{"id":405411,"date":"2026-08-13T11:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405411\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T11:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:28:13","slug":"art-studio-opens-in-east-austin-affordable-housing-complex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405411\/","title":{"rendered":"Art studio opens in East Austin affordable housing complex"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new East Austin housing complex offers not only affordable apartments, but also studio space for residents to make art. <\/p>\n

Raasin in the Sun<\/a>, an arts nonprofit, built the studio in the courtyard of Seabrook Square<\/a> as part of a multimillion-dollar plan to create murals, a playground and other art installations around the development. Some of the apartment units are designated for people recovering from substance abuse and mental health issues, or experiencing homelessness. <\/p>\n

“We want to recognize that art is for healing,\u201d the nonprofit’s founder and CEO, Raasin McIntosh, said, \u201cand invite the community to participate in workshops and other things that we’re offering.”<\/p>\n

This new project near the Mueller neighborhood is one of many the organization leads, including an Art For All<\/a> program that hires people experiencing homelessness to paint murals in the Austin Public Library parking garage. <\/p>\n

McIntosh said she created Raasin in the Sun in 2014 to elevate public art. The organization pays artists to paint murals throughout the city as a way to revitalize areas and reflect the community. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not just throwing art on the wall,\u201d she said. \u201cWe’re trying to tie in our purpose and help people in that process.”<\/p>\n

Tiffany Kowalski, the organization\u2019s program director, said she will create and facilitate studio workshops for apartment residents, artists and other community members. The classes may include woodworking, collage-making, cooking and watercolor-painting.<\/p>\n

Her plan is to eventually expand into other states looking for more public art spaces.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Michael Minasi<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

KUT News<\/p>\n

Local artists will be able to sell their work at the new studio. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is the work that we’re doing needs to be done in so many other cities, and not just in Texas,” Kowalski said.<\/p>\n

The studio is the first brick-and-mortar space for the organization. Kowalski said it will allow Raasin in the Sun to be a hub for artists instead of borrowing other spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just feels real,\u201d she said. \u201c[The space] gives us a heartbeat for the organization in the sense that we have a place that people are going to know that they can come to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kowalski said Raasin in the Sun is planning to host a grand opening for the studio this fall. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new East Austin housing complex offers not only affordable apartments, but also studio space for residents to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1500,132,134,133,2924,696,20242,4039,50745,142018,142019,27],"class_list":["post-405411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-affordable-housing","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-east-austin","tag-homelessness","tag-murals","tag-public-art","tag-raasin-in-the-sun","tag-raasin-mcintosh","tag-seabrook-square","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}