COMMUNITY & COLLABORATIONS
The arts play an important role in bringing people together, exploring ideas, and taking action on issues that matter. Yellow House focuses on raising awareness of universal human rights while also being responsive to the needs and aspirations of those who live and work in the North Florida region and the immediate neighborhood. ALL of our work centers true collaborations that combine the interests, expertise, and passion of individuals, organizations, and communities. When we work together we can change the world.
MUTUAL AID
Anchored by the The Community Cart on our front lawn, which was born of our care efforts in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic, we recognize the need for people to more easily access resources, especially fresh food. It is a space for giving and receiving. It is filled with items of sustenance – those things that make us whole. At any given time, the community will find fresh produce, bread, books, art supplies, messages of encouragement, period products, plants, narcan and other items.
We are grateful to the small businesses, area farms, and neighbors who help ‘feed’ this space, especially our friends at Community Loaves, Worldwide Aquaponics, Rebel Recovery, and Breadvolution. When the system fails us, we can come together to take care of each others needs. Our mutual aid efforts are one small thread in a beautiful web that reaches throughout our community. If you have something to give – bring it. If you need something – it is here for the taking.
ART ON THE CORNER
Yellow House serves as a hub for informal art that creates a sense of place at the intersection of the Lackawanna and Riverside neighborhoods in Jacksonville. Drop-in art projects on the front lawn and a community-mural project on the side of an old school bus are just two examples of engaging passersby on the street level. Paintings on our building and on The Community Cart infuse beauty and powerful messages of belonging, care, and shared power into the local landscape.
With every exhibition there is more ephemeral art pushed to the outside from poetry on the facade to banners of art. And for two years during the Covid19 Pandemic, we held The Community Tree. Inspired by the beautiful traditions of the sacred trees of Buddhism, Lakota and Cherokee prayer ties, and Scottish clootie wells it was a place where anyone could leave there mark of mourning and healing by tying ribbons to a tree.
THE MAYO CLINIC – LYNDRA P. DANIEL CENTER FOR HUMANITIES IN MEDICINE
Hope McMath is a long-time partner as a guest lecturer, curator, and workshop facilitator for the Humanities in Medicine program at the renowned Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. During visits to the Yellow House space, experiences on the Mayo Clinic campus, and in community – residents, physicians, nurses, staff and caregivers experience the power of art as a tool for building cultural competency, expressing empathy, and finding respite. Yellow House also curates exhibitions on the Mayo Clinic campus and the Humanities in Medicine team are advisors in wellness related exhibitions and programs that occur in our space.
Currently a community-engaged printmaking project focused on diversity and belonging is underway, engaging hundreds of Mayo employees, interns, residents, and volunteers.
YELLOW HOUSE PRESS
Printmaking is the most democratic of art forms, allowing for multiple originals to spread messages far and wide. Through drop-in letterpress project, Yellow House invites visitors of all ages to set their aspirations in type, leaving one behind at Yellow House and taking one, or more, with them to spread the word. On any given day relief prints are being carved, printed, and shared. And the Yellow House press is active in printing journals for free distribution on The Community Cart and to those visiting exhibitions. Most recently, community members have carved blocks inspired by our new vegetable and pollinator gardens, resulting in a display of art in those spaces.
One of our dream projects is to create a mobile printmaking project that allows us to pop up anywhere that art and the distribution of messages that are important to the people is needed.
IN NEIGHBORHOODS
Since our founding we have worked to be a good neighbor to residents in our immediate place on the map and in communities that invited us in. From hurricane recovery efforts in the Ken Knight Drive neighborhood of Washington Heights to responding to the needs and aspirations of individuals and families close by Yellow House has been one of many partners and individuals involved in relief efforts after storms, during the pandemic, and on the daily.
Recently we worked with Pinedale Elementary on a mural project, led by artists Christopher Clark and Tatiana Kitchen, and engaged teachers and students in making visible the special family that makes up the school, located only blocks from Yellow House.
A PLACE TO GATHER
We are a community house for artists, activists, and neighbors to convene. Organizations and coalitions use our space for anti-racism workshops, Peacekeeper trainings, and conversations. Our space is consistently filled with the energy of poetry readings, Breaking Bread dinners, and spontaneous gatherings.
And we give over our space to artists and organizations that are aligned with our mission. From voter registrations and book launches to rally organizers and educators – we invite the community to utilize this space in ways that further our progress toward a more just world.
BABS’ LAB
This performing arts space, run by our friend Barbara Colaciello, is a place for training, and performance, a theater and storytelling space where the community comes together to witness work that uplifts, breaks barriers, and crosses lines. Most recently we partnered on Be the Art Camp for Teens and Story Slams that link with exhibition themes.
CORK ARTS DISTRICT
Yellow House is adjacent to CoRK Arts District, which is a 80,000 square feet of warehouse space centered around artist studios and galleries. Their mission is to support artists in the community by offering artist workspaces in an environment that is conducive to creativity and collaboration. The 70 artists who have studios here cover a vast range of disciplines, most are professionals in their fields and among the highest caliber in the region. Our partnerships with the organization and the artists there are numerous.