ART Conference Attendees Give Back to New Orleans

ART Conference Attendees Give Back to New Orleans

During the May 2012 home accent industry conference sponsored by Accessories Resource Team (ART™) May 17-20, a new workshop – the first of its kind in ART history – will be on the schedule.  ART is partnering with the Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative to donate, install, and contribute “manpower” to the Saratoga Square project in New Orleans.  The product installation will be for four new construction houses.

Jericho Road (JR) focuses on serving its families through education on home ownership and community development.   Some of the families stay on the program’s rolls up to five years and utilize the support that the organization offers to help them be successful homeowners and community citizens.  JR is strategic in its decisions for neighborhood revitalization and is a neighborhood-based nonprofit home builder that provides families with healthy and energy-efficient affordable housing opportunities.

Susan Andrulis, IMAX and ART Conference 2012 co-chairman explains, “We believe that ART Conference is in a unique position to offer assistance and can make a real difference to this new community.”

Holly Heine, Director of Operations and Communications for the Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative adds, “Jericho Road has found a brilliant partner in ART.  We search for and favor a volunteer partner who brings both passion and their own life skills to bear to the project at hand.  In this case JR future homeowners will benefit from the love and passion that ART members bring to both helping AND designing!”

Here are the facts about Giving Back to New Orleans:

• The project is located in “Central City” New Orleans and all houses are located on Saratoga Street and in the Saratoga Square neighborhood.  The houses are of typical shotgun design found in the city.  All construction will utilize green building practices.
• Product and service donations are eligible for tax deduction.
• The ART Conference project involves four new construction homes.  The group intends to provide furnishings for at least one living area of each home.
• Each house has been assigned a design coordinator who is responsible for the design aesthetic.  The coordinators are:  Cody Hutcheson of CODARUS; Dann Foley of Dann Foley, Inc.; Paul Thompson of Paul Thompson Signature; and Doug Self of j douglas.
• Conference attendees install the furnishings and participate in any other appropriate volunteer effort the afternoon of May 18.

Through the generous support of the ART Conference sponsors, there is a lower registration fee of $599 for ART members and $299 for retail stores.  The non-member attendee price is also reduced. We have contracted over-flow rooms at Iberville Suites which shares its building with our host hotel, Ritz Carlton.

For further information about ART Conference or to register to attend, please visit www.accessoriesresourceteam.org  – click on the ART Conference tab.    To guarantee hotel reservations, conference registration ends April 24.

For additional articles on the Accessories Resource Team please click this link.