[ We are artists, writers, musicians, poets, dancers and everyday people working to create change
in young people’s lives through art. ]
About Art 180 180
ART 180 creates and provides art-related programs for young people living in challenging circumstances,
encouraging personal and community change through self-expression. Our group is based in Richmond, Virginia.
Our Mission
ART 180 gives young people the chance to express themselves through art, and to share their stories with others.
Our Vision
Our work with young people will turn lives and communities around 180 degrees.
Our Operating Model
ART 180 partners with other nonprofit organizations to serve children living in challenging circumstances in Richmond, Virginia. Through our programs, youth discover ways they can positively engage in and influence their surroundings.
Professional artists and volunteers work with youth after school for 12 weekly sessions. Each program grows from the needs and interests of the group of young people being served.
The young artists are asked to explore crucial personal statements that reinforce their sense of identity and purpose, such as: What is a hero? What do I want people to know about me? How can I make my community a better place? Programs culminate with some kind of public presentation of artwork. These have included billboards, art exhibits, poetry readings, CDs and DVDs.
By merging the private creative experience with a public showcase, ART 180 offers youth a safe way to talk about what matters most to them, while offering the community a compelling way to hear it.
Our Motivation
To quote Rita Dove, former U.S. Poet Laureate, "If our children are unable to voice what they mean, no one will know how they feel. If they can't imagine a different world, they are stumbling through a darkness made all the more sinister by its lack of reference points. For a young person growing up in America's alienated neighborhoods, there can be no greater empowerment than to dare to speak from the heart-and then to discover that one is not alone in one's feelings."
Our Staff
Marlene is a Richmond native whose educational career started at Crestview Elementary, the site of ART 180's “I Am” project. She graduated from James Madison University, where she studied art until switching her major to communication. Her background includes communicating in many forms: writing, editing, public relations, and publications management. She's worked in several interesting environments on the path to a more meaningful career, including a professional association for CPAs, a theme park's PR department, a startup magazine published by Southern Living, and an advertising agency. She was also a freelance writer off and on for more than 10 years. She co-founded ART 180 in 1998. In 2006 she was recognized by the American Business Women's Association as a Star in the Arts, and in 2008, she was named a YWCA Outstanding Woman of the Year.
Nisha was born in India and has bounced between continents, having lived in Princeton, Western Australia, and finally, settling in Richmond. As a child, she would draw on anything within reach, inviting friends and family to her exhibitions, held in her bedroom. She studied English and Art at the University of Richmond, where she picked up a passion for printmaking, and has exhibited her work locally. Nisha spent two years working in insurance before transitioning to the nonprofit world, where she worked in development for CrossOver Ministry, a network of free clinics, before coming to ART 180.
Betsy holds a B.A. with honors in English from Stanford University and an M.A. in Print Journalism from the University of Southern California. She was a founding staff member at Free at Last, a community-based substance abuse treatment and prevention program in East Palo Alto, Ca., and has reported for newspapers in California, Virginia and South Africa. After moving to Richmond in 2004, Betsy worked for the University of Richmond's Center for Civic Engagement and the nonprofit Initiatives of Change before becoming the program manager at ART 180.
Program and Volunteer Coordinator: Michael Guedri
A Richmond native, Michael has always been motivated by the intersection of community and art. Since 2003, he has worked with ART 180 on various programs, fundraisers, exhibitions and promotions while working as a floor manager at Ellwood Thompson's Local Market. He currently leads a program at St. Andrew's School, mere steps in between where his father was raised and his current home in Oregon Hill. Michael studies Art Education at Virginia Commonwealth University in addition to his duties as Program and Volunteer Coordinator at ART 180.
Accounting Assistant: Sue Wimett
Sue is an Ohio girl who found her way to Richmond by way of Georgia. She studied accounting and finance at Dalton College and liberal arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. After 11 years with Massey Energy (formerly A.T. Massey Coal Company), she joined SunTrust Bank and became vice president-treasury management sales. When her job was moved to Atlanta, Sue decided not to return to banking and instead took early retirement. She spent a year volunteering and immersing herself in hobbies such as bicycling, gardening and baking before deciding to return to the workforce part time and share her diverse skills with a nonprofit organization. In February 2005, ART 180 became that lucky nonprofit.
Administrative Assistant: Karen Wolfe
A Virginia native, Karen received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in Painting and Printmaking with a minor in Art History. Since graduation she has found her various art and administrative talents occupied on national and local motion pictures such as The New World and HBO's mini-series John Adams. In her free time Karen runs a small handmade design business and continues to work wardrobe for local commercial and film projects. She has been color-coding her sock drawer and closet since the tender age of ten and is a self-professed Obsessive Compulsive.
Our Board of Trustees:
President: Sue Ann (SAM) Messmer
Chief of Staff, Office of the President & VP for Univ. Outreach, VCU
Vice President: Tristana Nesvig Trani
Strategic Planner, Virginia Commonwealth University
Secretary: Katie Gilstrap
Senior Vice President, Marketing Director, First Market Bank
Treasurer: Celia Broadus
President, Accounting Strategies to Solutions
Executive Director: Marlene Paul
Co-founder, ART 180
Charlie Agee
Director, Corporate Contributions, Altria
Scott Blackwell
Executive Director, Human Resources, Willams Mullen
Charlie Connell
Managing Partner, PUNCH
Anthony Dale
Council Fiscal Analyst, Office of the Chief of Staff, Richmond City Council
Audrey Givens
CPA, Gail Howerton, CPA, Tax and Financial Services LLC
Stuart Horsley
Vice President, U.S, Trust (Bank of America Private Wealth Management)
Heilbron Rushing-Cooper
Artist
Mary Dunne Stewart
Policy Director, Voices for Children
Phil Strunk
Attorney, BrownGreer, PLC
Eric Van Der Hyde
Financial Representative, Northwestern Mutual
Jennifer Whittenberg
Vice President, Operations, The Dashboard Group