We recently connected with Connie Whitlock and have shared our conversation below.

Connie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I have always dreamt of a community art center and when I was commissioned by a Health Care Company to make a public art piece of their founder on a wall with clay tiles I used the building they were moving out of. I spoke to their CEO and management to see if I could use the building for a community art center, and they allowed me to do so. I took a huge risk by remodeling the 8500 sq ft facility, using my own money and donations from the community. After, the business moved out the building reverted back to the City of Surprise. I had to convince the City that a community art center was right for the area. I put a lot of my own money and time into starting this non-profit organization. All of the people in the beginning including myself were volunteers and slowly we were able to pay for employees to run our programs and help me manage the business. WHAM now has 230 members, 18 artists studios, 3 classrooms, and provides art experiences to all who want to learn. WHAM teaches traditional art classes as well as to 5 outreach groups which are Veterans; Adaptive persons; Dementia Patients; At-Risk Teens and Sex Trafficked Girls. WHAM has a WHAM on WHEELS trailer that we take to parks to events giving up to 300 children a day an art activity. WHAM also creates and installs public art with an emphasis on getting the community to participate.

Connie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was raised on a farm in the midwest and have always been creative. I begin doing art by working with clay, using the wheel to make pots and tiles to do mosaics. I have 20 years of experience working and teaching clay as an art medium. Seeing others as they create art really makes me happy. I also have experience in other art mediums. Realizing how art helps with stress release and self-esteem I naturally became interested in promoting the arts.

I’m proud of the fact that WHAM has touched so many lives as they get involved in the arts. Starting our Veteran’s classes was one of the proudest things I’ve done. We advertised and got veterans with PTSD to come to our art classes which we also provided a free lunch. One veteran, in particular, was diagnosed with PTSD and came to WHAM on a regular basis but was very cautious and his art was dark and angry. As time went on I was able to talk with him and get him to help other veterans by encouraging them to join our group and showing them ways to relax and communicate. Eventually, this veteran became a very good artist and his paintings were no longer angry rather he was using happy colors and he enjoyed doing his artwork.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When several studio artists decided to start their own art organization and left WHAM I was upset not understanding why they were leaving. Within a couple of months, I learned that they wanted to be in an organization that was mainly about selling their artwork and that community programs were not where their focus was. That was hard for me at first but when I sat back to realize that it was just business and not personal I was good with their decision. Also, it made me look at not trying to run my business as being everything to artists, that we were good at what we did and that was fine. There is plenty of art for all.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

It’s hard to get funding for the arts. There are many funding areas I didn’t know about. Corporate grants, Government Grants, and Private Foundations. I learned a lot by hiring a professional grant writer that knew the industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wham-art.org
• Instagram: WHAMartassociation
• Facebook: WHAM.art
• Twitter: WHAMartassoc