Hillsboro's Cultural Arts District offers opportunities for people to create art as a way to support wellness. City of Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Cultural Arts and Outreach Supervisor Julio Badel said, "Art has the ability to release stress, emotion, energy, and create meditative mindsets." At venues like the Walters Cultural Arts Center, classes are offered in yoga, ceramics, and painting to combine creativity with wellness. Badel added, "The arts provide a cognitive, emotional, and physical experience that is essential to all peoples and cultures for personal expression," according to the City of Hillsboro.
At Ancora Wellness Center on Lincoln Street, owner Kara Kazemba combines art with therapy, offering services like ecotherapy and art therapy to promote mindfulness and self-care. She emphasizes, "In a culture that often pushes productivity over creativity, making space for art is a radical act of self-care and protest; one that affirms our wholeness," as reported by the City of Hillsboro.
Hillsboro also offers nature-inspired art classes from Elizabeth Higgins and senior-focused programs at the Hillsboro Community Senior Center, including Canvas and Coffee and Material Girls. As Melissa Thompson, the center’s manager, notes, "Art and creativity are essential to healthy aging," as stated by the City of Hillsboro.
