Art Starts is a charitable, not for profit organization committed to arts-based community development in the city of Toronto. Our mandate is to build healthier communities using the arts. At Art Starts we understand that the arts are a medium for engaging residents, creating a shared sense of identity, identifying challenges and collectively working to overcome them.

Art Starts uses the arts as a vehicle to encourage social change in at-risk neighbourhoods. We offer high quality, responsive and relevant creative opportunities to those who do not have access – namely people living in underserved and stressed communities. We bring together professional artists with people from various neighbourhoods and create projects and programs in all artistic media, with all ages, with artists and participants from various ethnic backgrounds. We reflect the cultures of the neighbourhood and build bridges among them. We also function as an advocacy and referral organization for the artists with whom we work.