POVA IN THE NEWS: Patch - Neighborhood Nonprofit Spotlight: Poverty and the Arts
Patch talks to Poverty and the Arts about its mission to reintegrate formerly homeless artists into the community, and to inspire their creative instincts.
Patch: Tell Patch a little bit about your organization!
Poverty and the Arts: Located in the Wedgewood-Houston Neighborhood of South Nashville, Poverty & the Arts (PovA) is a 501c3 social enterprise nonprofit that provides opportunities for homeless and formerly homeless artists to foster their creativity and form meaningful relationships. Using the arts as a conduit, our volunteer opportunities offer unique and varied ways for community members to interact with the artists and dispel stereotypes surrounding homelessness. The Artist Collective program provides a safe space for our artists to create artwork at the PovA studio in partnership with mentors from the local arts community.
Finished works are displayed in the gallery at the studio as well is in businesses and personal collections across the city. Program participants receive 60% commission of original artwork sold and 25% of
prints and merchandise featuring their designs. Not only are our artists able to generate income and gain valuable entrepreneurial, artistic and professional development skills through the Artist Collective program,
they also find a place that nourishes the soul, builds their confidence and reignites their dreams.
Patch: How does your organization help to strengthen the local community?
Poverty and the Arts: Our organization utilizes creativity and the arts as a means to create an environment in which the Nashville community can interact with individuals experiencing homelessness. We act as a complement to service organizations, with a goal of breaking barriers and stereotypes caused by social and economic divisions. We provide a unique opportunity for community members to see their homeless neighbors in a creative light and on common ground. In addition to providing the community with diverse ways to interact with the homeless, our artists experiencing an transitioning out of homelessness are given opportunities to gain valuable social skills and rebuild security nets and relationships with our volunteers, our hands-on board of directors, and other artists.
Patch: What is the biggest struggle your organization faces?
Poverty and the Arts: The biggest struggle our organization faces has to do with being a young organization experiencing rapid growth and limited resources. This organization's mission is truly filling a gap in the emotional and social needs of the homeless population, as well as providing individuals who have limitations to traditional employment (caused by criminal history, physical, and/or mental disabilities) with ways to earn creative income. We are working hard to diversify our customer base, to grow a knowledgeable and stable board of directors, and to raise funds to create necessary paid staff positions.
Patch: What do you hope for the future of your nonprofit?
Poverty and the Arts: Our main goal is to continue to grow the number of artists we serve in our Artist Collective and provide further artistic, professional, and entrepreneurial opportunities for our artists. We plan to achieve this in the following ways: to create a catalogue of artistic and professional workshops for our artists to select and attend; to provide ongoing opportunities throughout the year for them to engage in various cultural and artistic performances around town; to develop more exhibition opportunities outside of our studio gallery; to grow the presence of our artists' works in corporate offices, hotels, coffee shops, etc.; and to create a mentor program that connects our artists with volunteers in the community who support them as they transition out of homelessness.