24/25

LISTENING TO CHILDREN,
CREATING WITH COMMUNITY

A Celebration of the Artists in Neighbourhoods City of Hamilton Project, presented at Red Hill Family Center 

The culminating exhibition was a celebration of the powerful partnerships between children, artist educators, educators, families, and neighbourhood organizations across Hamilton. Through creative play, storytelling, mark-making, and collective reflection, children explored what it means to belong, to express, and to be heard. Artist educators, working alongside early years teams, supported these explorations by listening closely and co-creating alongside the children.

The exhibition included three parts:

Community Collaboration Installations

Each installation was created by an artist educator in collaboration with children and educators at their site. These pieces reflect the everyday creativity and cultural richness of each neighbourhood.

Voices in Motion – A Collaborative Mural

This mural brought together the vibrant energy of all program sites through children’s spinner art and written reflections. Each square responds to a simple but powerful question: What does art mean to you?

Listening to Children Vinyl Wall

Featuring transcribed conversations that honoured the words, thoughts, and questions of children—documented and curated by artist educators. These excerpts reveal the depth of children’s thinking, their humour, their wisdom, and their way of seeing the world.

Together, these works offered a glimpse into a city-wide story of creativity, care, and community. They ask us to slow down, pay attention, and see the hundred languages children speak.

"Star watching makes me happy!"
Heard during painting at Umbrella Family and Child Centres - Cathy Wever
“Your happy room is different than mine, but I want to spend time in your happy room too.”
Heard during Safe Space Creation activity at YMCA - Queen Victoria
"Everybody made something different!"
Observed during "free creative time" at BGC - Queen Mary
"We can use anything to make music!"
Observed during music-making parties at BGC - Queen Mary
"I can make patterns with these tools!"
From clay exploration at Umbrella Family and Child Centres - Cathy Wever
"We're making gifts for others!"
Seen during sticker creation at YMCA - Queen Victoria
"I'm going to paint you and me!"
From an art exhibition discussion at Umbrella Family and Child Centres - Cathy Wever
"Things are always different from another angle, but that doesn't mean it's wrong."
Learned during a collaborative snow mural at YMCA - Queen Victoria