What an amazing start we’ve had to this Holiday season! So many moments of gratitude for all the amazing support we’ve been receiving from our Open Hearts friends (new and old) and family. We feel truly blessed to live in such a caring community.
First, we are thrilled about our new partnership with Anthropologie. Prior to moving to their Lexington Ave location, they became involved in supporting our program by volunteering in our studio, collecting supplies for our classroom and featuring our artists’ artwork at their opening night. But by far one of the most significant, and unexpected, contributions was their generous donation of $15,000 to our program!
Needless to say, we were in shock. Originally Anthropologie had intended to donate 10% of the profits from their opening night to Open Hearts. However, the night of the event the Anthropologie staff huddled together with the directors and staff of Open Hearts to share the exciting news that the corporate offices were so impressed with our mission that they wanted to offer more, thus presenting us with the donation of $15,000. Many tears were shed as you can imagine.
The rest of the evening was filled with lots of smiles, shopping, art sales and cheers. We’re so excited to begin planning for the future of Open Hearts Art Center and exploring ways to make all our dreams even more of a reality for the amazing and creative population that we serve.
We also had quite a successful evening at our Open Hearts Art Center Holiday Bazaar event hosted this past Sunday evening. We transformed the space at East West Venue on Haywood Rd. into our own winter craft wonderland. Everything from hand-made wood-burned ornaments to catnip toys were displayed and sold. Not only was our talented artists’ work for sale, but the artistic Open Hearts staff was also able to showcase and sell their own crafts to bring in profit for the program. The event ended with an acapella performance of some of our favorite Holiday songs by the Open Hearts Band as well as a choreographed dance performance. Nothing brings on the Holiday season better than good people coming together to celebrate art and love. ‘Tis the season!
Our next Holiday event will be held in Charlotte this coming Saturday, December 12th. If you happen to be in the Charlotte area stop by the Papercut Gallery (1200 The Plaza, Charlotte NC 28205) from 3-7p.m. We will have artwork on display until January 30th!
Happy Holiday everyone!
Article by Darcy Wade
Photos by Robbie Francis & Debbie Harris