Our Mission

Our Mission is to sustain collective efforts for social progress and equity through affordable arts programming.

Resilient Community Arts (RCA) is built on the philosophy that when community members have a place to voice their experiences, to harness cultural power, and amplify their stories and what is important to them, we take steps forward together towards a more just and equitable world.

RCA exists to provide an accessible, community-driven arts space that fosters meaningful independent creativity and nurtures collaborative efforts to bring marginalized identities into the center of the arts.

We believe our work at RCA will support systematic change in the arts at large, shifting the narrative around who and what creative spaces exist to serve to allow all different kinds of people to have a part in the record of history that is art, to have their story reflected in what is deemed as valuable or significant. We believe that the members right here in our community are makers, artists, curators, activists, teachers, and experts in their own lives, their own needs. This is why we center community input in everything we do.

Our History

Resilient Community Arts was founded together by Maddie McDougall & Grace Vo in the summer of 2021. Maddie had just finished a few years of teaching Visual Art in Springfield Public Schools, and Grace had just graduated from UMass Amherst with her BFA in Painting and Art History. The two had met a few years prior while both assisting local artist Kim Carlino on mural projects throughout the Valley.

As young graduates looking towards their next steps in artistic careers, Grace and Maddie saw a need for more accessible arts experiences in Western Mass. and recognized the ways in which their own skillsets could work cohesively to develop a space where this need could be met.

"Growing up, I didn't have the fullest amount of support from my parents or public school about entering the field since it was seen as an "unconventional" pathway. I learned that, at a young age, I had to navigate learning about the arts on my own in order to nurture whatever creativity or curiosity I had.

“But I know now that if I had support from a local arts community or mentors like Resilient Community Arts, I would have felt more comfortable growing into who I was and what the arts meant to me. Fostering the interests of youth in the arts and giving them space for creativity and resources allows them a greater sense of future and realistic opportunities."

-Grace Vo, co-founder

RCA incorporated in July of 2021 and spent that summer fundraising and offering outdoor public art-making experiences in Holyoke, Springfield, and Easthampton. These early months gave us the opportunity to listen to what community members needed in an arts space; what they wanted to learn and what challenges they faced, like childcare, transportation, and expendable income to spend on something like an art class.

“As an artist-educator, I see my role as that of a public servant and prioritize the responsibility to listen to what communities' needs are, and use my skill sets, privileges, and material access to provide services and experiences that fulfill the needs expressed by the community.

The Pioneer Valley has such an expansive arts scene, and using my privileges in this work also allows me to open up doors for others who may have aspirations for their own artistic work, but don’t know where to begin networking, or may feel uncomfortable in traditional gallery settings. The tween artists creating in the RCA studio today could one day become successful professionals in creative fields, they will be the ones building our future. It’s our job to give them to tools to get them there.”

-Maddie McDougall, co-founder

RCA moved into a studio space on the ground floor of Eastworks in September of 2021, and began organizing donated materials, setting up programming calendars, and networking with future Guest Instructors. In just our first four months of operating in this new physical space, we have served over 80 individuals and hosted dozens of programs. January of 2022 marks the beginning of our Afterschool Youth & Teen Studio Programs and our team is so thrilled to continue growing and working to build a more equitable arts ecosystem in the Valley.

Sliding Scale Payments &
Economic Justice

Our programming serves populations of all ages and abilities, and every class, workshop or course is offered on a sliding scale. Sliding scale payments are one way for RCA to play an active role in economic justice efforts, and make our offerings accessible to all socio-economic backgrounds.

Our base level of payments is typically an at-cost rate, and higher payment levels help cover overhead costs for the studio upkeep, pay our staff a living wage, as well as subsidizing art programs for folks who may not have disposable income to pay the full cost.

Most of our programs do not require documentation or income-verification for determining your program fee. We simply ask that you review the payment options and make the decision that is most comfortable for you and your family. When you are able to pay on the higher end of the sliding scale, your payment helps others gain access who might have a more challenging financial situation.

Whenever possible, we also try to implement a "reparations payrate" where BIPOC staff are paid at higher rates than other staff, including their supervisor. This usually happens when we have the opportunity to request extra funding.

Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) &
How Afterschool Art Programs Help Build a More Equitable Future for All

Most of our Drop-In Studio Time and Youth & Teen Afterschool Programs are influenced by TAB, or Teaching for Artistic Behavior. TAB is a style of art pedagogy where the central theme is that the student is in charge of their learning and sees the space as their studio. This self-directed work is usually anchored in one of these 8 guiding principles, or "studio habits of mind"

Much of our teaching approach at RCA and even the physical organization of the studio is influenced by TAB, and in this way has allowed our space to have a communal mindset as it is really everyone's studio.

TAB plays a huge role in our Afterschool Programs for both Kids and Teens. The big question is how does this fun studio time for youth turn them into people who will reform our society into a better place to live?

The key answer to this is ownership & encouragement. When young people can see the studio space as their own, it becomes a microcosm of how their actions and decisions affect others in the larger community. It gives them purpose and responsibility to use their developing skillsets to do good, to listen carefully to others, and make choices that will benefit us all rather than a privileged few. When young people feel encouraged to pursue their interests, whether that be developing a new comic book, or organizing with peers to use the arts to advocate for a cause they care about, they feel validated, understood, and it gives them the confidence to go further and dream bigger.

Our Future

RCA is still a brand new non-profit organization, but we are constantly thinking of what will come next.

Currently, we are mostly serving folks local to Easthampton who generally live fairly close to the Eastworks building, many of who come from middle-class families. Our goal is by 2023 at least 60% of our program participants will come from low-income families. This doesn’t mean we’ll be turning people away, but rather expanding our services and financial sustainability to open our doors wider to serve more people with art programs subsidized by donations and grant funding.

Our Afterschool Programming has just begun in January of 2022, and we are looking into plans for how we can provide free transportation to families who need it. Our goal is to fully provide this service by the Fall of 2022.

Warmer months will bring us back to outdoor public art-making, and we are so excited to return to this format, and now also have a studio space to invite folks to. Our increased capacity will also allow us to offer custom group programs, expanding our reach beyond Hampshire County.

We dream of one day fitting out a van or small bus to serve as a mobile studio in addition to our brick-and-mortar space in Easthampton. One that can transport participants to and from arts events, and also hold everything we could need to work on public art projects, hold pop-up maker space events, teach mobile workshops and trainings, the list could go on!

Every day of programming for our community helps us grow together, bringing the arts to the center of a more equitable future for us all, and we are so thankful to be doing this work everyday.