The art in your average corporate office ranges from bland to, well, kinda scary. Rarely do you see something in an office and think “wow, that’s cool.”
But if that office contributed to a Philly nonprofit that trades kids’ art for corporate donations for art supplies, you’d be pretty impressed.
Fresh Artists works like this: students give permission to have their art reproduced for he program and it goes into a digital gallery. Donors to the program can choose a piece or several as a thank-you gift. The art then hangs in the headquarters of some of the city’s biggest companies.
Donations are returned to school art programs in the form of grants for art supplies. More than $40,000 was raised in the program’s first year alone.
This is so awesome. Not only is it a self-sustaining way to provide much-needed art supplies to city schools, but the kids (who attend disadvantaged schools throughout the city) get the serious self-esteem boost of knowing their work, with their name on it, hangs proudly someplace other than the school hallway, were people can see it and remark on it.
Founder Barbara Chandler Allen says, "Most charities are top-down: 'the haves' giving to 'the have nots,' This is totally different. We have created a lateral philanthropy. It is vulnerable children giving to other vulnerable children. The adults are there simply to grease the wheels."
What a great idea, all the way around.
