Follow Your Art Drawing On Community Support For 'Arts For All'

MELROSE, MA — It's hard to miss Follow Your Art's finger-painted thumbprint on the community.

You've seen it smeared across the city — whether it's murals at the high school and YMCA, community art brightening the new parklets on Main Street and the Ell Pond gazebo or collaborating with Melrose Alliance Against Violence and Melrose Kind.

Then there's the impact that's a lot harder to see.

Through the Arts for All program, Follow Your Art has provided services and scholarships for people with disabilities to take part in community arts. But as the pandemic's impact deepens, exposing inequity and exacerbating financial hardships, Follow Your Art is expanding its program to include far more people.

The Arts For All Fundraising Challenge is running through the rest of the year and is calling on residents to make small donations to help make art programs accessible to everyone and fund community projects. The goal: To get 500 donations of $10-$25.

"It tries to make sure that anyone who wants to take a class with us can take it," Kris Rodolico, executive director at Follow Your Art Community Studios, told Patch. It also reaches out to programs from underrepresented populations, like people of color and the LGBTQ community.

"Community art brings people together, of all ages, backgrounds, and needs," Mayor Paul Brodeur said via Follow Your Art. "The Arts for All Program serves the diverse needs of our population by creating community art experiences and by providing scholarships so that the arts are open to everyone, especially during financially difficult times."

The fundraiser also helps support more community art in Melrose.

"It just enhances the quality of life in a way that only the arts can do," Rodolico said.

Follow Your Art acts as the creative conduit through which many local organizations can visually express what they are trying to accomplish. It partners with the Human Rights Commission, Melrose Alliance Against Violence and other groups to take their vision and give it form.

The studio also allows art to do what it does best — bring people together.

"When everything shut down in March, FYACS provided a collective outlet for creativity and joy through its daily art challenges and online classes," City Council President Jen Grigoraitis said via Follow Your Art. "We connected with friends and family all over the world when we shared and participated in the projects. Creating art reminds us that we are a part of something much bigger and that there is always beauty to be found in the world."

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi and subscribe to Melrose Patch for free daily newsletters and local news alerts.