FREE HART
Welcome to FREE HART Closet, a free art supply shop located in Hartford, CT. Founded in 2022, FREE HART was created to make art more accessible to adults.
In addition to offering high quality art supplies, we cultivate opportunities for artists to connect with each other.
Coffee + creative community
FREE HART lives inside of Semilla Cafe + Studio, a unique cafe that combines coffee and community.
Both entities are black, queer, woman-owned and aim to carve out accessible community space for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people in Hartford.
free hart Points of Unity
Mutual Aid is Abundance in action
We believe that scarcity has been manufactured. There is an abundance of resource when we share our bounties.
Like a gardener who has grown more food than they can eat or store, FREE HART is a place where you can redistribute your abundance.
FREE HART exists to push back on the capitalist impulse to hoard materials.
Power to the People
We believe deeply in democracy. We believe that the people hold the power and thus should control how power is weilded. Community controlled institutions ensure that the people most impacted are the ones with the power to make decisions.
FREE HART is 100% volunteer run. We are artists, crafters, and hobbyists using our resources to support each other.
Conscious Consumption
The second-hand industry diverts waste from landfills and incinerators and reduces carbon emissions. Choosing to swap one new item for a used item can reduce its carbon emissions by 82%.
While the second-hand industry itself relies on overconsumption in the new market, it’s definitely a small contribution to our planet’s health to shop used before new.
Art is a Human Right
There is a belief that mutual aid can only be crisis work; that it can only exist to meet our basic survival needs. We believe that art, and the desire to create, is a human right that is just as essential to our survival as food, water, shelter, and safety.
What does it look like for us to thrive, not just survive?
Adults Deserve Creative Spaces
FREE HART is for adults.
We firmly believe that adults deserve creative space. We love to see folks connecting with their inner child when shopping for supplies in our space.
We LOVE children AND we believe that adults deserve care and expressive freedom too.
Solidarity NOT Charity
Mutual Aid is the foundation of FREE HART. We are not a charity. We believe that redistribution and building relationships with each other is how we will survive late-stage capitalism.
“If you have come here to [save] me, you are wasting your time. If you have come here because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together.” -Lilla Watson, Indigenous Murri visual artist
FREE art supply mutual aid network
FREE HART Closet is 1 of 26 free art supply mutual aid projects across the US and Canda. “Together, we can make art supplies accessible to everyone through collective action!”
Join the movement!
our stats
300+ trading post users
Since opening, we’ve had over 300 visitors use the trading post. People from all over CT have come to access our shop.
20 local artist-led workshops
From July 2023 to October 2024, we’ve hired 20 local artists to host workshops for the community ranging from ceramics to meditative painting.
240 workshop attendees
Our artist-led workshops have become a space for 240+ creatives to connect, moms to unwind, and friends to gather.
30 volunteers / 115 volunteer hours
As a 100% volunteer-run organization, we would not exist without the help of our 30+ amazing volunteers who have donated over 100 hours of their time to support this effort.
"I can’t tell you what a great, valuable resource FREE HART has been to me personally, and I see that in the people I meet when I volunteer."
100% volunteer run
FREE HART runs on people power! As a grassroots organization, we depend on the support of the community to operate. We believe that we should only exist for as long as the community is willing to support us.
If you’re interested in volunteering with us, contacts us for a discovery call.
Do you value artistic expression and creative community?
Our Story
FREE HART opened it’s doors in 2022, but the idea for FREE HART had been percolating in founder, Gabbie’s heart for over a decade. Learn more about the final spark that brought FREE HART to life, our timeline since opening, and more about our founder.
How to donate art supplies
Contact
(860) 263-9770
freehartcloset@gmail.com