The Incubator.
At the core of the Urebvu Foundation is the artist incubator where artists come from around the world to engage with each other, their art and the community. Each artist will be offered an expense-paid three month residency where they will be provided room and board as well as space and supplies to engage with their art. Inspired by their time at the incubator, artists will return to their home communities where they will continue to work on their art and engage their local communities in the type of healing and change that they began during their time in Memphis.
While in residence, artist will engage with the greater Memphis community through art exhibitions, dialogue events, and a variety of programs that celebrate the work of the artists and the incubator in general. Artists will be available to go into the community and share their art and their message in order to inspire other.
Finally, the incubator will serve as an anchor to the Smoky City neighborhood inspiring investment in community development. The incubator will quickly become a hub of activity, offering art events, event space for rent, programs and festivals, and even a local restaurant that will inspire the community through food.
The Impact.
The potential impact of the incubator is limitless. Every stoke of the artist’s brush and every moment of dialogue has the ability to bring healing to our fractured world. The concentric circles of inspiration and change will emanate from the incubator and bring about healing of our fractured communities first in the neighborhood, then in Memphis, and then in communities throughout the world as artists return to their homes and continue their artistic journeys inspired by their residency in Memphis. Locally, the change will be felt in the Smoky City neighborhood as the incubator becomes a hub of activity. It will inspire others to invest in the community around the incubator, simultaneously celebrating its history and building a bright future for the area. In addition, people across Memphis will be inspired as they engage with the artists-in-residence who will visit local organizations, companies and schools to share their art, their life experiences and their vision of the world.
Coming to life.
The Urebvu Foundation is a fledgling non-profit. Having raised sufficient funds to purchase and renovate the incubator space, the Foundation is now engaged in fundraising to build the various programs that will support the incubator’s work and sustain it for the future.
The foundation’s primary assets are the incubator property itself, as well as a substantial collection of Urebvu’s art. The goal of the foundation is to raise $500,000 by December 31, 2025 to support the ongoing operation of the incubator and other foundation programs. This will allow the foundation to hire key staff to operate the incubator and pay the expenses associated with the creation and operation of the incubator and associated programs. The plan to raise these funds includes grants, corporate donations and sponsorships, fundraising events, space rental income, and potentially the sale of art.
Once the foundation achieves its cash on hand goal, it will begin fundraising efforts to support the long-term growth and sustainability of the foundation primarily through corporate and private donations.
Our future in progress.
In the next twelve months, the Urevbu Foundation plans to accomplish the following:
Recruit and activate an operational Board of Directors
Hire an Executive Director and Support Staff
Complete construction of the Incubator and associated spaces
Recruit and begin work with first class Artists-in-Residence
Launch Dinner and Dialogue Programs and Story Nights with the Artists-in-Residence
Raise $500,000 and fund the ongoing programs of the Foundation
Create and deploy marketing and public relations plan for the Foundation
