POVA IN THE NEWS: NewsChannel5 - ‘Poverty & The Arts' Launches New Campaign As Non-Profit Outgrows Studio Space

By: Kristen Skovira

Can creativity help pull people out of homelessness? Nashville non-profit "Poverty & The Arts" thinks so.

"Even though I was homeless, I still worked every day. People didn't know I was homeless at the job because I would come to work early and be ready to work," said Gwendolyn Johnson.

Johnson is an artist.

"All my paintings have a story," she said. 

Johnson's own story includes homelessness. She says at 50-years old her life was forever changed when she connected with "Poverty & The Arts."

Nicole Minyard is the founder of the non-profit.

"Art kind of breaks down those class lines and allows us to become equal particularly in populations that we're not used to being in community with. [Art] broadens your perspective of what it means to be homeless and what it means to be human and how talented so many members of our community are," she said.