Donate Art Supplies Rather Than Dumping It In the Storage Unit Pit of Despair!
Bianca and Lauren made a self-sustaining system that connects artists who have extra art supplies to the places that will benefit from it more: schools and nonprofits. Bianca dreamed up this system in her film production days and now is the co-founder of the organization Art Supplies NYC.
When Bianca was an art coordinator, she saw all of the extra materials that we would store or push around from set to set, but would never use. She became a film set Robin Hood repurposing those materials and bringing them to people who would appreciate them dearly. She started reaching out to public schools to drop off these goods. It was everything from black foam core, binders, to other office supplies.
After Bianca left film, she was working at Home Bound, a not-for-profit to aid older adults. There, she facilitated arts and crafts to keep everyone engaged and busy with their hands. She would reach out to her friends still in film for supplies, since a budget isn’t usually allocated for extracurriculars.
She loved this connection and wanted to expand this by making a system that is easy to navigate without the personal connection in film, “I wanted to cut out the middle man.”
First, the system grew simply by word of mouth, and then it was a google form. Finally, she reached out to Lauren, who Bianca worked with when Lauren was an art PA, and they found a way to make it accessible: a website.
They realized, when they first started, they specifically said supplies were for not-for-profit organizations, but the schools didn’t think they were included. They want to donate supplies to anyone who needs it, including schools. “who are we to judge.” Let’s have people from our community putting in and taking back to bring us all together.
So ArtCube, let’s get the word out to those who have and those who need, donate what you can, and as always, let’s limit waste!
About Art Supplies NYC Organization
In New York City, we are surrounded by artists and creators. However, we are also keenly aware that there are sections of our population that lack access to resources like art supplies. In a time of homeschooling, quarantining and collective grief, we wanted to come up with a way to streamline getting art supplies from those who have them, to those looking for them.
This site was set up by Bianca Siu Davies and Lauren Cunningham, who collectively have experience in art, film, and social work.
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