Community Art Night is a free event that brings people together to connect and create art.

Founded in 2019, the one-year anniversary party was to take place just weeks after the initial lockdown due to Covid-19.

In designing C.A.N., my mission was and is to create a welcoming and inclusive space for EVERYONE in the community. My motivation for this comes from my deeply-held belief that developing community changes lives in profoundly positive ways. There are a lot of ways to develop communities, but I believe that creating art together is one of the more effective and organic methods for building the bonds that inspire and uplift people.

The original C.A.N. was held at my village center, The Rocking Frog Cafe, which has since closed as a result of the pandemic. But the community created there remains intact, and I am so excited to have found a new outdoor space (SE Ankeny, between SE 26th and SE 28th) where I can restart this event and continue to service this community.

Every C.A.N. features free supplies for folks who want to do their own thing amongst the community, a collaborative group project for those who would like to work together and a class for all the people who think they can’t do art. My intention with this design is to make art and bonding with neighbors approachable for all types of people.

Due to the class and collaborative project elements, C.A.N. also serves as a platform to promote the local artists that donate their time and talent to inspire artistic creation within the community.

The highlight of the original C.A.N. was a collaborative mural project led by a local graffiti artist. Over 2 events, about 50 people, ages 3 to 72, from all kinds of backgrounds, worked together to create this mural. The completed piece is amazing, but the true beauty was in seeing so many different types of people learning together and from each other, creating and connecting.

C.A.N. is just so much more than the sum of it’s parts.