Fredericksburg Arts Commission Hosting Art Supply Drive for Empowerhouse
Drop-off supplies at four downtown locations through March.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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This story was updated on February 12 at 8:37 a.m. to include information from Empowerhouse about how the art supplies will support its work.
The Fredericksburg Arts Commission’s ongoing art supply drive will benefit Empowerhouse, the area nonprofit nonprofit serving survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence.
There are drop-off boxes for collecting new and “gently-used” art supplies at two downtown art galleries, as well as the Dorothy Hart Community Center and Madame’s Oddities, and they’ll be in place through March.
According to a press release from the commission, the supplies will support “therapeutic, educational, and empowerment-based programming for survivors and their families.”
The commission’s last art supply drive benefited Community Canvas, an organization that provides arts programming and resources to underserved populations throughout the region. The donated supplies are used at the organization’s regular programs, such as “Connection through Creativity,” which is held monthly at downtown library, and at special pop-up workshops such as last year’s “Found.”
Kathy Anderson, executive director of Empowerhouse, said the nonprofit partners with the national group A Window Between Worlds, which trains staff at service organizations across the country to incorporate art into their work with trauma survivors.
“In that partnership, we gain access to their database of art activities,” Anderson said in an email to the Advance. “We train our facilitators and staff who provide support groups on delivering the workshops and we provide them with the activities and supplies.”
“These activities are a great resource to survivors of domestic violence, their children and other people healing from trauma,” she continued. “They are a creative expression outlet and builders of self esteem and confidence.”
The Fredericksburg Arts Commission provides funding to support public art, arts organizations, and community art events in the region. The Art Supply Drive was developed as a way to support even more organizations that might not be eligible for direct funding, according to the press release.
The drive is “a practical way to support organizations offering arts access through direct community participation,” the press release states.
Members of the community can leave art supplies in drop-off boxes at the following locations:
Art First Gallery (824 Caroline Street)
LibertyTown Arts Workshop (916 Liberty Street)
Dorothy Hart Community Center (408 Canal Street)
Madame’s Oddities (2011 Princess Anne Street, Unit 101)
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