Creative arts take flight at Falstaff Family Centre

Flight Studio owner and director, Michelle Giroux offering artistic classes for kids in Stratford

Flight Studio is now offering creative arts classes for children of all ages from its new year-round home in Room 1D at the Falstaff Family Centre.

The studio aims to bring extracurricular programming to Stratford and surrounding communities, with classes in visual art, music, voice and drama.

Founder and director Michelle Giroux said the idea took shape when her daughter began showing signs of creativity at home.

“My husband and I are both actors with the festival, and we’ve always had this deep appreciation for the town and everything it has to offer,” she said. “As [my daughter] started to get older, and I watched her begin to express herself at home through visual art, I thought, okay, we need to support her in these efforts and curiosity.

“Our lives have felt so rich culturally here in Stratford, and there was this kind of transfer, I think, with our daughter, where I assumed or felt that the same was true for her,” she said. “But surprisingly, in our town, we have some great offerings, but not a lot. And so this idea began to ruminate in my head.”

Through community connections, Giroux assembled a team of Stratford-based professionals to teach and guide children on their creative journeys.

Programs currently run throughout the week, including Art Mondays with multidisciplinary artist Kellen Hatanaka, Flight Choir on Tuesdays with Brooke Dufton, music classes on Wednesdays with musician Eric Lundgren, and drama on Thursdays with educator Jane Czarny.

Each day, the classroom is reconfigured to meet the needs of each one of the programs offered.

“We really transform the space every day and facilitate this instruction almost like a stage,” said Giroux. “It’s cool that each day the room has a very different feel—for visual art, the chairs are cleared, the kids are on the floor, and we’re going to get messy, whereas choir is very structured.”

Flight Studio also offers Preschool-Kinder Saturdays, creative arts classes designed for children aged two to six. These sessions encourage self-expression through art, music, movement and storytelling while helping young children build confidence and social skills.

While the current focus is on grade school-aged children, Giroux hopes to expand programming to reach teens and adults in the future.

“We aim to grow slowly and with intention,” she said.

Registration forms are available at www.flightstudio.ca