Judy was one of the very first project owners who contacted us. At this time, the website barely existed, we were coding full time and preparing for the first beta release.
Her project was among the 6 first projects on the site. She mailed her friends, did some promoting and quickly raised the funds she (and her co-teachers) needed for this great project : The Doodlemeisters, free art classes for foster children.
We asked her to talk about her project and she was kind enough to give us this little interview. Here we go…
Becca and Judy, two teachers for The Doodlemeisters.
How did you get the idea for these art classes ? And why did you focus on foster children ?
When I was younger my grandmother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and came to live with us. As the disease progressed I noticed that not only did my grandma’s health deteriorate, but also her mood. But when a musically-inclined family friend began coming over to our house to play piano with her, the change was almost instantaneous. Now that she was playing the piano again, she smiled through every day. It was at this point I realized that art could do more than just entertain—it could improve a person’s quality of life.
This year I had the opportunity to volunteer with an art therapist in Los Angeles. She taught me how to use these ideas in concrete ways that would benefit everyone. I mean after all, who doesn’t love arts and crafts time? It’s just another outlet for all the stress and tensions that we let build up inside of us.
The idea to work with foster children sort of fell perfectly into our laps. I talked to my friends and we knew we wanted to do an arts project, but we didn’t know what group of people we should work with. We all loved kids so that was a definite. And after talking to my mentor (who has had several foster brothers/sisters over the years), I realized we had the networks in place to work with this population. The more I thought about it the more perfect it seemed—there aren’t that many programs that support the emotional and/or recreational sides of these kids, and that’s something that every child needs. So we decided to take a leap of faith and jump into a world only a few of us had ventured into before.
How did you bring the Doodlemeisters team together ?
As the conundrum of how to combine arts programs with social projects overwhelmed my mind, I began to realize how many of my friends are incredibly talented and passionate about the arts. I talked to two of my best friends, Becca and Alyssa, who have worked extensively with children over the years, and they loved the idea. Together we began to reach out to our various networks, really recruiting people from all over the country to get involved. I think that’s one of the coolest parts of this project, is how many people from all over the world ended up caring about it.
How did you manage to promote the project?
Our first move was to create a Facebook group, just to let all our friends know about this vision we had. I have to say that I was overwhelmed by the positive responses to the idea.
We send out more Facebook messages, emails, created a website, and even passed around fliers. And, of course, posted on Ulule. I have to say that the support from Ulule has been so incredible.
How did you find Ulule ? :)
Well for this project we already had all the labor we needed, so we knew that would not be an issue. What was troubling, however, were the prices of art supplies. I began feeling overwhelmed by the numbers coming up and in a state of panic I literally googled “how to get money for your arts projects.” I believe it was truly fate that landed me at Ulule because I really don’t know how we would have procured the funds otherwise. Like I said before, we never expected that this little dream of ours would ever catch fire so quickly or so passionately and I am so grateful to everyone who helped us out along the way.
Thanks Judy ! Good luck !