The Maplewood nonprofit, Artists First, learned in May that its funding from the Office for Developmental Disability Resources would be cut by $80,000 — half the group’s total budget, St. Louis Public Radio reported this week.
Artists First provides creative space, teachers, social workers and materials to clients with disabilities including autism, Down’s Syndrome and traumatic brain injury.
The Office for Developmental Disability Resources distributes funds to providers for community-based services to persons with a developmental disability, according to its website.
Artists First Executive Director Sheila Suderwalla said the organization remains committed to its 200 clients, who create their art at the studio. The artists can earn money from selling their art; the program also teaches them communication and time management.
St. Louis Public Radio told of one client:
Brandon Harris, 34, gets a ride there with his mom. He’s on the autism spectrum and doesn’t talk but Mercydee Harris said her son’s drawings of city skylines speak volumes about his hopes and dreams of travel. She said the closing of Artists First would be a tremendous loss.
“Because this is Bran’s life — here, where he knows he belongs,” Harris said.
Read the full story on St. Louis Public Radio.
Artists First will be at ArtOutside this weekend at Schlafly Bottleworks with works by its artists.
This is not good news. While I read the city is spending a lot of money for dimmers for streetlights, because a few folks complain ” there’re too bright”, this is happening? Our priorities are totally in the wrong place.