Art From the Streets is marking 35 years of turning studio time into paychecks for Austin artists who have experienced homelessness, with its annual show and sale set for October 17 and 18. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days at Blue Genie Art Bazaar, 6100 Airport Blvd., with more than 1,000 original works, including paintings, sculptures, photography and mixed-media pieces, on display and for sale. Admission requires a minimum $5 donation, and visitors can browse the artwork and meet some of the artists themselves.
The KEYE report on the show describes work created by Austin artists who have experienced homelessness or housing insecurity, and the artists themselves keep 95% of whatever their pieces sell for. That structure is meant to give participants more than exposure — it is designed to hand them direct income, visibility and a measure of self-determination they might not otherwise have access to. Laura Stubbins, the nonprofit's executive director, said the annual event demonstrates what can happen when people have the opportunity and encouragement to express themselves, according to the station's report.
Art From the Streets traces back to 1991, when Heloise Gold and Bill Jeffers founded the organization. According to Art From the Streets, the pair began offering open studio sessions in 1990 and launched the group's first annual show and sale in 1991, planting the seed for what has become a 35-year institution.
From a Downtown Shelter to a Dedicated Studio
The program began at the ARCH, and its annual show was held at St. David’s before moving to the convention center. By 2002 the event had already grown to roughly 1,300 works produced by about 100 artists, per the Austin Daily Texan. The organization has since scaled up to larger commercial and arts spaces as participation expanded.
Today, AFTS operates a fully equipped, roughly 2,000-square-foot studio at the Canopy creative complex on Springdale Road in East Austin, secured in 2021 after a three-year, $600,000 capital and expansion campaign, according to Canopy Austin. The studio provides professional art supplies, a dedicated place to create, and what the organization describes as a supportive community for people experiencing homelessness. Free open studio sessions run four days a week — Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Wednesdays and Thursdays from noon to 3 p.m. — with all materials supplied at no cost to unhoused or housing-insecure participants, per Art From the Streets. No prior artistic experience is required to take part.
Leadership Shift Ahead of the Milestone Show
Stubbins joined Art From the Streets as executive director in 2026, succeeding Kelley Worden, who had led the organization for 15 years. Stubbins previously spent more than a decade in executive roles with the Texas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, according to a post from the organization's Facebook page. Stubbins has said art has helped participating artists share their stories, build confidence and develop a sense of possibility.
Beyond the flagship October show, AFTS hosts three to five pop-up exhibitions around Austin each year and maintains an online gallery selling fine art prints and merchandise, giving national art patrons a way to support unhoused Austin creators year-round, according to Canopy Austin. The Blue Genie Art Bazaar venue itself, an East Austin arts hub that relocated from a space near Highland Mall, uses a centralized pop-up checkout system so artists can focus on exhibiting instead of running individual registers, as noted by Tribeza.
A Growing Need Behind the Creative Mission
The show's 35th edition arrives as the 2025 Point-in-Time count was about 1,000 higher than in 2023, according to FOX 7 Austin. The count is a federally required survey conducted every two years overnight by hundreds of volunteers across the city.
AFTS's stated mission emphasizes self-determination and social connection.
Tickets for the October show are already on sale. For those who can't make it to Blue Genie Art Bazaar that weekend, the organization says people can still support Art From the Streets and its artists through donations, volunteering, or purchasing artwork directly.
