The Arts of Life

Established in 2000, The Arts of Life is a not-for-profit arts studio for people with and without developmental disabilities. At the studio, we focus on a variety of art forms, including: visual art, performance, installation and music. Our work has been showcased at various Starbucks, Bite Café, New Wave Café in Chicago and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC. The program model that we developed together after a year spent getting to know each other and working together as a community consists primarily of each member taking ownership of the space and having an equal voice in the decision making process. Through that process we identified the four core values that guide our collaborative work: 1. promoting self-respect 2. inspiring artistic expression 3. building community 4. developing independence At the 30-day mark, each new artist meets with the program director to talk about his or her wants, needs, hopes, and dreams. They work together to turn these aspirations into goals in each of the four values, and thus develop an artist’s plan. We have seen tremendous growth in our artists as they achieve their goals and move on to challenge themselves even more.