Today we’d like to introduce you to Stevie Baka.
Hi Stevie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Arts & Scraps was founded in 1989 by Peg Upmeyer. Their vision was to make a community center where teachers and students could access the supplies they needed for their underfunded classrooms. Over the past 36 years Arts & Scraps has had a lot of growth as a creative reuse and STEAM education facilitators thanks to the community at large. As an organization Arts & Scraps centers the community by providing reused materials and educational resources to promote sustainability and creativity in Detroit.
Our current vision is to reuse as much material as possible by turning it into community resources and education through relationship, innovation, and accessibility. We want to create open, accessible spaces for Detroiters to experience learning and creativity through the fun and expansive joy of reused materials. We want to teach, resource, and inspire more people in deeper ways each year.
The store is a very special and amazing place to be a part of. Just come once and you will see all the ways we can resources you and help move forward any STEAM projects you need assistance on.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We face the same challenges that most other non-profits face but we have a lot of grit and take it all with stride. Our founder retired in 2016 and from there we have been working hard to bolster our organization for sustainable growth that will continue to build up our Arts & Scraps and the community we serve. Because of our deep roots in community, we have continued to grow after the onset of the pandemic and have now gotten our organization back to where we were heading before that set back. We want to continue our growth in a holistic way that helps us serve and resource the community in an equitable way. We do this a few ways but two of them are by offering sliding scale pricing in our community store and scholarships for Detroit students who do not have the funding for our programming.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a materials resourcer and creative problem solver, i do sales and community outreach at Arts & Scraps. My specialty is finding a solution for the creative problems that folks come into the store with. It can be anything from, ‘my kid needs help with their diorama.’ all they way up to someone has to get rid of 25 disco balls right now. I love people and getting to help them figure out their project needs is incredibly fulfilling. I am the most proud of the work that we do taking items from the waste stream and finding them a new home in a creative space that needs those assets. Being able to see the big picture and project manage something that you are on the outside of is rewarding because you get to save the day without doing any of the hard work. I find my joy in puppets and building small to large wearable puppeteering concepts. Detroit has an incredible puppet and theater community and it is one of the most enjoyable ways to spend my time building community.
What makes you happy?
Having the chance to engage in creative and project learning spaces make everyday fun. It sounds kinda cliche but when you love your job you love every day. People and community make me happy. Getting to engage with people from all around the city in a generative way for my job gives me the skill set to make sure im getting all those needs met in my personal life as well. My job inspires me to do the things that make me happy everyday. And honestly a lot of that is making art. Building out new puppet ideas with my community makes me happy, as does getting to spend a night in at home working on collages. Ive never been a part of a community where people are in it for the joy more than the status and thats exactly how it feels being a part of the Detroit creative community.
Pricing:
- Most of our community store is sold by volume and sliding scale. We sell our bulk items by having customers fill up a paper grocery bag. The prices is sliding scales between $10-$15. Our goal with sliding scale is to build revenue while keeping our store equitable so everyone can get their needs meet while shopping at Arts & Scraps. We also have a priced per item area where things are sold individually rather than in bulk. And in addition we offer a store scholarship so anyone offering free community programming can get the supplies they need from us for free.
- Our STEAM programming is offered onsite at our partner locations and the cost fluctuates depending on what type and style of programming is offered.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://artsandscraps.org
- Instagram: Artsandscraps
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtsAndScrapsDetroit
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arts-&-scraps/?viewAsMember=true
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoGYcyLcHUT8JqyzXkbtY1w
