⭐Looking Back at 2023⭐
A letter from ACR’s Executive Director
One of the best parts of my job is hearing community members say “Oh, wow!” or “Look at this place!” or simply gasp when they come into the center for the first time. Some say they’ve found their people. Some even say it feels like coming home. We know the world can be tough out there, but you can count on ACR to do all we can to provide a joyful respite and a brighter, more resilient future for our community.
As the last few days of yet another hectic year 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.
Join us to look back at five of our favorite milestones from 2023:
#1: Diverting 2 Million Pounds of Creative Materials from the Landfill
We’re starting off with a big one - a whale-y big one! This spring we accepted our TWO MILLIONTH POUND of usable creative materials since our founding in 2009. That’s the equivalent of more than six blue whales, the largest animals on Earth! These incredible contributions provide a steady stream of high quality creative materials for our community, making ACR the largest creative reuse center in Texas and one of the largest in the country!
#2: Opening Our Fabulous New Classroom
We've hosted workshops and craft activities since the earliest days of ACR, but in 2023, we built out our very first full-time classroom in our creative reuse center. This means we now have a dedicated, functional and inspiring new space to host public and private workshops, birthday parties, day camps, community gatherings and so much more! With 137 classes hosted in our creative reuse center in 2023, there's bound to be something to pique your interest.
#3: Opening VolunteerLand
We couldn’t do what we do without our tireless team of volunteers. From prepping donations to spreading the word about creative reuse out in the community, volunteers work alongside our amazing staff throughout our organization to keep our engines running. Over the last year, volunteers contributed almost 20,000 hours to ACR. And in spring 2023, we opened a brand new volunteer workshop - our first ever space dedicated to these amazing individuals - creating a safe, fun and productive space for them to work together in community.
#4: Expanding Reuse Markets
We started our reuse markets in 2020 to support our artist community with a safe, socially distanced outdoor event when most indoor markets - a major source of annual income for these artists - had been canceled due to the global pandemic. Since then our markets have exploded due to their reputation as friendly welcoming events featuring artists who love to share their process and inspiration. Our 2023 holiday market was our largest ever, featuring 104 artists over 4 days. We even hosted our first ever Kids Handmade Mini Market this year, providing an opportunity for young artists to dip their toes into creative entrepreneurship.
#5: Launching the Materials Mobile
From the Creative Cache to our popular educator nights, we’re always dreaming up new ways to support local educators with the supplies and community they need to be successful. But in 2023, we saw one of our most ambitious dreams realized due to the community champions at Impact Austin. With the financial support of their 2023 Education Grant, we piloted our brand new Materials Mobile Program to bring classroom supplies and teaching aids directly to schools so that teachers can “shop” for what they need right from where they already are at little to no cost.
With all this and more, the future is looking bright for our reuse community. You can help us continue this work by shopping online or in our center, buying a gift card for yourself or a friend, donating gently used creative materials, taking a class, making a financial contribution or simply sharing your love for ACR with your friends and neighbors.
So let’s raise a paintbrush, a splash of glitter or a $5 ACR bucket to health, happiness and creativity in 2024! Happy New Year from all of us at ACR!
