We are thrilled and proud to announce that our partner, the LivingRoom Community Art Studio, is a winner of the 2025 I Partner With My Public Library Awards.
These awards celebrate the achievements of collaborations between public libraries and community partners, highlighting opportunities to create and expand these partnerships.
The LivingRoom Community Art Studio has made it easier for everyone to engage in the arts, especially those who don’t see themselves as artists or who face social or economic challenges. They believe that “everyone is an artist,” which helps build confidence and strengthen community connections among Oshawa Public Libraries (OPL) customers.
This partnership is essential during OPL’s Summer Reading Club, where LivingRoom combines literacy and art. In 2023, they hosted a week of activities at the John Aker Northview Branch to celebrate Oshawa’s Centennial, inviting families to create art together. In 2025, participants helped create pieces for a community art vending machine, which was showcased at a major city event.
These drop-in sessions encourage people of all ages to participate, with children and parents creating art side by side. Their programs draw large crowds and receive excellent feedback.
The LivingRoom Community Art Studio is an exceptional partner to Oshawa Public Libraries, showcasing the transformative power of accessible, community-based art. They create safe spaces for creativity and connection, especially for marginalized individuals. Their dedication to inclusion and empowerment through art remained steadfast during the pandemic as they introduced the Mobile Art Hive, which brings creativity to those in need across Durham Region. Our decade-long partnership has evolved into co-led programming, enriching our literacy initiatives and emphasizing that everyone has a voice, story, and creative spark worth nurturing.
They are not just a partner—they are a pillar of Oshawa’s creative ecosystem and a model for what true community partnerships can be.
About Let’s Move in Libraries
Since 2016, Let’s Move in Libraries has served as the premier organization in North America championing the power of public library partnerships to advance community health. Inspired by former U.S. First Lady’s Let’s Move! campaign, Let’s Move in Libraries exists to inspire action by sharing stories and information related to the work local public libraries and their partners undertake in communities around the world, with a particular focus on the United States of America and Canada. Learn more at LetsMoveInLibraries.org. A registered 501(C)3 Non-profit organization, Let’s Move in Libraries was started at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2016.