Come enjoy Creative Writing Workshops at St. Matthew’s Clubhouse with our friends at Firefly Creative Writing for the 2025 Summer Season! Pre-registration is required, and new subsidized bursary spots are being offered. Scroll down to learn more.
Firefly Creative Writing Courses
Summer 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 has moved 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 50% subsidized bursary spots for folks from the east end who face financial barriers. Please scroll down to learn about the in-person workshops they are presenting at the Clubhouse this Summer, 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.
-Summer 2025 Firefly Workshops-
Worlds of Words: The Fiction Edition (TWO BURSARY SPOTS AVAILABLE)
A workshop for teens to discover the world of fiction
In-Person with Asifa (she/her)
Monday August 18 to Friday August 22
1:30 – 4pm daily, plus a reading on Friday from 7-8:30pm
Full Cost: $515/person ($257.50 with bursary)
In this workshop, a small group of teens aged 14-17 will meet for five sessions to explore the world of fiction.In our first class, each participant will brainstorm and then choose one central idea, and then we’ll build on that idea in each class through different aspects of fiction — character, setting, plot, theme. There will be optional creative exercises that can be done between classes or after the workshop ends.The workshop will follow closely to the Firefly principle that “there is no way to do this wrong.” Participants will write and write and write, and through that, to trust their voices and create fictional worlds in new, brave ways.
Learn more HERE: https://fireflycreativewriting.com/teen-fiction-workshop
Keep Your Pen Moving (ONE BURSARY SPOT AVAILABLE)
A wide-reaching writing workshop for beginner and seasoned writers
In-Person with Kim (she/her) @ St.Matthew’s Clubhouse (Toronto)
6 Tuesday evenings, weekly
6:30pm – 9pm ET
July 8 – August 19 (no class July 29)
Full Cost: $575/person ($287.50 with bursary)
This is a high-energy class for anyone who wants to get their heart pumping and their hand dancing across the page or keyboard. We’ll write quickly and slowly, seriously and playfully, letters, poems, tributes, rants, memories, tiny stories, and passionate diatribes. Come splash your feet in the beautiful waters of your own creative voice.
We’ll work through short, fun writing exercises to unclog our creativity and produce lots of new material.We’ll explore a mix of autobiographical writing, character development, and yes, even some poetry. (This isn’t English class — we’ll make it fun.) We’ll share work as we create it, and everyone will have the chance to write one piece to bring to the group for deeper feedback.This workshop aims to be encouraging, joyful and productive at every step. Learn more HERE: https://fireflycreativewriting.com/keep-your-pen-moving
➡️ 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.
-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