We often say, NIAD is a community – and NIAD is a family. 

This past six months, we’ve learned how true that is. 

Each Thursday at 4PM, family members and care providers come together to meet with NIAD staff and artists for an hour for our weekly Family Meeting. 

The meeting offers a window into the Virtual Studio as well as NIAD’s activities as an organization. 

Sometimes a facilitator offers a ‘movement moment’, we always check out the current Online Exhibition, and we share questions and answers about remote services and returning to our studio in Richmond.

But because NIAD is not just artists and staff and supporters, but our families and care providers too, among the regular updates, there are always surprises.

A letter in support for what we do. A donation of PPE supplies to help build our six-month reserve. And the outsize encouragement that only families and care providers can bring. 

We hope our families will always hold us accountable for doing a good job, but it’s their generosity and recognition that helps shape our path and keep us going. 

Want to come to the family meeting? Reach out – we love hearing from you.

When you join us – whether in the family meeting, or in all the ways our community comes together – artists succeed, NIAD thrives, and possibilities come to light.

In community,
Amanda Eicher, Executive Director