St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce has been selected as a State Farm Neighborhood Assist® Top 200 Finalist and needs your votes!

St. Louis, Missouri. August 16, 2021. St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce needs your help by voting for them to receive a $25,000 grant from State Farm® to help improve their community. Starting August 18 at 12:00am ET, U.S. residents who are 18 and older with a valid email address can vote for their favorite cause at www.neighborhoodassist.com.

St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce has until August 27 at 11:59pm ET to rally votes and anyone voting is allowed up to 10 votes per day. On September 29, the top 40 vote-receiving causes will be announced and a $25,000 grant will be awarded to each of the affiliated nonprofits.

Art Heals Violence Initiative addresses the need for crime reduction on the city’s vacant lots by working with the leaders and residents of 10 neighborhoods to remove the locations for much of the crime and turning them into community spaces celebrating the culture of the neighborhoods. Residents and resident artists are working together to create spaces that highlight the culture that holds neighborhoods and families together, cultures that have been long neglected. These neighborhoods were the origin of the Blues, much Jazz, literature, and art. We are bringing the concept of "neighbors" back to the neighborhood.

The funding will provide, in collaboration with our volunteers, partners, residents and other resources, the ability to create the infrastructure for the 10 parks such as design and drawings for permitting, clearing the debris and dead trees, grading the properties, and installing walkways and other hardscape. Maintenance of the properties has been donated by several organizations in the neighborhoods.

You may vote for the Art Heals Violence initiative up to 10 times per day by visiting https://www.neighborhoodassist.com/entry/2040059.

“Art has the ability to unify and heal people in a very impactful way. Our hope is to support these residents in an effort to improve these spaces so that they will build equity and community in their neighborhoods. Our goal is to empower the community in which we live.” Sandy Brooks, Executive Director of St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce

State Farm Neighborhood Assist is a crowd-sourced philanthropic initiative that empowers communities to identify issues in their neighborhoods The State Farm Review Committee selected the top 200 finalists from 2,000 submissions.

The St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce is elated to announce that the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland has awarded our organization a partnership in the Pro Bono Initiative focused on Social Cohesion Through The Arts program. St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce is 1 of 11 accepted participants in the program. 

The Social Cohesion Through The Arts initiative will assist our organization in the development and implementation of arts programming that will focus on justice, reconciliation, restitution, and healing in our community. The application-driven process focused on our organization’s demonstration of long-term commitment to social change through arts programs. 

The DeVos Institute of Arts Management’s Initiative:

“The oft-touted role of the arts — to create community, understanding, and empathy — has historically succeeded in engaging individuals and groups already inclined toward conversation with each other. This gathering of like minds in common experience – often bound by geography, background, or interest – has played an important role in efforts to strengthen community and cohesion.

Building on this foundation, this program will support strategies that connect, through creative practice, ways of life that may not naturally collaborate or see eye-to-eye. As such, the initiative is designed to serve projects that seek to build alliances, partnerships, and sustainable working engagements between communities historically separated by differences defined by geography, economics, race, identity, politics, privilege, or other impactful social determinants. 

The six-month planning process will support organizations in advancing program design, evaluation, visibility, and funding. Additionally, the process will assist organizations with their plans to build institutional wealth in the form of working capital, reserves, and/or other relevant instruments.

This dual focus — on program development and institutional wealth — recognizes the historical lack of equity in American communities and American philanthropy, and the importance of building institutional wealth for the long-term sustainability of non-profit organizations.”

The Institute has enlisted a group of special advisors to work with the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce to design and execute art programs to promote cohesion and equity in our community. These leaders will work closely with the Institute’s leadership team to advise us on programs that will improve equity and unity within our community. These carefully selected advisors are:

• Bryan Joseph Lee, New York-based creative producer, arts marketer, and civic organizer, and Founder CNTR Arts

• Cayenne Harris, Vice President of Education and Community Engagement, University Musical Society at the University of Michigan

• Gayle Isa, Founder and former Executive Director, Asian Arts Initiative

• Jane Golden, Founder and Executive Director, Mural Arts Philadelphia

• Jay Owen Eisenberg, Minneapolis-based actor, educator, director, and facilitator 

Please watch out for further announcements as we begin to work with our advisors to design and improve on art programs for the St. Louis Community! If you would like to read more about this program, the Institute, and its selected advisors, please visit The DeVos Institute of Arts Management. 

