LOVE art? Entrepreneur seeks to promote community health by engaging older adults and underserved populations in the expressive arts.
Project Description
Mission statement: Layer by Layer Artwork, Inc. seeks to facilitate engagement in the expressive arts for purposes of promoting community health and healing.
Philosophy and vision: Layer by Layer Artwork, Inc. values inclusive, accessible, affordable, and sustainable expressive arts\ programming that serves the needs of all community members who wish to participate. Vision: To live in a world where everyone has access and opportunity to experience the health benefits of the expressive arts.
Strategic Goals – Year 1, Year 5, Year 10: In year 1 (2020), Layer by Layer Artwork, Inc. will secure 10 clients, groups, and/or community settings wherein facilitation of the expressive arts will take place. The goal of year 1 is to realize up to a 2% profit over break even point and 95-100% client satisfaction. Key initiatives include:
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Fundraising for start-up costs
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Website development and maintenance
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Bank account and business credit card
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Continuing education in expressive arts facilitation in healthcare
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Creation of business logo/cards
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Targeted marketing/advertising of the business
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Art cart acquisition for transport in community with all necessary art supplies
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Testing of skills in facilitation of expressive arts with sample volunteer populations of older adults
By year 5 (2025), Layer by Layer Artwork, Inc., will quadruple its client base and realize up to a 5% profit margin and 95-100% client satisfaction. Key initiatives include partnering with local organizations to showcase/advertise the business, hosting a progressive community art showing around Portland, and working with health professions’ educational programs to offer a clinical site as well as advance capacity (via the engagement of students) and extend services to a wider population, including underserved community members.
By year 10 (2030), Layer by Layer Artwork Inc., will maintain at minimum a 5% profit margin, 95-100% client satisfaction, a regular client base, and have an active network of community-based supporters. Key initiatives include ongoing owner knowledge development, exploration with various arts mediums, and the extension of trauma-informed expressive arts facilitation for targeted individual/group health promotion and healing purposes.
Target market: Target customers include anyone or any organization interested in expressive arts engagement and facilitator services for purposes of personal growth and/or community development. Initial marketing will be locally focused in SW Portland and within settings frequented by older adults including churches, senior community centers, and retirement/assisted living facilities.
Industry: Portland includes diverse services and programs intended to engage community members in the expressive arts. Many of these services/programs are delivered by professional artists and/or persons with backgrounds in counseling and/or psychological therapy. Few, if any, existing organizations offer integration of both the arts and nursing services specifically. Layer by Layer Artwork Inc, thus fills this gap. The industry outlook demonstrates much opportunity for niche creative and complementary health services that promote wellness within aging adult populations. The field of expressive arts, and specifically arts in healthcare has only been around for 30 years or so, and the uptake of arts in health has been slow despite scientific evidence indicating that art has a positive influence on all aspects of one’s health. Layer by Layer Artwork Inc. will compete via its intention to go to the client, rather than expecting the client to access the business. Pairing nursing services with expressive arts facilitation is a unique feature of the business, and via individual home visits, accessible group sessions, and community-driven workshops, Layer by Layer Artwork Inc. will have an edge on the competition.
Legal structure: Layer by Layer Artwork Inc. is structured as a S-corporation. The owner is a licensed professional PhD-prepared registered nurse with 24 years of nursing experience, including 10 years in education and academia. The owner maintains current professional liability insurance and is the President and Secretary of the business.
Crowdsourcing Funds: All funds will be used for start-up costs, specifically marketing of the business, acquisition of an art cart and associated art supplies, as well as owner CE expressive arts training in 2020.
Thank you in advance for your support and backing of this unique start-up. Your contribution will make a difference in the lives of many in the years to come!
Updates
The Project FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is expressive arts? Visual art, movement, writing, music, drama, and other creative processes that when combined, interact within an individual or community to bring about growth, healing, and wellness.
Expressive arts is for everyone. We are all born with the capacity to be creative. The form of arts engagement does not require credentials in art training or “talent” in art, just an openness to the creative process and the willingness to follow it where it leads you. Expressive arts is more about the process of being creative than about any aesthetic outcome that results.
What is expressive arts facilitation? It is the act of designing and initiating spontaneous creative processes for people. Expressive arts facilitators might be intuitive/expressive arts, counselors, academics, teachers, nurses, or other helping professionals, such as non-profit workers and volunteers.
How does expressive arts improve health? Expressive arts engagement promotes a state of mindfulness, relaxation and flow, and as such potentiates a sense of having balance to your life. Health benefits of engaging with the expressive arts include increased:
- self-awareness (undiscovered insights)
- relaxation and stress reduction (slower respiratory rate, heart rate, random thought processing); increased self-esteem
- noticing through presence (connection to the moment)
- enhanced intrapersonal, interpersonal, and metaphysical connections (to self, others, nature, or spirit)
- balance in the feeling vs. thinking portions of the brain
- personal growth (new discoveries)
- joy (art can be fun and stimulate peace of mind)
- authenticity (expressive art takes place in a judgment-free zone; it is the process that is important, not the outcome; there are no expectations)
- healing (provides alternate ways of expressing difficult moments in life)
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” ~Thomas Merton
12x12 acrylic on canvas of your favorite pet.
A BIG thank-you and expression of gratitude via all my social media channels to you and/or your business for your support of this start-up.
Canvas tote with Layer by Layer Artwork, Inc. logo - for all your creative supplies! (Image not representative of exact product as logo is being finalized now).
Includes printed version of experiments created via Layer by Layer Artwork, Inc. for each calendar month of the year. (Picture is not representative of the actual product, but just an idea of the style of the calendar, 8.5 x 11, 12-months).
12 x 16 layered art of your choice - abstract, natural scene, or other object. Includes framing and incorporation of copper string lights if desired.
Rewards
12x12 acrylic on canvas of your favorite pet.
A BIG thank-you and expression of gratitude via all my social media channels to you and/or your business for your support of this start-up.
Canvas tote with Layer by Layer Artwork, Inc. logo - for all your creative supplies! (Image not representative of exact product as logo is being finalized now).
Includes printed version of experiments created via Layer by Layer Artwork, Inc. for each calendar month of the year. (Picture is not representative of the actual product, but just an idea of the style of the calendar, 8.5 x 11, 12-months).
12 x 16 layered art of your choice - abstract, natural scene, or other object. Includes framing and incorporation of copper string lights if desired.