Art Room Aid was created in 2009 by Blick Art Materials. As a company focused on educational and professional art supplies, Blick has also consistently supported arts education in diverse ways. Whether sponsoring art scholarships or creating lesson plans that address national standards of learning while easing the burden on busy educators, we at Blick understand just how important collaboration is. And we know that big dreams start small- after all, Blick is a family-owned company that began at Mr. and Mrs. Blick’s kitchen table in Galesburg, Illinois, 100 years ago.

Today, we’re continuing to nurture that deeply rooted investment in the arts and in educational communities with Art Room Aid. As the world becomes increasingly linked, skills like visual communication and creative problem-solving are more important than ever.

If you’re an art educator, Art Room Aid provides the tools to easily share your dreams and funding needs without complicated applications or fees that take away from contributions. If you’re an arts advocate you can quickly locate a project that resonates with you and make a high-quality contribution that will go directly to a project in need.

When you become a part of Art Room Aid, either as a project leader or as a sponsor, you’re joining a larger community and taking part in a conversation that goes far beyond the classrooms and community spaces where essential creative learning is taking place every day.

Meet the ARA Team

Sierra Stuart-Friend: Throughout school, and especially in high school, my favorite classes were always art – they were a chance to escape for a bit and approach things a little differently than I would in my core classes. My teacher, Mrs. Sutter, always encouraged me to try new things and push my creativity. After studying marketing at Syracuse University and Northwestern University, I’ve continued to try to think creatively and push boundaries with new approaches—by using technology to connect people for the greater good. Thanks, Mrs. Sutter!

Kri Grenier: I’ve always valued creativity, whether sewing, drawing, painting, or working on computer development (which I studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). I still remember folding paper cranes as part of studying Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (maybe ARA’s origami motif isn’t a coincidence!). Creativity, collaboration, design, and problem-solving are skills we carry with us, no matter where we go in life. And the joy that comes with the experience of creating something all your own should be available to everyone. I see Art Room Aid as helping to spread that experience.

Kat Kollett: Whether mining the recycled materials at the Boston Children’s Museum, delighting in brand new boxes of crayons as a child, discovering the improvisational possibilities of cardboard with my nieces, or experimenting with beautiful yarns and fabrics, creative exploration has been a defining experience for me. After studying mathematics at Williams College and Northwestern University, I left academia and found the perfect match of art and logic in web programming. I want to live in a world where people look to expand themselves, create new things, share ideas, and strive for something bigger than they know to be possible.