The Oregon Supported Living Program Arts and Culture Center looks like any other downtown Eugene building, only slightly distinguished by two small mosaic panels that frame the doorway. But looking a little closer reveals more than meets the eye: an artist’s wonderland. The heavy glass doors give way to an expansive and well-decorated gallery nestled against a teaching space with art supplies galore. This is where the magic happens.
OSLP is a non-profit organization that began at the University of Oregon campus in the 1970s, Kali Kardas, the marketing and communications manager for the OSLP Arts and Culture Center, said.
“At that time, there weren’t many programs to help people with disabilities,” Kardas said. “We were mostly institutionalizing them. So OSLP’s mission was to enrich the quality of life for people who needed support.”
OSLP did so by helping people with housing, learning job skills and caretaking. The arts and culture program came later in the 1990s when OSLP decided to expand to include more enrichment programs.
In 2012, OSLP’s arts and culture program became more independent from the non-profit and adopted the inclusive model that they practice today.
“We’re not just here for people with disabilities,” Kardas said. “We’re here for everyone in the community because we believe in equity and inclusion, and we don’t feel like just because someone is experiencing a disability, they should have to be segregated from the rest of society.”
As the communications manager, Kardas helps to demystify the program and shift the perception that only people with disabilities can participate in the classes and studio time. A performing artist herself, Kardas finds access to the arts to be incredibly important.
“Everybody feeling like they have a safe space to express themselves and be creative is the core of what makes us human,” Kardas said, warning of the loneliness and isolation that comes with a lack of creative freedom. “So being able to come here and help people create and feel connected is really fulfilling.”
The OSLP Arts and Culture Center offers a wide range of studio classes from “Formal Wear Flip,” an upcycled fashion design class, to “Creature Building,” where students learn patterning and assembly to make their own creature. For those who want a more hands-off experience, the open studios are a popular choice.
“People come in and really work on anything they want: painting, drawing, collage, paper mache,” Kardas said. “We’ve got some knitters that come in and play with our yarn and people who come in and do embroidery and jewelry. So, we have quite a variety of artistic mediums for people to try out.”
Tuition generally ranges from $90-120 per ten week quarter. For those who can’t afford classes, the center offers scholarship money, which comes from grants from the Lane Arts Council, donations and fundraising events.
“That can be a barrier for people, especially people who are on a fixed income and can’t necessarily pay that much upfront for the quarter,” Kardas said of the cost of tuition. “So we just ask everybody to pay what they can even if that’s five or ten dollars because we know that the more people pay what they can, the more scholarship money we can distribute.”
OSLP Arts and Culture Center’s biggest fundraiser is the So Small Art Auction, which will take place in September 2024 at 5th Street Market. The auction will feature upwards of one thousand tiny pieces of art, priced anywhere from $2 to $15.
“It’s a combination community event that supports our mission to bring down barriers to and access to art,” Kardas said, “but still we’re able to raise money for scholarship funds.”
Kardas encourages anyone that is interested in art to take a class or volunteer with the OSLP Arts and Culture Center, reiterating the message that all are welcome.
