The model and practice of Art Hives have evolved through two decades of sustained practice research, continuous observation and adaptation, and experimentation with spaces and organizational structures led by Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos, who has developed and established six successful art hives in different locations across North America.
In the last few years the Montreal-based art hives, La Ruche d'art and Studio d’ Art St-Sulpice have garnered much attention and have been highly appreciated by the local community. Funding was acquired, through the generous support of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, to seed a three-year initiative intended to facilitate learning and information-sharing on how both the model and practice of arts-based social inclusion can be replicated or adapted in other communities, both locally and across Canada. With the objective of recording, capturing and distilling the Art Hive model and practice in order to make it as transparent, accessible, and understandable as possible, the initial phase of the Art Hive Initiative will take the form of three separate but interrelated approaches : evaluation, communication, and dissemination.
