Fiscal Sponsorship
Application Information

Drive — What motivates us

Hella Handcarved is driven by the belief that making something by hand can shift how people see themselves, their stories, and their place in community. We are motivated by the moments when someone tries printmaking for the first time, sees their design come to life, and realizes that creativity is not separate from them.

Purpose — Why we exist

Hella Handcarved exists to remove financial, geographic, and cultural barriers to hands-on artmaking. We use mobile printmaking as a tool for creative access, community connection, cultural expression, and youth/family engagement, especially in communities where arts programming is limited, underfunded, or inaccessible.

Mission — What we do

Hella Handcarved Community Printmaking Project brings mobile block printing experiences to community events, schools, festivals, libraries, and public spaces. We use hand-carved stamps, fabric-safe inks, and beginner-friendly facilitation so people of all ages can create their own printed totes, shirts, journals, bandanas, and paper prints.

Vision — What future we are building

Hella Handcarved envisions a future where community printmaking is a shared public resource: accessible in neighborhoods, schools, libraries, festivals, youth programs, cultural gatherings, and rural communities.

We are building toward a future where people do not need formal art training, expensive supplies, or access to traditional art spaces to experience the power of making something by hand. We want printmaking to be a tool for creative confidence, cultural storytelling, environmental reuse, community connection, and collective joy.

Long term, Hella Handcarved hopes to grow a sustainable community printmaking model that expands free and low-cost arts access while creating paid opportunities for local artists, facilitators, interns, volunteers, and community arts workers across the Bay Area and beyond.

Primary Goals

• Expand access to hands-on printmaking — Bring free and low-cost printmaking experiences to youth, families, LGBTQIA+ communities, BIPOC communities, rural communities, low-income communities, and intergenerational public spaces.
• Remove cost and supply barriers — Provide materials, tools, instruction, and facilitation so participants can create without needing prior experience, expensive supplies, or formal art training.
• Bring art directly into community spaces — Offer mobile workshops, print bars, and public activations at schools, libraries, festivals, Pride events, Juneteenth celebrations, youth programs, cultural gatherings, and nonprofit partner sites.
• Support creative confidence and cultural expression — Use hand-carved stamps and block printing as tools for storytelling, identity, memory, celebration, and community connection.
• Promote sustainability and reuse — Offer reduced-cost options where participants can bring their own blank items, such as shirts, totes, bandanas, or journals, to print on, reducing waste and encouraging creative reuse.
• Build a sustainable community arts model — Create fair paid opportunities for artists, facilitators, event assistants, interns, and support staff while developing the systems needed to grow responsibly.