Statements
Mission
We are a social enterprise nonprofit that creates artistic and economic opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity by providing them access to the creative resources needed to achieve personal fulfillment and success. We highlight the creative talents of people impacted by homelessness in order to broaden perspectives and foster meaningful and equitable relationships across communities.
Background
After building relationships with people experiencing homelessness in high school, Daybreak Arts Founder, Nicole, started hosting "Community Arts Days" at homeless service nonprofit, Room In The Inn (RITI), in November 2011 through her work-study job as a Sophomore college student at Belmont University. Her Senior year of undergraduate, she interned at the Arts & Business Council and under the Art Therapist at RITI. During this time, Nicole began to evaluate and shape the program, as well as form a Board and file for 501(c)3 nonprofit status under the organization's former name: Poverty and the Arts (POVA).
Nicole graduated from Belmont University with a B.A. in May 2014 and the organization, 'Poverty and the Arts' received its 501(c)3 nonprofit letter in July 2014. We launched our Artist Collective program with two inaugural artists and quickly grew to 10 artists within the first year. The Artist Collective program was fortunate enough to operate with minimum costs its first year through the generosity of Turnip Green Creative Reuse (TGCR) who let us use their downtown studio space and donated recycled art supplies free of charge. We continued to host "Community Arts Days" from 2011-2015 in partnership with RITI.
In May 2015, we secured a rental property and transformed a dilapidated blue house into a Studio and Gallery in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood to expand opportunities and accessibility for the artists in our Artist Collective program-most importantly allowing us to participate in the neighborhood's monthly art crawl and gain more exposure. In 2016, a couple made a generous donation so we could purchase our own van to transport artists and artwork around town.
In May 2018, we moved into a larger, more accessible Studio and Gallery space in East Nashville where we have an active roster of 30+ artists. Since 2014, we have served more than 120 artists and paid out more than $80,000 to artists experiencing housing insecurity. In 2020 and 2021, we went through a complete overhaul of our organization's name and brand which is now called Daybreak Arts. Today, finished works by our artists are displayed in the gallery of our East Nashville space as well is in businesses and personal collections across the city, state, and country.
Impact
There are an estimated 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in Nashville, TN. "The intersection between homelessness and unemployment (or underemployment) is multifaceted and multidirectional. Individuals may fall into homelessness as a result of job loss, or conversely may lose their job due to difficulties experienced as a result of the onset of homelessness. Further, substantial systematic, programmatic and personal barriers exist for people experiencing homelessness to re-enter the job market. Over the last three decades important economic and social policy shifts have occurred resulting in astronomical growth of working-aged adults among the homeless and those at risk of homelessness." Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, ASPE Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation).
Our Artist Collective Program participants are currently or formerly homeless adults who have an artistic background or passion. They each have barriers to traditional employment and income due to a variety of complex circumstances, including physical and intellectual disabilities, mental illness, domestic abuse and trauma, incarceration, age, and more. The goal of our Artist Collective Program is to increase accessibility to creative non-traditional forms of employment, which counteracts employment barriers and rising housing costs. Participants earn income through their creative talent by producing marketable art, gaining artistic and entrepreneurial skills, and publicly displaying their work so they can increase their financial independence. Since 2014, Daybreak Arts has served around 125 Artists impacted by homelessness and paid out almost $90,000 to Artists from art sales, reproductions, performances, teaching artist stipends, and intellectual property licenses. This income has allowed our Artists to purchase necessities like rent, groceries, & utilities, invest in their careers, and enhance their quality of life by investing in their emotional and personal self-care.
We also aim to be a platform for our Artists to share their voice and perspective with the Nashville community and have consequently built partnerships with local galleries, schools, businesses, and community organizations across the city and state including exhibiting at Arts at the Airport, Frist Art Museum, Gordon Jewish Community Center, Conexion Americas, Galerie Tangerine, Woolworth Window Gallery, African Street Festival, Artclectic (University School of Nashville), Nashville Public Library (Goodlettsville, TN Branch), DBO Gallery (Clarksville, TN), Our Spot Lounge (Gallatin, TN), Vari Showroom (Cool Springs, TN), The Good Cup (Franklin, TN), and many more. Our Artists have been recurring paid teaching artists at TN Craft Fair's Kid's Tent since 2017 and spoke at the Virtual Arts & Homelessness International Conference in 2020. We also hosted a Nashville Design Week panel in 2019 about poverty and design. Our artists and mission have also been featured in a variety of local news segments including NewsChannel5, The Tennessean, The Contributor, WSMV4, Nashville Scene, WKRN2, Fox17, WPLN Nashville Public Radio, Lightning 100, WAYFM Radio, NFocus Magazine, Nashville Interiors Magazine, Nashville Arts Magazine, and more.
85% of our artists report increasing their personal income through the program. This income allows our artists to gain greater financial autonomy to provide for themselves, as well as invest back into their art. Artists made personal artwork sales goals throughout the funding period and 50% of them met their goals. Through monthly self-assessment surveys, artists report changes in traditional employment, transportation, housing, food insecurity, and more. 85% of artists reported feeling more financially secure after being in our Artist Collective program for one year.
Needs
Our organization's most pressing needs are:
1. Marketing and PR professionals
2. Art Education committee members as we develop our robust virtual and in-person Art Education program
3. Shared Walls Art Program sponsors to help us make art ownership more accessible, as well as increase our artists' earned income
CEO Statement
Unlike traditional social enterprises, Daybreak Arts operates as a nonprofit social enterprise to give our artists and artisans impacted by homelessness the freedom to design, create, price, and sell their original works of art and jewelry. Grants and tax-deductible donations allow us to provide our artists and makers with the needed training and mentorship to grow and get better at designing and pricing their works, even if that means we don't meet our "bottom line" in artwork sales. Centering our clients' creativity and imagination is important to us as we develop our earned income opportunities. Our artists keep full creative and professional freedom, while leveraging the resources in our Artist Collective to learn and grow. Your investment tells our artists to keep dreaming, keep growing, and keep creating!
Board Chair Statement
Daybreak Arts provides a safe space for individuals experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity to learn how to communicate their experiences through creative expression as well as build crucial entrepreneurial and career skills. The social enterprise model for this non-profit provides a sustainable model that also aids collective participants in understanding potential revenue streams and careers within the creative economy. Daybreak Arts recently embarked on the creation of an online education platform to help their artists learn new techniques for artmaking as well as introduce them to creative professions. Since the organization was founded, they have cultivated numerous partners, both locally and nationally, leading to exhibition opportunities and sales, teaching artist opportunities, and artwork licensing opportunities. These partnerships are valuable in expanding program offerings that empower the artist in the collective as they learn to articulate themselves creatively as well as gain professional experience and income. It is moving to witness the growth of Daybreak Arts' program participants as they grow in both financial independence and confidence.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Arts, Culture & Humanities - Arts Services |
| Secondary Category: | Human Services - Homeless Services/Centers |
| Tertiary Category: | - |
Areas Served
| TN - Davidson |
