VISION:

Glass House Collective believes in the power of arts and culture to strengthen the social and economic development of our neighborhood. Our Art Means Business grant program supports businesses along our commercial corridor by funding arts based programming and installations. By connecting business and the arts, the goal is to drive foot traffic to businesses in the neighborhood and simultaneously create paid gigs for local creatives.

In June of 2021, we announced four winners for the Art Means Business grants. These business owners will have six months to complete their projects, which include arts events, installations, and even a bit of holiday spirit.

GOALS:

• Connect business owners with creatives to develop projects that connect neighbors and bring foot traffic to the area
• Create paid work for local artists

ASSETS:

PROJECTS:

“African American Art Cultural Influence in the Hair and Music Industry”
Project by Tina Jones, Ashanti Hair Design

Tina Jones has been running a successful business in Glass Farm for over three decades. Not only is Ashanti Hair Design one of the longest standing businesses in the area, but Tina also owns two properties on Glass Street. As a mover and shaker on Glass, Tina wanted to turn her grant into an event that honors her art and her community.

Tina’s project featured three parts: first, live demonstrations of African American hair design and techniques, outside Ashanti on Glass Street. “African American hair designs are a form of art and expression that have created world wide attention because of their uniqueness — and sometimes legal problems in the workplace because of their rejection and lack of acceptance by predominantly white establishments,” says Tina. She hopes that her live demonstrations, as well as informational pamphlets, will help remove that stigma and celebrate African American hair design as an art form.

Second, Tina brought local artists to her event to perform music introduced into the mainstream by African American musicians, from Jazz and R&B to Soul and Hip Hop. These performances focused on showing how African American expression has impacted the music industry across genres. And finally, Tina commissioned a live mural painting of an African Queen during her event.

“Funding my business with a grant of this magnitude will bring joy and hope to our business district,” says Tina. “We need excitement, festivities and activities on Glass Street to restore and rejuvenate the spirit of the existing business owners, and the people who live and support our business.”

Learn more about Tina’s event here.

“Bethlehem on Glass Street”
Project by Tina Stewart, First Step Christian Daycare

Tina Stewart owns First Step Christian Daycare and has a great idea to not only engage the kids she works with, but also local artists, singers, and residents. After successfully creating a walk-through and drive-through Nativity in 2020 with her daughters, she used grant funding to extend this holiday tradition in 2021.

“The Nativity scene will draw more people into the East Chattanooga Community during the Christmas season and will increase revenue for the business owners on Glass Street.”

Tina added new scenes to the popular Nativity, working in partnership with local churches, Chattanooga Choral Society, and neighborhood residents and businesses. The Nativity project engages local artists in painting backdrops; local kids created ornaments and act as characters. Tina also built a stage for singers to perform and generate extra holiday income. 

Learn more about Bethlehem on Glass here.

“Fresh Produce, Fresh Mural”
Project by Christina Mack, Save A Lot

Christina Mack manages the newly renovated Save A Lot. As part of her project, Christina supported helped connect the dots between local kids, fresh produce and the arts.

We connected Miss Mack with the outreach programs Young Ladies of Power and Archway Kids to host a day of taste-testing and fun. To prepare, we chatted with muralist Golden to create coloring pages that the kids could work on and talk about, all with the goal of giving Golden a bit of inspiration for his upcoming mural. The pages featured beautiful fruits and vegetables that the kids could color — but how about taste?

Piggybacking off of a fall-break visit to Booker T. Washington State Park, we brought Asia Wiggins from I Am Fitness and her epic juicing powers to the kids for an afternoon of taste-testing fresh juices. From celery and beets to ginger and apple, the kids had a chance to learn about each piece of produce and taste the juice for themselves. At the end of the day, they were each given a jar to create their own custom juice, putting together the ingredients they’d tried.

And of course, there was coloring. As the kids learned about each fruit and vegetable, they added new layers of color and fun to their coloring pages, which our GHC team scanned and shared with Golden. These sheets, along with quotes, poems and stories from the kids, became the basis for his mural.

In early November 2021, Golden turned all these inputs from the community into a big, bold, beautiful mural along the Save-A-Lot — conveniently just six feet away from the door to the market’s produce section. The mural brings color to the block, but it also shows our kids that their input matters.

Learn more about the mural and the event that inspired it here.

“Color of Diversity”
Project by Joe Lautigar, H&R Block

Joe Lautigar is a veteran business owner who now runs three H&R Block locations, including one in Glass Farm. Joe’s project set dollars aside to create new murals in the area, as well as pay artists to maintain or refresh existing ones. 

“The area has had a lot of positive announcements recently,” says Joe. “A new grocery store, businesses coming soon to the area, and we have seen small businesses start to return or show an interest in the area. This project will continue the work that we have all put into that community.”

Joe loves the Scooby Doo mural on his building that was installed by local artist Seven in 2013, but the mural is chipping and needs a refresh. Seven created a new mural in that space and the Glass House Collective Advisory Council worked with Joe and another local muralist to create mural on his vacant storefront facing Glass Street.

