December 2024

Dear Friends,

As the new year is upon us, the team at Art with a Heart would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering dedication, enthusiasm and support. We are deeply aware that without a strong and collaborative community like ours, Art with a Heart's almost 25 year history in Baltimore would not be possible.

This newsletter highlights the achievements of the last year and showcases the joyful visuals of our work. And our work over the last year has been truly significant - the organization opened a satellite location on the Avenue in Hampden to move and expand its workforce development program, HeARTworks, and to house its social enterprise retail store, HeARTwares. Additionally, the organization provided over 270,000 individual art experiences, beautified schools and public spaces through residencies, graduated a new cohort of leaders, and expanded our workforce collaborations. Also, we successfully completed and installed 16 community art projects with the dedication of over 3,900 volunteers.

We are immensely grateful for your help in making all of this possible. Our dedicated Board, Advisory Board, Impressionists, teachers, assistants, interns, apprentices, service groups, and volunteers have played an integral role in our success. As we move into our 25th year (Save the Date for the our anniversary celebration - March 29th at 6:30pm), we hope you will honor this meaningful milestone and help support our impactful work with a donation here.

Wishing you a safe and healthy new year filled with creativity, inspiration, and hope.

Thank you.

This past year has been a time of growth for students as they eagerly approached the world of visual art - discovering more about themselves, their peers, artists, and the world. With open minds and an eagerness to learn, students embraced new techniques and proudly identified as artists for the first time. Through the journey of creative expression, these artists of all ages learned valuable lessons of patience and resilience, realizing that beauty can be found in imperfection. In over 12,000 classes in the last year, Art with a Heart teachers and assistants fostered environments of community, creativity, thought, and pure joy. These classes are the result of partners who know, and value, the need for visual art in their communities. In the last year, Art with a Heart added 26 new collaborative partners to its roster for a total of 90 community partners, who have given Art with a Heart the opportunity to provide over 273,000 unique art experiences throughout the year. The consistency and dedication of our partners, along with the unwavering commitment of our 134 teachers and assistants, have been instrumental in educating, inspiring, and encouraging students of all ages.

A Look Back at Community Service and Public Art

It was a busy and productive year for the Community Art and Service team, with a total of 131 service groups engaged and an impressive 3,957 volunteers generously contributing their time and effort to Art with a Heart. The impact of their hard work was significant, with a total of 9,705 service hours logged at Art with a Heart. To put this into perspective, it is equivalent to almost five additional full-time employees! All of this support allowed the organization to complete 16 community art projects including Baltimore Washington Medical Center community mosaic, William S. Baer School multi-media mural, Milton-Montford Neighborhood Association sign, and the “Enduring Heart” mosaic in collaboration with AstraZeneca, MC3, and the University of Maryland Medical Center to name a few.

Art with a Heart completed 11 art residencies/special projects last year with six different schools and organizations. Through these unique programs, students learn specialized art techniques in various forms of media and to express themselves through meaningful community art. As a result of these residencies, eight new large-scale installations were completed - including painted murals, ceramic masterpieces, and dazzling glass mosaics.

2024 was a year of unexpected change for the HeARTwares and HeARTworks teams. Over the last year, it became apparent that Art with a Heart was outgrowing its current office space. There were challenges with hiring additional staff to fill programming needs as there were no work spaces to be assigned. In September, the Art with a Heart Board approved a three-year lease for a satellite location on the Avenue in Hampden. The organization moved its retail store, HeARTwares, its workforce development program, HeARTworks, and its special project efforts into the supplemental location. All of this, and the students and staff did not miss a beat. Over the last year, 143 students completed the program and eight stayed on for paid apprenticeships. The team also engaged 29 high school students in paid work-based learning and another 19 student interns in consistent service learning. And, of course, none of this would be possible without the ongoing commitment and collaboration of the 22 community partners who value Art with a Heart creative and consistent workforce development efforts.

The Art of Leadership program had a great year, and with the graduation of its 9th Cohort in June 2024, now boasts an alumni network of 170 leaders. In June 2024, Cohort 9 completed and installed the 9th Art of Leadership Capstone Project at New Song Community Learning Center. 

Cohort 10 launched in August 2024 with 19 students from 12 public and independent schools in and around Baltimore. The curriculum for Cohort 10 was expanded to include Environmental Advocacy and Education Disparities. Isha Chaudhuri, a graduate of Cohort 9 and current fellow for Cohort 10, was awarded the Broadus Grant through Bryn Mawr School to plan and execute a collaborative art installation with Art with a Heart and the St. Francis Neighborhood Center. The German Park mural was designed and painted by St. Francis students and Art of Leadership students, with the help and support of Art with a Heart staff and volunteers.