In collaboration with the Materials Exchange Center for the Community Arts (MECCA)
Everyone is an artist, but not everyone has access to raw art materials. MECCA’s mission is to change that by making art materials accessible to all.
Since 1999, MECCA has worked to divert materials from the waste stream toward the community’s creative endeavors to equip and inspire local artists. The organization encourages the reimagining of items often considered trash, thus breaking down barriers to art-making.
“Art supplies are really expensive,” says Heather Campbell, MECCA’s executive director. “But when they’re on hand, you’re far more likely to create. And if you can look creatively at your recycling bin, at items like the open side of a cereal box, egg cartons, or plastic tubs, you might realize that you have supplies after all.”
MECCA does its best, Campbell says, to make art supplies affordable, even providing them for free to local educators and homeschool teachers. It’s working so well that they’ll be moving into brand-new digs this summer, in the 5th Street Public Market in Eugene.
“We’ll have more room for programming, and we’re looking forward to bringing back workshops and events that were on hold during the pandemic,” Campbell says.
Learn more about MECCA’s mission at materials-exchange.org.
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