DONATIONS ACTIVATE NEIGHBORHOODS
The folks at REACH Studio Art Center asked their donors to imagine.
Imagine a spacious creative facility for youth and adults alike to make art right in the heart Michigan’s capital city. Imagine a rundown area in south Lansing reborn as a vibrant center of artistic activity, with refurbished facades and an entire block. Imagine an art studio with classrooms, a youth art gallery and a courtyard.
REACH had already imagined all that and decided to do something about it.
“REACH started with just one small storefront on our current block almost 16 years ago,” said Alice Brinkman, REACH executive director. “We went from serving just a handful of youth and adults at the end of 2003 to over 1,000 in 2010. And we just keep growing from there.”
After receiving a $75,000 grant from the Capital Region Community Foundation in 2013, REACH bought the block and has been redeveloping the five blighted storefronts into Lansing’s only dedicated all-age community art space ever since.
“We have heard from countless neighbors over the years about how thankful they are for having this space reactivated, beautified and back in action for the community,” Brinkman said.
REACH was determined to not only more than quadruple its capacity to offer creative classes, workshops, programs and events for the whole Lansing community, but also to provide an experience for visitors to and through Lansing.
And, in 2014, it started to do just that.
REACH launched the region’s first Patronicity campaign, raising $1,365 above its $48,000 match goal to activate more than 13,000 square feet of space, completing a gallery and the courtyard.
Then in 2015, they did it again. A second Patronicity campaign went $2,675 above its $30,000 goal to activate another 2,800 square feet, including two large studio classrooms.
“I don’t know where we’d be without crowdfunding,” Brinkman said. “Not only did our donors support an expansion we never would have dreamed of, but they also helped create community in a neighborhood that might not have otherwise had the opportunity to flourish.”