Wildflowers in the Wind

Spring is here again, and flowers are blooming all around us! This is the best time of year! New things popping up, getting out of the house, everything is opening and coming to life.  My mom loved pansies, a flower that can tolerate great fluctuations in temperature during early spring.  My window boxes are filled with yellow, orange, and purple pansies.  There is so much color right now with the tulips and the daffodils and our trees beginning to open their blossoms. And, every single one of my newly planted Japanese Maples survived the winter! I am overjoyed! They are very small trees right now but they are growing. The leaves on their stems are different colors too!

Leading up to this springtime, I felt it was time to write the story of how Arts for All came to be. I decided I would send it out as a fundraising letter with pieces of paper embedded with wildflower seeds for donors to plant. I envisioned beautiful wildflowers growing all around Omaha, symbolizing the continued growth of our organization supported and nurtured by the community. Arts For All, the sites we have, and the programs we offer are kind of like wildflowers:  a little unconventional, creative, many different kinds of classes just like many kinds of wildflowers.  We are scattered all over,we are all beautiful, and we are helping to create beauty. I titled this letter “Arts for All: Wildflowers in the Wind” and would like to share what I wrote with all of you readers.

Beats of a Different Drum

Arts For All:  Wildflowers in the Wind

Brrrrrrr!!!  Cold standing in front of my storm door February 2004  – neighborhood deserted.  Third day of forced “retirement”.  Not what I thought I’d be doing today…though it was great to sleep in these last two days.  I am the only one around, everyone is working.  Never wanted the rockin’ chair front porch lifestyle in my later years.  Luck did shine on me financially as I received a small layoff package and could survive for a while, I would soon need a job.  Friends were still working or had moved to a warmer climate.  Hmmmmmmm, what to do?  Sally and I were going to start our interior design business, but wait…Sally is still working.    Help me God; what do I do with my life?  (God is my constant companion with running conversations.)  So God, what is my purpose, what have I forgotten?  I constantly asked these questions.  

Twenty years ago my dad died, at the same time my fiancé Bill had a stroke, and mom moved in with me.  I had to work, take care of others.  Right before mom passed away, she said the door is now open for me to do what is most important to me.  I could be an art teacher/substitute, join the Peace Corp, be a piano accompanist, provide counseling, become a minister, be a working artist (didn’t think I had enough talent to be successful.)  Every night as I went to sleep, I asked for a message in my dreams.  I loved the arts, thought they were so important for all, and how could I use them?  No dream answers.

That summer I was teaching art to children and while cleaning my classroom, scrubbing tables, it came to me. ‘I KNOW!  Oh my God!’  I remember hearing a voice say ‘remember when walking on the UNO campus you heard a voice say “help people see the beauty in their world, even for just a moment and that learning to see, hear and appreciate will bring beauty and peace into their world and to enjoy the arts every day.’  I had forgotten that serendipitous experience.  I went on to remember I forgot that Bill and I had a vision of a building with space for the arts; a theater, dance floor, art and music therapy offices, classrooms, gallery, cafe, storage, gardens, and more.  I was now jumping up and down.  I KNEW this was my purpose, my mission.  I started looking for a related job.  A friend called to ask if I had seen the teeny tiny ad in the part time section for a Director for an arts education organization.  I called, had an interview, and by 10 pm that night their board called to say I had the job.  I was ecstatic!  I was an art teacher, had 10 years of piano lessons, took dance classes as a child, sang in choirs and groups, took creative writing classes, board certified master level counselor, taught both children and adults, scout leader, supervised in Corporate America, course developer, certified to teach many business programs nationwide, developed the first on site all employee diversity program, etc.  I had experience in a lot of areas of running this business.  

I worked 24 hours a day bringing back their arts program and had many students enrolled in all the different arts, new sites, new instructors, everything ready to go for our new winter semester.  The day classes were to start, the board announced arts education was too expensive and the program was closed.  So many people were upset and very disappointed.  After shedding many tears, consoling the teachers and assistant about losing their jobs and closing the program, I remembered that I had wanted my own organization and building.  I asked everyone if they wanted to join me in starting our own non-profit. We had no idea if we had support, sites to offer classes, or money.  And, I did not have connections to help financially.  

