Nurturing Our Neighborhoods: Seattle Paint Party making art accessible for all
Claudia Villalobos setting up an Art Outside booth with festivities behind her for the Lowrider Block Party by Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery in White Center. Photo by LouBaba Boury.
Young kids and teenagers flooded into Seattle Paint Party’s art booth at a block party in White Center — hosted by Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery — last summer. They stood in awe at the many art stations to choose from, including watercolors, jewelry making, painting, and button designing. When parents asked how much it all cost, Claudia Villalobos joyously answered:
“It’s all free.”
Claudia poses under her Seattle Paint Party tent. Photo by LouBaba Boury.
Claudia, founder of Seattle Paint Party and a long-time Seattleite, provided youth and their family members — nearly 28 at a time across four art stations — free art projects and supplies at Nepantla’s 2023 Lowrider Block Party using funding from Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA). Claudia proudly represented her Hispanic culture through the lowrider art, and she was thrilled to create empowering artistic experiences for local Hispanic youth.
“One of the things that is really important to me is impacting the culture that helped me grow into who I am,” she said.
Seattle Paint Party is an “art party” on wheels, transporting art supplies and experiences across Seattle. When the project started just before the coronavirus pandemic, Claudia was predominantly teaching art classes around the city. Now, she offers a range of services, from giving free art supplies to students of color in underserved areas, to hosting free community art workshops in local parks. Recently, she helped install and stock a community art library in the Skyway neighborhood — similar to miniature neighborhood book libraries — where kids take the art supplies they need and families donate supplies they do not plan to use.
Seattle Paint Party’s selection of rainbow aprons. Photo by LouBaba Boury.
“I did a few art workshops when I was younger, and it positively changed my life,” Claudia said. “Giving back to the art world as a mentor and a community activist is a big thing for me.”
DNDA was able to support Seattle Paint Party’s Art Outside programming booth at the festival through funding from the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS). ARTS allocated more than $1 million to 14 organizations across Seattle to support arts and culture projects and uplift local organizations impacted by the pandemic. ARTS selected DNDA as one of the organizations to disperse grants to projects, specifically those serving Delridge and West Seattle.
Feeling inspired by Claudia’s mission to make art more accessible to our local communities, DNDA awarded Seattle Paint Party a $5,000 grant last year. The funding covered the costs of the Art Outside program, allowing Claudia to provide quality art supplies and artistic experiences grounded in Hispanic cultures to kids and families at no charge. DNDA also provided funding to Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery to host the 2023 block party.
“Going to school and not having a lot of art accessible to me as a kid was my motivation for making art accessible to communities,” Claudia said. “To be able to offer this for free and at quality felt amazing because so many festivals cost money for these families.”
Claudia working with kids to create art at an Art Outside booth at the Nepantla Lowrider Block Party. Photo by LouBaba Boury.
Claudia said it brought a smile to her face seeing Black and Hispanic kids at the festival embark on artistic explorations, some for the first time.
“This was for the community, and you could tell it was a highlight for the kids in the area,” she said. “It was just a really, really good time. You could feel the community love.”
We are grateful to Claudia, Seattle Paint Party, and ARTS for giving DNDA the opportunity to support this amazing project. Subscribe to DNDA’s newsletters for more “Nurturing Our Neighborhoods” stories at dnda.org/get-involved.
– Written by DNDA’s Communications Manager Delaney Murray