LIZ POWERS, A FORMER MALDEN ROTARY GRANTS SCHOLAR, CREATING GOOD IN THE WORLD!

As a college student, Liz Powers wrote a thesis which explored the social benefits of art therapy programs. Upon graduating from college, Liz created art groups in
women's shelters in Cambridge, Mass. She realized that there were many great art therapy programs in Boston, but the missing piece was an equally empowering method for the artists to share their artwork.

 

In 2011, Liz founded City Heart, an annual art show in Boston which offered a professional marketplace for members of eight local shelters to sell artwork to customers. In 2012, Liz's brother, Spencer, joined the team to help with the finances and logistics and by 2013, the show had grown to include 70 artists. 

While the show was a local success, Liz and Spencer started brainstorming how to create a large-scale and sustainable marketplace for art therapy artists. Why not provide a professional marketplace for these artists year round? Why not help artists in hospitals and disability centers as well as shelters? Why not expand outside Boston? It was clear that there were so many reasons to grow and expand the mission, but we needed a sustainable and scalable way to do it. The Result is ArtLifting!

 

Founded in December 2013 as a low-profit limited liability company ("L3C"), ArtLifting is the social enterprise solution for homeless, disabled, and other disadvantaged artists. We are driven by our mission and seek to empower our artists by providing a professional gallery where they can sell their work.

 

Please consider supporting ArtLifting: Empower Homess + Disabled Artists, a social enterprise started by Liz Powers, a former Rotary Global Grant Scholar and a Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women Unsung Heroine. This amazing program started in Boston and is in 5 cities but their goal is to grow beyond that and they need your help!