Looking Back at 2021: A Letter From Our Executive Director
December 30, 2021
Greetings, ACR Community!
As the last few days of a hectic 2021 fall away, we wanted to take a few moments to slow down, look back and share our thanks for every person, every partnership and every new idea that came together to help ACR thrive this past year. With the global pandemic, the snowpocalypse and more, we needed creativity more than ever in 2021. Our center and our community became a place of safety, joy and connection during another challenging time. We are so grateful for a community that continued to lift us up. Because of you, 2021 was another year of firsts for Austin Creative Reuse.
Join us to look back at five of our favorite highlights from the past year:
Reopening our new creative reuse center. It was such a joy to see your smiling faces in the center again after eight long months of closures due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. Nearly two years after we moved in, we’re finally getting settled into our new home in Windsor Park. We are so grateful for your continued support as we keep measures in place to help our people and our community stay safe. Because you were willing to wear a mask and make a donation appointment sometimes weeks in advance, we were able to keep our doors open to serve our community.
Accepting our one millionth pound of donations. In June 2021, almost ten years after accepting our first donation of materials in the back of a board member’s car, we passed one million pounds of donations coming through our doors. That’s the equivalent of 11 fully loaded airplanes worth of materials that ended up in classrooms and artist studios, on workbenches and around kitchen tables, and not in the landfill. It’s also climate action – one of the most significant things we can do to make real change right here in our community, right now. We are so appreciative for our conscious community that chooses reuse time and again.
Growing our team of staff and volunteers. It takes many hands to process the tens of thousands of pounds of donations we receive at our creative reuse center every month. In 2021, we grew our little family to 24 paid staff members and more than 125 core volunteers. You can find them accepting donations, asking about your latest creative project or spreading the joy of reuse out in the community. In all these things and more, our people make it possible.
Opening our first workshop space. When we made our wish list for our new creative reuse center, a dedicated workshop was right at the top. We wanted a space where folks could come together to take a class, join others to volunteer, watch reuse artists sharing their work or gather as a community. Our center’s recently completed workshop is the first permanent home for our education programs and provides a comfortable and productive space for dozens of volunteer groups every month. The workshop is where the ACR magic happens.
Launching new programs to keep our community creating. Perhaps our greatest joy this past year has been coming together with our community to celebrate creativity. Our new larger center opened the door for lots of firsts this year. Twenty-six local designers came together for Reuse on the Runway, ACR’s first ever reuse fashion show. Thousands of Austinites found one-of-a-kind treasures at our Reuse Market Days, a series of outdoor seasonal markets highlighting local reuse artists and makers. Dozens of reuse artists demonstrated their work or hosted public workshops in our center. Educators stocked their classrooms through our new Creative Cache and Adopt A School programs. Through these programs, ACR is working to improve access to meaningful art experiences for everyone in our community.
While we celebrate the accomplishments of this past year, we know that many challenges remain for our community. When I sat down to write a similar letter at the end of December 2020, we had just made the difficult decision to close our center to the public for the second time in nine months. Today, with the Omicron variant surging, Covid-19 still very much remains a part of our landscape, but we will continue to dig deep to find ways to serve our community. You can help ACR meet these challenges by shopping online or in our center, buying a gift card for yourself or a friend, donating gently used creative materials, making a financial contribution or simply sharing your love for ACR with your friends and family.
So let’s raise a sewing needle, paint brush or $5 ACR bucket to health, happiness and creativity in 2022!
Happy New Year from all of us at ACR!
~Jennifer Evans
Executive Director