Get to Know REACH Art Studio
Creativity in the Time of COVID uses a crowdsource survey to find how people are using various forms of creativity to cope with the stress and loneliness the pandemic brought. To help share the survey with as many people as possible, our team is partnering with numerous community organizations that share our commitment to diversity, equity, and social justice. REACH Studio Art Center (REACH), Lansing, MI is one of the project partners on this Mellon Grant “Just Futures” initiative.
REACH partnered with the Creativity in the Time of Covid team through common goals and interests related to accessible and equitable art. REACH is a non-profit organization that focuses on making art and creativity accessible to everyone. Creativity in the Time of Covid’s focus is to discover the impact art and creativity has in diverse communities. Both teams have strong desires to develop community through the use of art because art has the power to bring people together.
Accessibility is at the center of both organization’s missions. Both understand how important art is to the students and people not always featured in major art exhibits, and to the creation of an inclusive narrative about the pandemic. Creativity is a way people express themselves to tell their stories, and inclusion of diverse voices promotes social justice.
REACH’s main goal is to make art accessible to all. They are striving to make accommodations so that everyone feels included, and it is their belief that nobody should be limited from expressing themselves through art. One of the main accessible issues they want to rectify is that of a financial burden. Within their organization they offer free courses as well as full and partial scholarships. You can learn more about scholarship opportunities and courses on their website.
REACH is making efforts to provide opportunities for all students in the Greater Lansing Area to create. One example for the students who have mobility challenges is that REACH has made their classrooms more accessible. Another limitation that the art studio helps address is for students who have sensory issues. Although these issues are a little more difficult to navigate, the organization works to make their classrooms more inclusive for students with varied sensory needs.
When the pandemic hit, the studio was forced to close in-person classes. This was heartbreaking for REACH, as many of their students made deep connections through those meetings. They chose not to go virtual, knowing that their students wouldn’t have these same experiences. Instead, the team made “art packs” so that each student could make art wherever they were quarantining.
Within these packs was a blank postcard already addressed to the leaders at REACH, and their hope was that students would send them back so they could showcase their creations. REACH received around twenty postcards back. Those twenty creations helped the studio staff feel connected to their students and gave them proof that the students were still passionate about making art.
REACH also collaborated with local school districts to hand out the art packs and a meal kit that the school provided. This partnership between REACH and the local school districts was the perfect example of what creativity can promote in communities: people coming together who share a passion to grow, nourish, and develop a community through creative activity.
Execution of Our Common Goal
REACH’s goals correspond to Creativity in the Time of COVID’s because both work towards inclusive art projects. By partnering with our team, REACH hopes to be able to connect with students, and help make art inclusive and accessible to everyone.
Creativity in the Time of Covid looks to discover the ways other people turned to creativity as a way to respond to the pandemic and spark conversation of social justice. Currently, our team is working on gathering more creative products from people who turned to creative expression during the pandemic. We are doing this through survey submissions that collect stories and the products associated with these stories. If you are interested in participating and having your work help us create inclusive exhibits, then please take the survey that is linked below and pass it along to your communities.
Survey Link: https://tinyurl.com/CreativityInTheTimeOfCovid19
About the Author
Mackenzie Baum is a senior at Michigan State University. She is majoring in English with a focus in Creative Writing and a capstone in business media. Mackenzie aspires to be a published author one day and rescue animals. Mackenzie has hopes of traveling to different parts of the world and learning more about their cultures. Currently, she is an intern for the Creativity in the Time of COVID project.
Contact REACH Art Studio
Website: REACH Studio Art Center
Phone: 517-999-3643
Email: info@reachstudioart.org
Address: 1804 S. Washington Ave, Lansing, MI 48910