For Immediate Release

Six-Mile Long Art Festival and Ice Cream Social To Be Held In North Central Corridor This August

Free Event Will Celebrate The Missouri Bicentennial with Music, Live Performances, and Locally Made Ice Cream

Hodiamont Greenway Street Art Festival & Ice Cream Social

Saturday, August 7, 2021 • 10am–2pm

The Hodiamont Tracks (between Delmar Loop and Grand Center)

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

ST. LOUIS, MO — The Hodiamont Greenway Street Art Festival and Ice Cream Social will bring artists, arts organizations, local businesses, social services, and more together for a celebration of the unique history of the neighborhood and the state of Missouri. Festivities include Jazz, Blues and Ragtime musicians, arts organizations from Grand Center and the Delmar Loop, performances from Circus Harmony and Shakespeare Festival, a children’s parade, chalk art, and more. And, of course, there will be plenty of ice cream in honor of our state dessert, the ice cream cone, first popularized by the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. The unique event will span across the entire Hodiamont Greenway (formerly the Hodiamont Tracks) between the Delmar Loop and Grand Center. Participating organizations and artists include:

• St. Louis Public Library: performances of Meet Me In St. Louis, originally written and set in the Academy neighborhood
• “Stop The Bleed” and “I Define ME” mobile outreach vans.
•  Social Justice Fleet pop-up exhibit
•  Forgiveness Quilt art-activism project
•  Story Corps history project pop ups
• Great Rivers Greenway will be presenting their design plan for the Hodiamont Greenway and taking community input
• Grills to Glory Initiative BBQs at several  neighborhood churches
•  Story Stitchers at Strauss Park
• Consuming Kinetics Dance Company Children’s Street Dance Festival at Urban League Head Start.
• Big Muddy Dance Company
• Magic House at MADE
• Circus Harmony
• Shakespeare Festival
• People’s Joy Parade
• Trailnet will be hosting a Bike Rodeo with a children’s bike safety clinic
• Union Avenue Opera
• Ice cream from Bold Spoon Creamery and Baked Bear Ice Cream Sandwiches

This event is presented by the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with Resident Leaders from the 7 Together Neighborhoods: Covenant Blu Grand Center, Vandeventer, Lewis Place, Fountain Park, Visitation Park, Academy Sherman, and West End, and made possible with support from the Delmar Divine, Missouri 2021 and other sponsors and partners.

Neighborhood residents are anticipating this opportunity to share and celebrate the work being done by community organizations. “Seven neighborhoods are showing signs of a resurgence,” says community leader Judith Arnold. “The new greenway on tap is one example. None of this would have been possible without resident involvement led by the lady leaders of the community. The eyes of St. Louis are on these 7 North Central neighborhoods. We are grateful for the partnership with the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce as we continue to rebuild our neighborhoods.”

About the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce: Established in 2018, the St. Louis Arts Chamber is a membership-based collaborative of artists and patrons who are committed to establishing the greater St. Louis region as a premier arts destination. An advocate for all genres and mediums of the arts, the Arts Chamber aims to build a strong network of individuals and organizations with a shared interest in supporting professional growth, artistic expression, and community engagement.

St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce kicks off Summer Membership Drive

June 2021­–August 2021

The St. Louis Arts Chamber will be holding its Summer Membership Drive through the end of August 2021. During this time, all artists and art patrons who are members of Arts Chamber member organizations will receive a 25% discount off of a new annual membership registration at any level.

Current members in good standing of the following organizations are eligible for this discount:

This offer ends on September 7, 2021, so take advantage of it as soon as possible!

To become a member of the Arts Chamber, please visit the St. Louis Arts Chamber’s “Join Now” page and complete the registration form. Use the promo code above that you're eligible for at checkout. We embrace artists and arts patrons of all disciplines: visual art, music, theater, dance, and literary arts.

All new members of the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce will have IMMEDIATE access to the following membership benefits:

In addition, all members will have access to exclusive, members-only Business of Art classes and workshops (beginning in August). Future opportunities for Arts Chamber members later this year include Artist Mastermind groups, business mentoring, and discounted entry into the Greater St. Louis Arts Expo in the Fall. 

The St. Louis Arts Chamber team is looking forward to meeting and getting to know new creatives from around the St. Louis region this summer­ — please consider becoming a member today! 

ST. LOUIS ARTS CHAMBER  RECEIVES $30,000 GRANT TO TRANSFORM VACANT WEST END LOT INTO PARK AND PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION.

