25-WORD DESCRIPTION:
Building Community Through Arts Engagement, BFF oversees the Benson Creative District and year-round First Fridays, supporting local artists, businesses, and stakeholders through interactive art programs.
HOW WE USE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS:
- $5 helps us keep the lights on in our facilities ;)
- $25 helps us build monthly to-go art kits for at-home creativity (over 600 free art kits distributed in 2024!)
- $50 provides a classroom scholarship for a community member, ensuring that our creative opportunities remain accessible to all.
- $100 provides an honorarium to emerging and local artists, paying them to participate in public gallery exhibitions.
- $200 either pays for a First Friday live artist to participate or 1 month’s worth of art supplies for all-age art classes and programs.
- $300 pays one (of three!) of our First Friday DJs who perform every month year-round at various locations throughout the Benson neighborhood.
- $500 pays each of our monthly Teaching artists in residence, bringing expert-led workshops to our community.
A STORY FROM OUR AGENCY:
Recently, BFF has been expanding its education efforts, including new programs working with Benson High (BHS) students. Given that 80% of BHS students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, these efforts provide free creative outlets that engage at-risk youth through alternatives to traditional extracurricular activities.
A Benson High student and “little sister” in Big Brothers Big Sisters, joined BFF’s afterschool art club this fall. She was quiet, and mostly stuck to pencil and marker drawings of original characters. When we told the group we’d be painting for the homecoming parade, I asked if she’d ever used acrylics. “No,” she said. The next day, I ran into her in a retailer’s craft aisle—staring at paint. I helped her pick some out. That moment? That’s what we do. We open doors people didn’t know they could walk through.
While we love art, our mission is about people. We run accessible galleries and artist markets where creatives—especially those often shut out of traditional spaces—can show and sell their work. We host classes for teens, adults, and elders. We build community. Some of our artists have gone on to full-time careers. Some market vendors have opened brick-and-mortar shops. Volunteers have become staff. But even more important? A student saying, “I’ll stay as long as I can—I don’t want to go home.”
Art is just the tool. Connection is the goal.
ADDRESS/PHONE:
2729 N. 62nd St.
Omaha, NE 68104
402-203-5488
