Arts Access Program at Matheny
Pick-Up Event: Saturday, November 12, 2pm to 4pm
The Dora Stern Gallery at Arts Unbound
544 Freeman Street, Orange, NJ
RSVP through our Fb event page.
Art Garden CSA: A Community Supported Arts Project Serving Artists with Disabilities
Arts Access is pleased to announce that we have received a $100,000 Community Employment Grant from the Kessler Foundation! This 2-year grant is designated to launch the innovative “Art Garden CSA: A Community Supported Arts Project Serving Artists with Disabilities.” We will be partnering with Arts Unbound in West Orange to pursue this exciting venture and bring it to reality for our clients. The award was announced on Friday, September 11, 2015, and we are eager and ready to begin. The time is ripe!
About Community Supported Art Based on Community Supported Agriculture, Community Supported Art (CSA) is an innovative model of art support and distribution that supports artists and establishes relationships with local collectors and patrons. With a buy-direct, buy-local spirit in mind, CSA’s have proven highly successful across the country.
Art Garden CSA Arts Access, in collaboration with Arts Unbound, will create the Art Garden, the first CSA for artists with disabilities. This is a new and fresh approach to promote and generate income for artists with disabilities. An important aspect of the Art Garden is to integrate the Matheny artists into the community at large, creating unique connections between the artists and the community, leading to greater exposure for the artists and potential future sales.
How It Works The artists will receive a commission to contribute art “shares” for the project. Interested collectors/investors will purchase shares from the Art Garden, and, in return, receive boxes of locally produced “fresh art,” at pickup events throughout the year. Featured art could include high-quality prints, limited edition scarves and ties, 3-D printed sculptures, etc. The Matheny clients will be integrally involved in the marketing and business aspects of the CSA: writing blogs, posting their art, responding to emails, in-person promotion at art pickup events, and more.
Benefits
- Improve employment outcomes by creating immediate employment
- Open doors to expanded professional art careers for the Matheny artists
- Earn direct income through their talents and passion for the arts
- Potential for future income through establishing ongoing relationships with patrons
- Increased community integration and ongoing interaction
- Recognition for their artistic accomplishments
- increased self-esteem through positive sense of identity as artists, and as contributing members of society