VISION:

Volunteers, artists, and community members came together to build a temporary portal featuring quotes, poems and reflections from neighbors. This interactive sculpture is an invitation to engage with the community and literally enter the new community space mindful of its history and people. Initially installed near other Crutchfield activations, including our asphalt art project, the portal is a celebration of creativity and community togetherness.

GOALS:

• Create an art piece that reflects Glass Street as it is — and as it could be
• Create a gathering place where neighbors share their stories
• Encourage reflection and sharing between neighbors

PARTNERS:

Frances McDonald

Matt Lyle

Dylan Fuller

Josiah Golson

Juanita Montgomery 

Jamila “Mi-Mi” Dunigan

JaMichael Jordan, Sr. 

Lindsey Wilke

VISION:

First there was the issue of traffic. The Hardy Safe Walk Team created a yarn mural woven into a fence on Roanoke Avenue that says “Slow Down” to oncoming traffic. The mural is located in a bend in the road and is over 6 feet tall, making it visible from a distance and helping alert drivers to greater foot traffic not just in front of the school, but along the entirety of Roanoke up to Glass Street.

Second, the team identified the safest routes for students walking home and created murals and stencils to mark the route. And who better to make this happen than the kids themselves? Over a series of field trips, students learned about stencil art and murals, and then helped apply Hardy’s eagle mascot to the sidewalk along the safest path, ultimately encouraging students to “follow the eagles.” Plus, the students applied eagle designs and buildings along the street, further reinforcing which route students should take to stay safe on their way to and from school. The eagle stencil was designed by a local resident and team member, Jonathan Dean.

GOALS:

• Create an art installation that warns drivers of increased foot traffic
• Identify and mark safe walk routes for children
• Engage local students in placemaking projects

PARTNERS:

Lauren Dunn

Jazmine LeBlanc

Laura Margaret Jones

Briah Gober

Allen Shropshire

Sara Cross 

Audrey Williams

Lynesha Lake

Aaron Cole

Shawanna Kendrick

Youngeun Joung

Dannita Noble

Tomekia Moore

Reginald M Yearby

Tara Poole

VISION:

With the store being a new anchor for the community, the team focused on creating a temporary space that would invite people in and feature models for safety, seating, lighting, beautification and art. The team created a boardwalk and recruited volunteers to sand spools from our partners at EPB and make them into tables for gathering. 

New shade umbrellas were installed, as well as planters that help beautify the area. And at the center of the project is an art installation with large wooden letters that spell LOVE and have built-in seating for individuals or groups. The space is designed to invite the entire community in, but particularly families and kids. 

Located just outside the Save A Lot, the temporary installation was unveiled at the store’s grand opening alongside the Crutchfield Asphalt Art mural. While the installation is temporary, organizers hope to assess the community’s interest in a more permanent installation in the future and use learnings from this process to inform the design of that piece. 

In the coming months, our team, led by artist and activist Erika Roberts, will also animate the space with community events and music.

GOALS:

• Create family-friendly gathering spaces near the new grocery store
• Invite neighbors and volunteers to create a pop-up installation

PARTNERS:

Veronica Park

Marcus Ellsworth

Petra Moraczewski

Jordan Scruggs

Deborah Bledsoe

Michael Barille

Beverly Bell

Kahla Stewart

Freddie Hambrick

Miss Hambrick

Miss Mack

Glass House Collective

EPB

Leadership Chattanooga

River City Company

Bloomberg and Lyndhurst Foundation

Save a Lot

Reflection Riding

City of Chattanooga

Fad Design

VISION:

The YFD Safe Routes Team envisioned a Walk of Fame, located on the sidewalk from Crutchfield to Daisy in proximity to the YFD. This installation was created in partnership with local artist 2$on — himself a regular at the YFD growing up — and includes a stenciled pattern and spray painted stars mentioning local community heroes, and an outdoor art gallery highlighting pieces by local kids from the nearby Hardy Elementary.

GOALS:

• Encourage use of sidewalk near YFD, especially by children
• Honor locals through a Walk of Fame
• Beautify the street using art from local students
• Provide an opportunity for local youth to participate in art installation

VISION:

In the Fall 2020, Glass House Collective hosted a charrette style workshop coined Planning by Doing, where five teams of artists, designers, community members and other stakeholders worked together to envision and implement tactical interventions across the “Glass Street Gateway,” the intersection where Glass Street meets Dodson Avenue.

The purpose of the Planning by Doing Workshops was to involve residents in the future of their neighborhood through their personal connection to public safety enhancements and projects that make the area more inviting. Importantly, the workshops also sought to connect residents with the area’s social assets — from Hardy Elementary School, to the East Chattanooga Youth and Family Development Center (YFD), to the new Save-A-Lot grocery store. 

Each team focused on a different community priority previously identified through community engagement efforts, from beautification to safe routes to community gathering spaces. Teams conducted project brainstorming sessions, refinements, and public presentations. And finally, each was given a $3,000 budget to implement at least one of their intervention ideas.