From the very beginning Artbarn School was, first and foremost, about teaching art to children and adults. “We were determined that it was going to be about education and not the bottom-line profit,” says executive director and founding member Linda McMaster of the school started by a group of friends in 2005.
Formerly an art educator, Linda worked with children from kindergarten through to Grade 12 before the idea for Artbarn School began to take shape. The school started out as a not-for-profit and the process of creation and growth that led to its attaining charity status has been a journey. “At the beginning we were in a church basement and we grew from there,” says Linda. “It took us three years before we got our first space here on Eglinton.”