We recently connected with Kelley Worden and have shared our conversation below.

Kelley , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Art from the Streets is a non-profit in Austin, TX that supports the unhoused, at risk and in transition by offering free art studio and gallery opportunities to sell their work for a modest income. The Austin community has been very supportive by offering spaces for us to create, locations for art popup sales and amazing volunteers to make it all happen. However, since we are co-existing, we were very limited in time during the day to create, a consistent location and art storage. As we continued to grow so did our need for a permanent studio solution…a “home” of our own to grow. AFTS has always dreamed of a permanent location. We reached out to our valued donors with a plan of action, specific location and strategy for doing more for the community we serve. These donors were as excited as we were and supported our initiative. We now enjoy over 2000 square feet with opportunities to create 4 days a week, workshops to expand their creative knowledge, and gallery shows. We have over 50 unhoused persons just this year creating in studio. We are excited to offer the space to create, a community of support and opportunity for each artist to create income.

Kelley , 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 obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from East Tennessee State University and worked for 5 years as a graphic artist post graduation, and then shifted my focus to volunteer work while raising my children. From 1997 to 2010 I held leadership roles supporting Canyon Creek Elementary School as the PTA Fundraising Coordinator, Fun Run Coordinator, and Green Team leader. I also co-founded a local non-profit organization, Chicktime Austin (now Hope Austin), which works with children in need in the Austin community. In 2010, I began volunteering with AFTS, became a board member in 2013 and in 2016 she was selected to fill the Executive Director position.

This program goes beyond the creation and sale of art. Through AFTS, many of our artists are able to exit homelessness, however, homelessness has no simple solution. It cannot just be moved away or housed away without a plan to break the cycle that perpetuates it. Art From the Streets provides a critical daily practice in a learning environment filled with healthy role models to help create new positive habits. These habits foster well-being, health, and independence for our artists while building connections within a broader positive community — a community that can uncover latent resources such as jobs, housing, and support networks beyond the burdened and essentially closed loop of the homelessness system.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Society should engage regularly with creatives! Find out the artist story, ask questions, be engaged and then be still and absorb. Support these artists by purchasing artwork, communicating with your network and sharing the beautiful stories. Each artist has a story and we all need to listen.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Oh my this is a biggie and I don’t know for sure my exact view BUT AFTS is dipping our toes into this phenomenon called NFT to help support our program. Unsure where it will take us. We are staying open!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.artfromthestreets.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artfromthestreetsaustin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artfromthestreets
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AFTS
• Other: Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/artfromthestreets/