"Art helps every human and raises capability, consciousness and awareness. Art creates culture."
John Paul DeJoria
We decided to do a little something different as we head into the long summer months in Austin. A lot of events and fundraising slow down, but we wanted to commit to funding some nonprofits who are building and sustaining community and culture through the arts. These various organizations use art to meet the needs of their communities that work with veterans, people who have experienced trauma, people in recovery, people who have been historically underrepresented in arts and business investment.
Here are the five organizations we chose to support:
Center for Survivors of Torture — Their mission and goal is to facilitate healing, ease transitions, and facilitate hope in survivors of torture and trauma. Last year they served 850 clients and their families in Texas, ages 4-75 from 38 countries. Their art classes and traditional craft groups are just one of the many healing modalities they employ to foster and sustain community healing.
DAWA — They believe in a world where DIVERSITY is a source of strength, AWARENESS normalizes challenging the status quo, WELLNESS is a collective journey, and ACTION means equitable investment of time and resources to historically underrepresented populations.
Museum of Human Achievement — They are a community-driven space grounded in affordability, inclusivity and access for artists. They also help other artists seek funding and increase their impact.
Reklaimed — This nonprofit is centered around woodworking and visual arts in order to help individuals in addiction recovery foster community through sharing skills and being of service.
Art Spark Texas — This organization challenges perceptions of how people contribute by creating an arts-inspired, inclusive community of individuals with diverse abilities. Their diverse services include services for current and prior military members and family. The arts are important to veterans because, for many military personnel, the arts are a way to express what they saw, heard, and experienced during service.
As you can see, they are all very different in what they seek to do, but all amazing. So grateful for a robust community of artists in Central Texas and these organizations that keep it all going!