Art-For-All Ball

InToto Creative Arts invites the Birmingham-area community to the Art-For-All Ball, a vibrant silent art auction in support of InToto’s healing arts programs.  The event will take place Saturday, June 13, from 4 pm to 6 pm at the Grand Bohemian Gallery in Mountain Brook.

As InToto’s signature annual fundraising event, the Art-For-All Ball celebrates art, community, and the incredible artists who make InToto the vibrant creative community that it is.  The auction will feature a curated selection of original artwork created by emerging artists from InToto’s programs alongside collaborations between InToto artists and established artists from Birmingham’s larger arts community, including Doug Baulos, Tara Stallworth-Lee, Phalecia Young, and Sarah Bell, among others.  Guests will have the opportunity to browse and bid on an eclectic collection of unique, profound, quirky, and sophisticated paintings and mixed media works that reflects the creativity and diversity of Birmingham’s artistic community.

InToto Creative Arts is a Birmingham-based nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to the transformative power of the arts for people in our city who are affected by homelessness, mental illness, post-traumatic stress, disability, and other significant life challenges.  Through year-around arts programming across six local community service organizations, as well as ongoing opportunities to showcase their work in the community, InToto works to amplify voices that are often unheard while supporting steps towards stability and reintegration into their community through creativity.

“People are constantly surprised by the talent in our programs, and honestly they shouldn’t be,” says InToto’s Executive Director, Dani Parmar.  “Everyone has something to say and something to offer.  Our artists are imaginative, sharp, funny, and extremely talented.  They just don’t always have the luxury of a safe space and the resources or time to check out of survival mode to just relax, release, and create.  That’s what InToto is about–just offering the opportunity to show up as you are and to be met with respect and non judgment and to find a community that sees your value and recognizes your talents.”

The Art-For-All Ball reflects the belief at the heart of InToto’s mission:  that creativity exists everywhere and deserves to be seen.  Proceeds from the event will support direct costs of InToto’s programming, which consists of nearly 600 classes annually, collectively attended over 4,000 by about 700 vulnerable Birmingham community members.  Through visual art, music, creative writing, movement, and improv classes offered in shelters, healthcare facilities, and community spaces, InToto builds spaces where artists can connect to get creative, share their stories, process and heal from difficult experiences, and find hope and joy.  Event sponsors include Blue Cross Blue Shield Caring Foundation, Regions, EVA Bank, Cowin Equipment, CCR Architecture, and The Old Bailey Gallery.  These partners play a pivotal role in sustaining InToto’s programs.

The dress code for the event is “fancy, if you wanna” for this relaxed, celebratory way to support programs that give people affected by severe hardship a chance to share their creative voices.  Support from this one afternoon will help InToto nurture the kind of creative community where people can connect with dignity, expression, and belonging. Tickets are on sale now with a $60 Early Bird Ticket available through the end of April.  Beginning in May, ticket prices will increase slightly.  Tickets and additional event details are available at:  intotocreativearts.org/artforallball