We recently connected with Hannah Berry and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Hannah, thanks for joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

The best financial decision I have ever made was purchasing commercial real estate. I was in my early 20s, working in the service industry and trying to balance an education degree with a child at home. I had no idea what I truly wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to work in the arts and public sector. After graduating, I was offered to rehabilitate an abandoned building with a friend, so naturally, I decided to dive head first. After two months of being open, my friend was offered an out-of-state position. Long story short, I sold my house to purchase the building, moving in with my partner. I quickly learned about zoning variances and government structures as I had to work directly for Special Land Uses to stay open. Because of this, I started to see some of the same barriers I faced in the education system as a young mom as I did as a young entrepreneur. Once again, I dove head first, landing board positions and creating strategic partnerships to stabilize a creative economy for our organization.
Fast forward to now, our partnerships and understanding have been able to grow our organization using a hybrid financial model that creatively fundraises for prosperous opportunities for artists. Our model involves all community stakeholders, bringing everyone who wants to push the arts forward,

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I strive to promote economic and community development by empowering others to create collective arts-based partnerships. By understanding how communities’ hearts tick and dedicating our work to artists our team has found creative pathways to integrate local systems change through art and our hybrid-financial model. My professional goals are to create sustainable arts-based economies with active workforce development programs for entrepreneurs as they creatively problem-solve social issues.

Our organization is called Lions & Rabbits Center for the Arts and our mission is to create prosperous opportunities for artists to achieve and sustain a fulfilling freelance career

LRCFA programs public art projects, events, and development workshops to bring opportunities and professional skills to emerging local artists and create a supportive and sustainable arts community.

How we do it:

Public Art: Public art projects providing paid opportunities and professional development for emerging local artists.

After Dark Events: Events giving artists opportunities to market and sell their work and create community engagement with the arts.

Advocacy & Development: A development program working to advance arts-driven collectives to create additional resources for local artists and establish supportive cities for the arts.

The Hue: A multi-use space including artist studios, an innovative art museum, and much more all working to develop prosperous opportunities for artists.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Speaking for others. Many times, people don’t understand our project management or desire to push individuals’ social impact. What I mean by that is we are not experts in anti-racism or anti-ablism, but we work every day to push those missions. Being able to step aside sometimes and give the microphone to others who are field experts is incredibly important to the social welfare of our industry.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Creative economic development is so crucial to me. There are so many people in every community that can change the world if given the right tools. I believe if we “lean into” the Arts, we will see many solutions to every day problems in all communities.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lionsandrabbits.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lionsandrabbits
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lionsandrabbits
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-berry-379267131/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaigdUhUPaKJb778m0L5icg

Image Credits
Leandro Lara Leighann Cobb