Social enterprise opens downtown

With $75,000 in grant seed money, nonprofit social enterprise Art Inspired opened today at 310 S. Campbell Ave.

Co-manager Jenny Turner said Art Inspired contracts with businesses for document disposal services and employs individuals with developmental disabilities to recycle the paper waste into art pieces for resale in the company’s 4,200-square-foot retail and production space. Turner, a former social worker who serves as Art Inspired’s lead business innovator, said 14 production employees, including individuals with disabilities, produce stationery and home décor.

“From that paper, we recycle it into two different lines of product,” she said, noting initial inventory includes frames, vases, urns, medallions, custom cards and trinket boxes, with prices ranging from $1.50 for stationery to $75 for home décor. “People can come in and see the production lines in progress.”

Art Inspired operates with a grant through Abilities First, a Greene County board created by a 1978 tax levy under Senate Bill 40 to fund a sheltered workshop. The social enterprise has signed a lease with Turner Store Redevelopment LLC for $3,250 per month, she said.

“We are learning all about small business,” said Turner, who manages operations with Richard White, lead art innovator.

While the idea has been in discussion for several years, Art Inspired began to take shape about a year ago after a Drury University Students in Free Enterprise team drafted a business plan.

“Employment for individuals with disabilities is a major service gap,” Turner said. “The SIFE team came up with this social enterprise model.”

With support from Friends of Abilities First, the 501(c)3 nonprofit that governs the county board, Turner said the group’s goal is to be self-sufficient through document destruction and art sales, as well as with a fee-based public studio for community members to come in and embellish purchased products.

“We really want to be a voice for employment of individuals with disabilities and also for the growth of the community arts scene,” Turner said.[[In-content Ad]]