Under the leadership of Brenda Nixon, rehabilitation assistant, this extraordinary workshop has introduced a contract to establish the droit d’auteur for all clients whose original artwork is reproduced.

Since 2004, each of these artists has signed a legal contact with the Wellington Centre, ensuring they will receive 30 percent of all net proceeds from sales of individual works.

Why is this such a positive move? First of all, the extra money helps artists to improve their day-to-day quality of life. It also promotes self-esteem and self-confidence— building a priceless “I can do it!” attitude. This encourages them to move forward with their own personal journeys of recovery, whether it be in the workforce, as a volunteer, or at school.

This initiative has received passionate support from retired lawyer Marie Lucie Doyon, former vicepresident of the Commission de reconnaissance des associations d'artistes et des associations de producteurs, who graciously donated her personal time to prepare the contract between the artists and the Wellington Centre, “These people are artists and they should be paid for their work. It’s their right. This is an important initiative for the Douglas, something I haven’t seen elsewhere in Montréal. I hope it inspires other organizations.”

Humble Beginnings

The Card Workshop began modestly in 1988 under Brenda Nixon’s leadership. Originally located in a warehouse in St. Henri, it started with one table, a few chairs, and a tiny budget. Today, it serves an average of 60 patients each week, who design hundreds of gorgeous cards in the course of a year.

In 2004, the workshop struck up a rewarding partnership with Louise Champagne, Douglas administrative attaché. Since then, Louise and Brenda have worked tirelessly to ensure the production and marketing of card portfolios to many government, business, and community organizations. Louise was responsible for approaching Ms. Doyon about designing the contract between the artists and the Wellington Center. Although Louise has since retired, she continues to promote the cards on a volunteer basis. In the 2006 Christmas Card Campaign alone, she sold over 7,000 cards.

Over the past 19 years, the Card Workshop has evolved dramatically, with its artwork seen on cards of all types, at conferences, in art galleries—even in the Hollywood movie Gothika, and, more recently, in the Quebec film Borderline, to be released shortly.