In this edition of our “Member Spotlight” blog series, we interviewed Charles Norwood, founder of Arts in Motion.

Arts in Motion is a brand new, Bloomfield-based nonprofit that will promote arts and trades in underserved communities by increasing the offerings at existing community arts centers, and by eventually creating new neighborhood centers.

The organization’s mission is to provide children who live in at-risk communities a place to produce artwork and learn a trade.

What inspired you to start Arts in Motion?

“This all started with the idea of building a community arts center in areas where there aren’t any. I’m a member of the Hartford Sunrise Rotary club, and I vividly remember when we hosted an art contest for one of the North End middle schools. The sixth grader who won had produced really outstanding pieces, and when I asked him what he wanted to do next, his response was to ‘live through high school.’ I don’t know of many organizations that focus on inviting students off of the streets and on engaging them in creative projects. Right now, we’re looking at existing art programs and figuring out how we can build on what’s already out there rather than building something totally new. If we’re successful in bringing this into fruition, we’ll try to bring instructors, materials and tools to spaces that simply don’t have the budget to add such programming to their existing line up. And if that’s not feasible, we’ll look at building a standalone community arts center. Bottom line, we want to create a safe place for our city’s students and we want to provide them with programming across all art mediums—from drawing to woodwork to stain glass.”

Why did you choose to become a member with reSET?

“Being part of the reSET community is part of my pre-launch research. I’ve been working as a flight attendant for the last 18 years and have been out of the business world for a long time. The last real job I had was as a regional manager for Prudential in Farmington. So I now need to develop new professional contracts and to garner overall support for the initiative.”

How do you see Arts in Motion positively impacting the community?

“I think art is always positive because there has never been a time or a place in history in which people have complained that there’s too much creativity or too much art. And for the record, I’m classifying literally everything that involves one sitting down and making something as art.  Tapping into one’s creative potential not only benefits them as an individual, but it benefits their community.”

What do you want your company to look like five years from now?

“I see us being in business, hopefully at the point where we’re expanding our programs.  Our business will also support existing for-profit and/or nonprofit art centers.”

Why did you start your company in Connecticut? What do you hope to give to and to gain from the community here?

“I primarily decided to start this in Bloomfield, Connecticut because I live there. It’s rather simple to start up a non-stock corporation in Connecticut. I’m not looking for much from the state, and I’m not doing anything elaborate; I’m just starting an organization that can ask for donations, make money through fees and give back to the community. Throughout the research and planning for this organization, the format has gone from simply building a community arts center to also working with and supporting any other community or organization that reaches out to us.”

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received about being an entrepreneur?

“I don’t know if I’ve received the “best piece” quite yet, but what I can tell you is that I’ve been overwhelmed by the level of support this community has shown me.”

For more information on his work, contact Charles Norwood (rodnorwood@comcast.net).