Why Heartstrings exists

We saw a need here in Northwest Arkansas for music and art therapy: a growing number of children in foster care, in a region that has already embraced the arts, home to Crystal Bridges. It is a natural place to equip every child with the chance to showcase their music and art.

Heartstrings is built on a model that has already worked. For three years, our founder helped launch a music and art therapy studio for vulnerable and at-risk youth at a nonprofit in North Carolina, one that paired creative healing with workforce training for young people who lacked the confidence, support, or opportunity to pursue work on their own.

There, children began to heal through creative expression. Young people who had known deep instability found encouragement and belonging. Even when they could not yet speak about their trauma, they could play music, make art, and begin to let it out.

When someone who had seen that work offered to invest in building a nonprofit, it was clear what needed to exist here.