New park is part of initiative to use art and design to reduce gun violence in neighborhoods 

June 20, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ST. LOUIS, MO — The St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that it has received a $30,000 grant from Saint Louis MHB for the redesign and installation of a park and public art installation on a vacant lot at 5902 Clemens in the West End neighborhood. Renovation of the lot will begin on July 1, 2021 and is estimated to be completed around September 2021. 

“The Lot is a part of the design of the entrance of the West End Neighborhood, which residents see as a welcoming entrance,” says Sandy Brooks, Executive Director of the St. Louis Arts Chamber. “This grant will fund the first phase implementation for the new park surrounded by a resident vegetable garden, a master gardener’s landscape and greenscape with design and layout for paths, the foundation for the memorial house, and landscaping of the lot.”

This lot is just one of seven vacant lots the Arts Chamber is transforming into public spaces in partnership with 7 Together, a collaborative of local leaders in the seven neighborhoods along Delmar. The Arts Chamber has been working with Covenant Blu–Grand Center, Vandeventer, Lewis Place, Fountain Park, Academy–Sherman Park, Visitation Park, and the West End to bring artistic creativity to solutions identified by neighborhood residents. The goal of the vacant lot activation project is to reduce potential for illegal activities in the neighborhood by commissioning artists to redesign these unused spaces into parks, gardens, and other neighborhood priorities. Other community partners for the Vacant Lot Initiative include the West End CID, St. Louis ArtWorks, and Pocketparks.

The lot will feature an installation of a memorial house built of glass bricks, commemorating the neighborhood and its history. The house design and construction will be led by Sam Avery, an architect and Arts Chamber board member. With ten years of experience, Avery currently works for WA Architects based out of St. Louis and Cincinnati. He is currently assisting the architecture team for the new MLS stadium being constructed in St. Louis. 

The grant is from St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission (VPC) (https://www.stlareavpc.org), a regional effort to align, convene, and connect the organizations addressing gun violence prevention and reduction. VPC is an initiative of Saint Louis MHB (https://stlmhb.com), which grants tax dollars to non-profit organizations to provide high quality services that benefit City residents. 

About the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce: Established in 2020, the St. Louis Arts Chamber is a membership-based collaborative of artists and patrons who are committed to establishing the greater St. Louis region as a premier arts destination. An advocate for all genres and mediums of the arts, the Arts Chamber aims to build a strong network of individuals and organizations with a shared interest in supporting professional growth, artistic expression, and community engagement.

The St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce (Arts Chamber), in partnership with more than 10 partner organizations, will install custom-made masks on over 35 statues and sculptures throughout St. Louis City and County. In order to encourage mask wearing as a way to help combat the coronavirus pandemic, many of the very visible and visited pieces of public art around our region will don a St. Louis themed mask this fall. 

“We are very excited to help facilitate this public awareness campaign to encourage everyone throughout greater St. Louis to wear masks and help mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” said Sandy Brooks, executive director of the Arts Chamber. “We hope these sculptures that residents and visitors of the region routinely visit or pass by in their daily commutes will serve as an example and reminder that we all need to work together to help combat the coronavirus by doing simple things – like wearing a mask!” 

Local artists and volunteers will be fabricating custom masks that are individually designed to fit each statue and sculpture approved for this project. The Arts Chamber has been working with local suppliers to help obtain low-cost supplies for making the masks, and has applied for grant funding in the hopes of being able to compensate participating artists for their time and talent. Masks will be installed in late August and remain on display through Halloween. 

As of the time of this release, the participating locations and partners include: Citygarden and other city-wide public art pieces maintained by the Gateway Foundation; Carl Milles’s “Meeting of the Waters” and Henry Kiener’s “Olympic Runner” through the City of St. Louis; sculptures throughout the campus of Washington University and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, facilitated by the faculty and students of the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts; the Stan Musial statue and other figures throughout Busch Stadium and Ballpark Village; the “Jelly Baby” display at St. Louis Public Library Central; and pieces installed throughout the Delmar Loop. As additional partners are confirmed, the full list of locations can be found on the Arts Chamber website at www.stlouisartschamberofcommerce.org/maskupstl. 

Businesses, organizations and municipalities with public art pieces that are willing to participate are encouraged to contact the Arts Chamber by Aug. 15. Artists and individuals interested in volunteering with this project are also welcomed! Please email MaskUpSTL@stlouisartschamberofcommerce.org.

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