Artists imagine new ways of living and existing within the world and then share those ideas with society through art.
— Daybreak Arts Founder, Nicole Minyard
Our Story
2011
After building relationships with people experiencing homelessness in high school, Daybreak Arts Founder, Nicole, started hosting “Community Arts Days” at homeless service nonprofit, Room In The Inn (RITI), in November 2011 through her work-study job as a Sophomore college student at Belmont University. Her Senior year of undergraduate, she interned at the Arts & Business Council and under the Art Therapist at RITI. During this time, Nicole began to evaluate and shape the program, as well as form a Board and file for 501(c)3 nonprofit status under the organization’s former name: Poverty and the Arts (POVA).
2014
Nicole graduated from Belmont University with a B.A. in May 2014 and the organization, ‘Poverty and the Arts' received its 501(c)3 nonprofit letter in July 2014. We launched our Artist Collective program with two inaugural artists and quickly grew to 10 artists within the first year. The Artist Collective program was fortunate enough to operate with minimum costs its first year through the generosity of Turnip Green Creative Reuse (TGCR) who let us use their downtown studio space and donated recycled art supplies free of charge. We continued to host “Community Arts Days” from 2011-2015 in partnership with RITI.
2015
In May 2015, we secured a rental property and transformed a dilapidated blue house into a Studio and Gallery in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood to expand opportunities and accessibility for the artists in our Artist Collective program—most importantly allowing us to participate in the neighborhood’s monthly art crawl and gain more exposure. In 2016, a couple made a generous donation so we could purchase our own van to transport artists and artwork around town.
Today
In May 2018, the organization moved into a larger, more accessible Studio and Gallery space in East Nashville where we have an active roster of 26+ artists. Since 2014, we have served more than 120 artists and paid out more than $70,000 to artists experiencing housing insecurity. In 2020 and 2021, we went through a complete overhaul of our organization’s name and brand which is now called Daybreak Arts. Today, finished works by our artists are displayed in the gallery of our East Nashville space as well is in businesses and personal collections across the city, state, and country.
Our Mission
Daybreak Arts (formerly “Poverty and the Arts”) is a social enterprise nonprofit that creates artistic and economic opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity by providing them access to the creative resources needed to achieve personal fulfillment and success.
Our Vision
Daybreak Arts shines light on issues surrounding housing insecurity and strives to provide those who are systematically excluded from opportunity the means to explore their creativity and gain the economic mobility to reclaim access to housing, health, and community.
We also work to highlight the creative talents of people impacted by homelessness in order to broaden perspectives and foster meaningful and equitable relationships across communities.
Core Values
Daybreak Arts’ seven core values, which guide all of our organization’s decisions and serve as our cultural cornerstones, include:
Community Power • Community Accountability • Collective Liberation • Self- and Community-Care • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion • Accessibility • Self-Determination
Art That Changes Lives
In December 2019, we teamed up with Soundstripe to release a mini-documentary video highlighting Kateri, one of Daybreak Arts’ first artists. Thank you Soundstripe for helping us share Kateri's inspiring success story!
“When I was homeless, I had a fear of people. Some days I would just come to Daybreak Arts to be with the other artists. They began to be my family. Art makes me feel comfortable about who I am inside.”
— Daybreak Artist, Gwendolyn Johnson