long and there is a different model each week. Individuals must register for the full nine week course.
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Atelier de nu
“Atelier Denu is a workshop in Ottawa that trains artists in life drawing and other figurative art, develops professional competencies for models, and works with other progressive organisations to achieve social justice.” Atelier Denu typically hosts two drop-in life drawing sessions per week – one at the University of Ottawa and one at the Art House Café – as well as outdoor life drawing in the summertime. The themes, number of models and duration of poses vary from week to week.
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Nepean Creative Arts Centre
“The Nepean Creative Arts Centre offers visual and performing arts classes taught by accomplished artists - painters, actors, filmmakers, writers, photographers, musicians - in custom studio spaces for participants of all levels of ability. Our goal is to provide an experience that enriches quality of life through art and culture. From preschool to adult, students experience a diversity of arts instruction.”
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Nepean Creative Arts Centre
“The Nepean Visual Arts Centre offers specialty arts classes taught by accomplished artists - painters, potters, illustrators, sculptors, photographers - in custom studio spaces for participants of all levels of ability. From preschool to adult, students experience a diversity of arts instruction in a creative and dynamic environment. Artists also have the opportunity to display their artwork at Nepean Visual Arts Centre’s studio gallery.”
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Possible Worlds
“Possible Worlds is a community-driven, artist-run, woman of colour led-space, specializing in graphic art, print and electronic music.” Possible Worlds hosts workshops in screen printing, risograph printing, book binding, electronic music and DJ music, and more.
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uOttawa Richard L’Abbé Makerspace
The uOttawa Richard L’Abbé Makerspace is a place that allows everyone to collaborate and build their dream projects. It is open to students and community members to invent, make, build and play for free. They offer tools such as laser cutters, 3D printers, rendering software and VR.
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