"Arrow Creative is more than a building, program, or studio space: Arrow is the creative central in the heart of Memphis."
Arrow Creative is excited to announce its community partnership with LITE Memphis that provides creative entrepreneur education programming, to enhance LITE's already robust programming. This partnership is a significant opportunity for both organizations to expand their missions of enriching lives through arts and entrepreneurship. To further LITE Memphis’ mission to equip African American and LatinX students with 21st century skills to create wealth through entrepreneur-ship programming, LITE Memphis partnered with Arrow Creative to provide a creative entrepreneur education program.
Through generous donations and support from AutoZone, Tennessee Arts Commission and individual donors, Arrow Creative and LITE Memphis developed the AutoZone Youth Creative Entrepreneurship Residency program at their new creative hub, 653 Philadelphia Street, in the heart of Midtown Memphis.
“Through LITE’s partnership with Arrow, our high school and college age entrepreneurs have been given an opportunity of a lifetime. They are able to create in their own gallery space while simultaneously receiving guidance from creative entrepreneurs that are housed in Arrow. This fellowship affirms that if young entrepreneurs are supported with the resources needed, they will thrive and make impactful contributions to the arts community” - Lakeithia Glenn, Executive Director, LITE Memphis
By creating The Autozone Youth Creative Entrepreneurship Residency (AYCER), Arrow will be able to help keep the next generation of solo entrepreneurs in the Memphis community. Arrow is poised with the ability to bring together youth education components along with business mentorship and programming. Arrow has a unique space for local artists to work and sell from one location. The Arrow marketplace hosts 20 artists studios in conjunction with a retail store to create an additional source of income for our artists. The AYCER students are given a designated studio space in the marketplace to be among the artists as well as consumers coming through the space on a regular basis. The residency gives students the opportunity and access to work alongside other established creative entrepreneurs in a safe collaborative community space. Students are given free studio space to grow their businesses, a work study programming through Arrow’s marketplace store, mentorships with the creative community, and materials stipends to continue to create in the space.
Arrow will engage the community through student/artist mentorships. Arrow and LITE asks mentors to meet with their student(s) once a month over the 4 month period. During each meeting mentors will have the opportunity to learn more about the students and guide them using your knowledge of starting and growing a creative business. Suggested topics will be provided for each meeting but are not mandatory. Meetings will either be conducted in the Arrow Creative space or online. Mentors are volunteer positions within the Arrow organization. If you’re an artist or local creative and interested in become a mentor email us at hello@arrowcreativ.org.
This program’s value to the community is a more well versed group of high school students that will be graduating and contributing to the Memphis economy at an early age. As we learned from Doing well and doing good by doing art: by James Catterall, “Extensive and deep involvement in arts activities was a significant predictor of students’ later academic achievement and community involvement. The relationship between arts-rich educational opportunities and subsequent achievement persisted. In fact, the relationship strengthened for lower-socio-economic status students.” Arrow works with children ages five to seventeen to provide quality art learning over the Summer and throughout the year. The art offerings will strengthen the youth’s creative capacity in a variety of mediums.
Arrow Creative’s home is just off Central Avenue in the heart of Midtown Memphis. The facility serves as a hub for the Memphis creative community. With shoppable artist’s studios on site and classes year round, a visit to Arrow is sure to delight and inspire your inner creative. If you’re interested in stopping by or want more information please feel free to reach out. hello@arrocreative.org or memphisarrowcreative on Instagram or Facebook!