'ArtLifting' site uplifts the homeless by selling their art
An online marketplace that celebrates and sells creations by homeless and disabled artists has turned to Kickstarter for help expanding its do-good reach.
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Artsy iPhone cases aren't hard to find. But few have backstories as dramatic as those associated with the cases sold on ArtLifting, an online marketplace for homeless and disabled artists. These cases feature images drawn by creatives who rely on wheelchairs and disability benefits and dream of one day renting a place of their own.
A case spotlighting a vivid moon rising over Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, for example, was designed by Dante Gandini, who paints at Common Art, a Boston program that provides space, materials, and support to homeless and low-income artists. Asked why he wants to sell his creations, Gandini has a simple answer: "survival," adding that "it builds self-esteem when you sell something."
The desire to boost the spirits -- and coffers -- of disadvantaged artists drives the venture, founded by brother-sister team Liz and Spencer Powers with their own savings. "Our art marketplace not only provides customers a means to decorate their space," says Liz Powers, who has eight years of experience working with the homeless. "It also allows each purchase to directly uplift a disadvantaged individual."
ArtLifting, incubated at the Harvard Innovation Lab and MassChallenge, currently supports 20 artists, mostly from the Boston area. The Powers siblings recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to expand ArtLifting to five cities -- New York, Detroit, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington DC -- and add 65 new artists who may barely turn a profit selling their creations on street corners and at craft fairs but will get far broader exposure online.
Works on the site range in price from $19.99 for iPhone cases to $300 for original paintings. The artists set their price, and ArtLifting signs a contract requiring it to pay them the amount they identified.
The Kickstarter campaign runs through September 11 and has so far raised a little over $8,500 toward the $20,000 goal.
"Thanks to ArtLifting, by this time next year, I won't have to be on disability anymore," artist Allen Chamberland, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and has been on disability for much of his life, said at a launch party for the campaign. "That feels great."