What is the Artbor Community Connections Center?
The Artbor Community Connections Center is an agency that helps people meet their needs, which could encompass almost anything under the sun. From deposit slips to housing, Director Shawntel Lindsey is confronted with all kinds of questions, and is willing to work to find the answers.
On Paterson Street, in Kalamazoo’s Northside Neighborhood, sits a white, square building with blue trim. Many walk or drive past the unassuming building, with no knowledge of the resource inside known as the Artbor Community Connections Center.
The Artbor Community Connections Center is an agency that helps people meet their needs, which could encompass almost anything under the sun. From deposit slips to housing, Director Shawntel Lindsey is confronted with all kinds of questions, and is willing to work to find the answers.
“If I don’t know the resource, we can sit down together and find out what resource there is,” Lindsey said.
In Lindsey’s words, the Artbor is a place to belong. Lindsey stresses the importance of creating spaces where individuals feel comfortable to come in and ask questions. Currently the Artbor houses two other organizations: KRESA Seeds for Success, and Tiffany Burns’ mobile dental clinic.
Lindsey started the Artbor near the start of the pandemic. Previously she had been using the building during her lunch breaks to help individuals. When she became unemployed, the building owner, Raynard Jackson, gave her the keys, and told her to do something with it that would benefit the community.
Artbor is pronounced (ar-bor) with a silent T. Lindsey included the T intentionally because she wanted art, the first three letters in the name, to be a part of her organization. Lindsey says art can be anything and everything, just like the people who walk through her doors.
“My goal is to use art to engage the community… and help us start healing,” Lindsey said.
The Artbor is not a non-profit and it doesn’t do this work with the aid of a lot of funding and grants. This work can be done without funding, Lindsey said.
“We used to just do it; we didn’t wait for a grant to feed the kids, we went to Aldi and bought peanut butter and jelly,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey herself is not paid for the work she does. She was previously collecting unemployment, but when that aid ended she refused to stop her work. She works part-time at night to sustain herself, and continues with her work at the Artbor during the day. Lindsey says this work is who she is.
“It is who I am; it was my grandmother, it was my mother, it was the people that I’ve always associated with that were a part of a caring system, because we were part of a community,” Lindsey said.
The Artbor may have humble roots, but Lindsey has big plans for what this agency can become. With help from a city grant, the Artbor is currently under renovations. The kitchen will be remodeled for cooking classes and will include a walk-up window for selling products; the community room will be repainted; and office spaces will be spruced up to become incubator space. Lindsey plans to rent offices by the hour to provide individuals with a professional space to meet with clients.
Watch the video above to learn more about Shawntel Lindsey and the Artbor Community Connections Center.
