Operating a business means balancing books, managing taxes, marketing, and the list goes on. That inventory of tasks can be daunting, even more so for a small or one person business, and often overwhelming for an independent artist or arts based organization. Those jobs can crowd the creativity out and unfortunately, sometimes quash the vision. CACHE, Creative Arkansas Community Hub and Exchange, is helping ease that pressure for area artists and arts organizations with Take Action. By the end of 2026, $130,000 will be invested to help in capacity building. This week, Amber Perrodin, artist and community manager with CACHE, and visual artist Shay Holloway, a Take Action recipient, came to the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio.
Amber says the grant is designed to assist with behind the scenes work like accounting, marketing, things like that.
Perrodin: The more business side of the creative practice that I think oftentimes gets sort of overlooked whenever people are considering artists and artist opportunities.
Kellams: Well, you've taken action, right? Tell me about how it's helped.
Holloway: It's helped me because it helps me put funds toward things that I've been doing by myself for the longest. And being an artist, an independent artist, you wear a lot of hats. So this grant really just helps me take off one of those hats. Honestly, it takes a little bit of load off and allows me to outsource things that I need to outsource.
Kellams: You're an abstract artist?
Holloway: Yes.
Kellams: So as an independent artist, do you have to hustle for your work and connect with people?
Holloway: Yes, all the time. So I'm my own social media manager. I'm running all my email stuff. I am doing my website, I'm my own accountant and all this other stuff. So there are millions of things I feel like that I'm just constantly having to do by myself. And so something like a grant, a grant like this really just adds, it feels like a little bit of relief in a lot of ways.
Kellams: And it sounds like Shay is exactly who this is intended for.
Perrodin: Absolutely. This is, CACHE really wants artists to focus on their creative practice. And so Shay can hopefully now spend a little bit more time thinking about and conceptualizing her art and spending time in that creative practice, and less time worrying about how she's going to get her website off the ground.
Kellams: Are there still application opportunities?
Perrodin: Yes. So Take Action is a rolling grant that is going through the end of 2026. And so luckily for everybody, we have $130,000 allocated for the Take Action fund. And so that can go towards artists. It's $1,000 for artists and $5,000 for arts focused non-profits.
Kellams: How do you apply?
Perrodin: We have a really easy application online. If you go to our website, cachecreate.org, it will take you, you can find information there. It's a really simple application. It's like, who are you? What are you trying to accomplish? How would these funds help you? And then you need to walk into that application with an idea of what type of consultation and what type of help that you need behind the scenes. And then just tell us a little bit about that. What does that look like for you? Who do you need? And then we can connect you with some of those people, or you can come into that application knowing exactly who you want to hire and what that looks like.
Holloway: I did a lot of research prior to this grant coming about. And so when I saw that this was a thing, I was like, oh, this is great. I already know exactly where I want to put this money toward. And so I instantly went and applied. And I also think this is a unique grant because a lot of grants are project based, and it's not all the time that artists are working on a big project. Sometimes we just need the funds to help on the back end with all the admin stuff.
Kellams: You were talking about some of the things that an independent artist has to do with accounting, website building. That sounds frightening. That sounds intimidating to me. Quite frankly, it sounds horrible. I would imagine there are some artists who would give up. Like, I love creating, but all this other stuff is just getting in the way. Let me see if I can do something else.
Perrodin: That's a common thing that I run into and that I'm often talking to other artists about. Some artists are able to save up money to outsource a lot of these things. But for some artists, they're just like, you know what? I'm not even going to touch that side of things because it's, you're having to constantly switch between left brain, right brain, because doing stuff like putting together a website or something like that, that's very different from, we're artists, we're not these tech or math numbers people. So you're constantly going back and forth. And for some artists it does feel like, okay, no, I'm not going to just go through all that.
Kellams: That goes back to the point, right? Amber, you want artists to be able to create.
Perrodin: Right. And I think that it's a barrier for a lot of people to really step into their creative practice. I think having to spend a lot of time thinking about websites, taxes, marketing, press releases, things like that, that don't come naturally to artists oftentimes will prevent them from fully stepping into their creative career and continue to treat it like a hobby. And we are really interested in elevating that experience, that creative experience into something that's more tangible and long lasting. I'm really, truly interested in seeing artists stay here in Northwest Arkansas. We have so much talent here, and I think things like this, the behind the scenes work, really prevents a lot of people from fully stepping into their creative practice. And so I'm hopeful that this is something that can alleviate some of that burden.
Kellams: All right. So any artist, any organization, be it small, be it CACHE, be it the medium, need support. Was there support that came together for this work?
Perrodin: Absolutely. We are so grateful to the Walton Family Foundation for allowing us to give these funds to artists and arts organizations so that they can better their careers here. So, we're very grateful for their generosity and continued support for the arts.
Kellams: You were not an art major at University of Arkansas, but you create. And I'm wondering, can you remember a time when you were nudged or complimented or encouraged that took you on this sort of avenue toward creating?
Holloway: I think it was in the beginning, when I first started. So as you mentioned, I do abstract art. So I started painting these galaxies, and I had a whole collection of galaxies called Pure Potential. And it was centered around this idea that everything starts as just energy, just an idea, and with your energy and your attention, you can manifest it into something tangible. And I think when I sold my first piece from there, I was like, oh, okay. Like people like this stuff. I can keep doing this. And so it just kind of snowballed from there.
Kellams: Where can people see your art?
Holloway: Yeah. So my art can be found on my website, artgirlshay.com. And that's Art Girl Shay, the regular way, S-H-A-Y, dot com. Also, I have a couple of pieces hanging up at Sekuru Coffee Roasters. So a little plug for them as well, because we love Sekuru.
Kellams: Where is Sekuru?
Holloway: Sekuru is off of Sycamore here in Fayetteville.
Kellams: Applications open now through Dec. 31?
Perrodin: Yes. Applications are on a rolling basis through the end of the year. Yes. And I will say to you, if you are an arts organization or a leader of an arts organization, or serve on the board of an arts organization, you can receive $5,000 to support your efforts there too. And things to think about that this grant would qualify for are things like strategic planning, bigger picture things that an organization needs to think through to help them stay here in Northwest Arkansas and become a more sustainable organization. Media, including obviously visual arts.
Kellams: What else would fall under this application?
Perrodin: Any practicing artist or creative. We're pretty open. And then arts organization is anyone that's serving or producing arts centered programming or hiring artists to do the bulk of their work, whatever their mission might be. So I would encourage people to go to the website. Like Shay mentioned, it's a really simple application if you meet the eligibility. And we're going through a vetting process, but our hope is to give out as many of these awards as we can.
Kellams: All right. J one, one more question. Okay. You let me know that you sometimes do live painting, where you're doing abstract painting kind of based on the surroundings, the vibe, the energy. You don't have to answer this. What if you get to a place where someone wants you to do a live painting and the vibe just isn't there?
Holloway: I'm going to create the vibe because I'm a vibe creator.
Kellams: Yup.
Shay Holloway is an artist based in Northwest Arkansas, and Amber Perrodin is artist and community manager with CACHE. You can find eligibility requirements for the Take Action program, a link to the actual application, and a video information session about the application process, all at themedium.art/takeaction. And you can learn more about Shay at artgirlshay.com. Our conversation was recorded at the Carver Center for Public Radio earlier this week.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
