It’s my dream to open and operate a free art supply closet. When I finally settle in a community, get my bearings, and put aside a little money (give me five-ish years) I want to do exactly what The Broad Room Creative Collective is doing. If you haven’t heard about them before, The Broad Room is a non-profit located in Sacramento, California. According to their website, they “believe art is a human right + everyone deserves access to the tools, resources, and space they need to create,” and I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE.
I’m writing about The Broad Room because it’s a project that strengthens its community, demonstrates respect for community members and upholds their dignity, and preserves human rights. I’m sure free art supply closets exist all over the world and I’m featuring this one because it keeps popping up on my TikTok “For You Page”. I would love to find more free art supply closets to feature in the future and keep a running list on the Resource page. I believe in and am inspired by community care and mutual aid, and I feel like most communities would benefit from a free art supply closet. The Broad Room sells an Art Supply Mutual Aid Guide PDF that teaches others how to open a free art supply closet in their community, and it seems like a good read if you’re interested in starting your own.
The Broad Room offers a couple services in addition to the free art supply closet (which has “distributed over $10,000 in new art supplies and provided free art supplies to over 100 artists in the Sacramento area), like heat press and heat transfer printing services, second-hand goods (clothing, shoes, accessories, and books), and free menstrual products. They also provide affordable studio space to artists and partner with a local nonprofit to provide free art supplies to high school students.
Here are some of most popular art supplies The Broad Room Creative Collective distributes to their community:
- Canvases (all sizes)
- Paintbrushes (value packs are best!)
- Screen printing supplies — frames, ink, and squeegees
- Block printing supplies
- Pens (Microns are a favorite)
- Clear coat spray
- High quality, natural fiber yarn
- Notebooks and drawing pads
- Markers (Sharpies, paint pens, calligraphy markers…)
- Acrylic paint
If you’re interested in financially supporting The Broad Room Creative Collective, you can send funds via Venmo (@broadroom), Paypal (broadroomsac@gmail.com), this secure website, or Patreon. If you live in the Sacramento area and would like to donated unused art supplies, you can book an appointment to drop off donations on Wednesdays or Saturdays. You can also support The Broad Room by shopping their online store- here are some of my favorite products.
Anyway, that’s the post for today! I hope you found The Broad Room Collective inspiring and exciting- I know I did. FREE ART SUPPLIES FOR ALL.