Come enjoy Creative Writing Workshops at St. Matthew’s Clubhouse with our friends at Firefly Creative Writing for the 2025 Spring Season! Pre-registration is required, and new subsidized bursary spots are being offered. Scroll down to learn more.
Firefly Creative Writing Courses
Spring Season, 2025
St. Matthew’s Clubhouse, 450 Broadview Avenue, Toronto
Pre-registration Required
As part of a new partnership, East End Arts is excited to announce that Firefly Creative Writing will be “officially” moving into our home at St. Matthew’s Clubhouse to present their in-person writing workshops! While the Firefly team sadly had to leave their space up on Danforth Avenue during the pandemic, this feels like an exciting return to the east end moment where they can now call our Clubhouse home for a while ❤️. Welcome home Firefly!
Both of our organizations align beautifully in the way we value and support the community through creativity. As part of this new partnership, each in-person creative writing workshop taking place at St. Matthew’s Clubhouse will offer one partly subsidized bursary spot for a person from the east end who faces financial barriers. Please scroll down to learn about the three in-person workshops they are presenting at the Clubhouse this Spring, and fill out our Firefly/EEA Bursary Form (found below) if you would like to be considered for these 50% subsidized spots!
*Please note that this new Bursary partnership will operate lottery-style (meaning a random name will be drawn from those who put their name forward). Also note that no one person can be given more than one bursary per season.
-Spring 2025 Firefly Workshops-
Begin Here
A fun and easy creative writing workshop for absolute beginners!
In-Person with Kim (she/her)
5 Wednesday evenings @ St.Matthew’s Clubhouse (Toronto)
6:30 – 8:30pm ET
April 23 – May 28 (no class May 7)
“So… You have no idea where to start. Writing isn’t complicated. Thinking about it, avoiding it, fearing it, resisting it — that’s where things get tangled up.
In this workshop we’ll bust past our barriers and write. This is a joyful, non-intimidating space for anyone who has the urge to express themselves through words, but keeps putting it off.
We welcome participants who are full of fear, have zero experience, and don’t know where to start. Bring us your uncertainties and we’ll help you uncover your unique stories, voice and drive. While almost all our workshops at Firefly are a great place for beginners, this one is designed for them.”
Learn more HERE: https://fireflycreativewriting.com/begin-here-writing-workshop
The Life Stories
A memoir-writing workshop for anyone with stories in their hearts!
In-Person with Asifa (she/her) @ St.Matthew’s Clubhouse (Toronto)
6 Thursday evenings, weekly
6:30pm – 9pm ET
April 10 – May 15
“Is your life full of stories waiting to be told?This class is for folks who want to escape the grind, nourish their creative souls, and write some of their life stories. We’ll use short writing exercises, supportive feedback, and lots of sharing to shake away our blocks, find our writing voices, and move some of our stories onto the page.”Learn more HERE: https://fireflycreativewriting.com/life-stories-workshop
City Sanctuary
A weekend of writing in the heart of Toronto!
With Kim and Asifa
In-person at St. Matthew’s Clubhouse (Toronto) on Saturday May 31, 10am–4:30pm
In-person at St. Matthew’s Clubhouse (Toronto) on Sunday June 1, 11am–3pm
Plus a pre-retreat session via Zoom on Friday May 23, 7–9:30pm
“Are you longing to sink in and write?
In the busy clamor of everyday life, it’s hard to find the space to write. Shopping lists may come easily. Emails, post-it notes, no problem. But to soften into it, find the stories inside our stories, and the authenticity, authority and tenderness to tell them — that takes a different kind of container.
This retreat is an invitation to step out of the sway of the day-to-day into something different. Together we’ll make a sanctuary for our writing selves in the middle of the city, to shake off our fears and resistances, and write the things we are longing to write.
Winter isn’t just a season, it’s an invitation to listen, to attune newly to what’s inside of us and what needs to be given voice. We would love to meet you there.”
Learn more HERE: https://fireflycreativewriting.com/city-sanctuary
➡️ To put your name forward for our new Bursary program with Firefly Creative Writing, please fill out the form at the button below! Please note that this bursary program will cover 50% of the original workshop costs. Also please note that we will only contact those who are successful in the lottery process.
-About Firefly Creative Writing-
Website | Facebook | Instagram
“We are a small crew of word-loving creatives in Southern Ontario, passionate about community and writing.
Writing can be complicated, overwhelming and scary. It can also be joyful and liberating and hilarious. We’re here for all of it.
We’re all writers ourselves, which means that we love to write, long to write, and struggle to write. We support each other along the way because we know that everything is easier when we are supported and seen.
We talk a lot about accessibility, safety, and how to keep rooting our work in decolonial practices. We put a lot of time and care into our relationships with each other. We celebrate mistakes. We love to laugh. We are a constant work in progress.”
Be sure to visit Firefly’s website for info on their online workshops, and more!
If you have questions about this new bursary partnership, please feel free to reach out to East End Arts’ Program Manager, Mahmoud, at mahmoud@eastendarts.ca