While the rest of the world and Wisconsin seems to be embracing creative reuse thrift stores this year, we are still a very small fish in a very big arts world pond. We are not a high-end gallery for the rich. We are not a museum for tourists. Collect & Gather was born from a long decade of wanting to fill the gap that the arts world in Central Wisconsin is leaving. We have some of the highest populations of professional-level artists in our area. Almost all…under the ALICE Threshold. ALICE = Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. Yet are cities and towns are adorned in murals. Many in which ended up compensating the artist below minimum wage. A free community art studio for adults is a need in our area (Gather). And to help fund this nonprofit we created a creative reuse model (Collect) to stock a creative reuse thrift store and funnel into free arts workshops for learning adult creatives. We had a great first year in Plover and closed our store in July 2026. We are on the hunt for a new home to expand our creative recycling efforts, expand the thrift store, and open the free art studio to the public. But arts access work never ends. We are rolling out the 2027/2028 free arts programming soon!