NIAD Art Center (Nurturing Independence through Artistic Development), is a

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of t ...

for artists with developmental and physical disabilities, founded in 1982 and based in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Contra Costa County ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

, California. The organization provides studios, supplies, and gallery space.

Organization

NIAD stands for Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development. NIAD Art Center has a 4,000 sq. ft.

art studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

in Richmond, California. The organization works with 70 artists every week; COVID protocols limit the number of artists working on-site to 20, but there is no capacity limit to the number of artists served in NIAD's Virtual Studios. Both studios are open five days per week. Some of the artists have

physical disabilities A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disability, disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living skills, daily living, such as respiratory ...

; while others have developmental disabilities, and others have both. The artists enrolled at NIAD work with facilitators, who instruct them in multiple mediums: painting, fiber, ceramics,

drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...

, sculpture,

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

, performance, sound recording, and digital media. In addition to the studio space for artists, NIAD Art Center has an exhibition space where they present programming featuring the artists attending the center. NIAD Art Center has a budget of around $600,000, as of 2012, a third of which is raised through donations and sales.

Artists associated

Exhibitions

* ''The Genre Leaps'' (2018) - organized by Margaret Tedesco * ''Virgins Virgining'' (2017) - organized by Micah Wood * ''Avatar'' (2012) - curated by Justine Frischmann

References

External links

NIAD Art Center Website
{{Authority control 501(c)(3) organizations Arts organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area Non-profit organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area Outsider art Autism in the arts Deafness arts organizations Deafness organizations in the United States Deaf education Disability mass media Disability organizations based in the United States Charities for disabled people Intellectual disability organizations Art schools in California Social welfare charities based in the United States Richmond, California