It was both exciting and scary for me. I believed the mission would be there to get us support.   AFA makes the arts available and affordable for all.  This is what we all agreed upon.  We jumped in and two church sites helped us get off the ground with their locations.    Arts For All, Inc. was born - eleven years ago.  We started with 40 students between the two sites. Many years we served about 3,000.  I have always believed AFA and our mission would work out.  No matter how we are viewed, we are proud to have served so many.  Since 2006, we certainly have grown. Thanks to the support of so many.  

AFA has gone from two sites to six public sites.  We are currently at a library, public school after school programs, and have provided classes during the day, Open Door Mission, camps, universities, the Housing Authority, YMCA, Head Start, senior centers, preschools, Montessori, scout meetings, birthday parties, public events, film workshops, and more.  We even had our own theatre for a year.  

I want you to meet one of our students.  After two years of being in business, Asia joined AFA.  At 7 years she started piano, loved it, did very well and stayed for three years.  Besides piano, she now plays other instruments and is a great musician.  She is now working for the Conservatory.  AFA was there to make it possible for her family by making her classes affordable, providing a payment plan with reduced rates.  Her success makes my heart sing.  We were there for her and have been for so many others.

After five years with my ‘won’t give up’ attitude and challenging start, the big “C” came to live with me.  Breast cancer, stage 4, lives on my bones.  Currently I am indefinitely scheduled for weekly chemo treatments along with other immune support and also dealing with continuous infections, vision problems and other side effects.  I now work mostly from home but I keep working. 

Chemotherapy is my life right now but working for Arts For All, supporting the mission and staff, instructors and participants keeps me alive.  Besides my biological family, AFA is my life and my family.  Along with my health issues, AFA too has had great struggles especially the last two years and now we have to reorganize.  We need your help.  I don’t know what will happen with my cancer after six years of fighting, but I want to leave AFA in a good financial place.  I know that AFA will continue even if I am not around to support this great program. I want to leave a legacy, have our own building, have sites in Council Bluffs, North Omaha, new Bellevue, develop proposed program for the underserved in North Omaha, grow our programs in South Omaha, add programs for special needs and seniors and more.

We have so many plans for the future.  We just need to make sure we have a future.  Remember our mission: making the arts available and affordable for all.  This last year (even though we have been struggling, didn’t receive a lot of grants, had employee turn-over) we received the Governor’s Art Award and I was just awarded, twice, the Jefferson award for community service for 2016, and am looking forward to representing Nebraska in Washington D.C. this June.    We are dedicated, focusing first on the mission.  Please help us be secure and able to grow and provide opportunities for self-expression, developing empathy, learning to see and hear, being creative and all the other benefits from participation in the arts.  I believe Omaha and the surrounding area is fertile ground for the seeds we’ve been planting; we just need more gardeners to help us grow.

Judy Mallory, M.S.                                                                                                                                                      

Executive Director                                                                                                                                                                        

Arts For All, Inc.                                                                                                                                                                    

2315 “I” Street                                                                                                                                                                    

Omaha, NE 68107                                                                                                                                       

For another beat of a different drum, I invite you to listen to ‘Skylark’ by Ella Fitzgerald. This was one of Bill's favorite songs…and it's perfect for springtime.

Come to Your Senses

This season, let's explore texture and design through our sense of touch.  What do the things you love to wear in spring feel like? This month, I was inspired by Easter hats. I remember wearing picture hats to church. I still love hats and am currently on the hunt for the perfect hat because chemotherapy leaves me with little to cover my head. Hats can be works of art and often have fabrics and adornments that give them texture.

Check out this link to the Sunday Morning Show on CBS. They did a tribute to the art of millinery in a segment called “Hats off to Degas”.

Movement of the Muse

If you felt inspired by the story of Arts for All and would like to join us in planting wildflowers in our community, please send me your address so I can send you the seed paper as a thank you for caring, sharing, and supporting our mission. My email address is jgmallory@msn.com and I would be happy to share this gift with any of our readers!

To close, I invite you to listen to Judy Garland singing “April Showers”. The song is a reminder to focus on the beauty of life. That is my hope for all of you.

Longaberger Basket Building, in Ohio, is an office building for a basket-making company.  The building is currently for sale.  Thought it was an interesting design...leading us into the time of May baskets and outdoor picnics!