With love for and in solidarity with our community ~

With the tragic death of Daunte Wright, we're asked to keep stepping forward in the aftermath of unspeakable realities of a world where racism, anti-Blackness, ableism, transphobia, and xenophobia persist. There is no balm to soothe the senseless loss and continued harm caused by these hateful epidemics. As the world watches what is happening in our backyard, Upstream Arts artists and staff continue to sit, connect, create, and grieve with each other, and with our disability community, in acknowledgment of what we and thousands of others like us have to do, have always done, will continue to do - we will keep showing up.

Julie Guidry, Matt Guidry, and Bree Sieplinga
Leadership Team at Upstream Arts

Chitra, a brown-skinned femme with pulled back long hair and a gold nose ring, gestures earnestly with her hands as she speaks about her experience as a Teaching Artist

Chitra Vairavan, the newest Teaching Artist to our roster, speaks about her experience co-teaching our Open Enrollment classes

Embracing the magic in the unexpected.

"I think our Open Enrollment classes have enabled the time and space for people with various disabilities to come together in a free and liberated way - and seeing how many people have shown interest has been really touching. It’s been really touching to know that we have the capacity to work in such a way, and to make such a critical offering to our community. And to have that be appreciated. And have that be embraced. I hope it continues, because those rooms where we have so many folks enables the unexpected to happen - for those magical moments to come through in the work."

~ Chitra Vairavan, Upstream Arts Teaching Artist since 2020

Let's cultivate some joy together.

We hope you can join us for The Art of We: Re•Focus, our Annual Fundraiser and Opening Night Event for our new online photo exhibit, centering the stories and experiences of our disability community.

Thurs, April 29 • 6-7pm CST
Online over Zoom
Free! • Family Friendly
Invest in our $35,000 goal to expand our open to the public self-advocacy classes for adults with disabilities.

Audio Description • Closed Captioning • ASL interpretation by Phyllis Genest-Stein

RSVP

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3501 Chicago Ave S
Minneapolis, MN | 55407 US

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