Impact Art

The mission of Impact Art is to promote and create positive public art in communities as we... mentor adult and young artists, beautify, revitalize, and educate the community, and contribute to the community economy by enhancing cultural tourism.

WE BELIEVE ART IGNITES CHANGE.

We create art with others to transform places, individuals, communities, and institutions. Through this work, we establish new standards of excellence in the practice of public and contemporary art. Our process empowers artists to be change agents, stimulates dialogue about critical issues, and builds bridges of connection and understanding. Our work is created in service of a larger movement that values equity, fairness, and progress across all of society. We listen with empathetic ears to understand the aspirations of our partners and participants. And through beautiful collaborative art, we provide people with the inspiration and tools to seize their own future.

Impact Art's mission provides a vision to transform Kearney and the surrounding area into the premier public art city in the Midwest. There is plenty of "blank canvas" around the Kearney area for Impact Art to restore, revitalize and beautify. In the future, we also look to expand our work to the greater Midwest.

Testimonials

"Impact Art is incredibly talented. Our Nonprofit has had them restore painted signage and paint original murals around Cambridge. Our projects have been BIG but they have always met us with willingness, creativity, and energy. They welcome community involvement and we love that! Impact Art will always be our first call for a project! Derek and his team are top notch and Cambridge is better and more beautiful for having them come to town!" Jessica Alexander - Main Street Revival

"Impact Art creates murals that enrich Kearney's growing art scene. The artist works with the building owner to craft a piece that represents the business and sense of community. The art enhances the existing beauty and adds to the growing culture of Kearney," states Paul Briseno, Assistant City Manager. He adds, "Over the past four years the City of Kearney and Downtown Board have developed a great working relationship with Impact Art to provide opportunities that allow building owners to display public art through their business. The City looks forward to a continued relationship with Impact Art as more downtown businesses participate in murals throughout Downtown."

"Derek and his team at Impact Art were fantastic to work with. The mural they painted on our building was a big project and they handled it like pros. Derek handled all the planning and was instrumental in the fundraising as well. Throughout the project, he communicated regularly with us and provided video updates online so people could follow along. It is a great addition to our building and to downtown Kearney from a vision that was driven by Derek. Thank you to Impact Art and all of the other donors for making this a reality!" Michael Bruce, owner of Bruce Furniture

"The Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce had the pleasure of working with Derek Rusher and his non-profit organization, Impact Art. We had the idea to have a statement-making mural created on the side of a semitrailer that would showcase our town and serve as a social media landmark before and during our eclipse events, but also become an asset even after the big event. Derek was wonderful to work with on this project as he had amazing ideas and was great at taking the vision and creating an example version. Once a creative design was in place he also had the genius idea to paint the trailer in the public eye to not only create social media hype about the project but to create awareness about our eclipse events in general as well as the mission of Impact Art. Derek took this a couple of steps further by doing time-lapsed videos of the project being completed and making sure to share them with us so we could spread them on social media as well."

"Doing what he does is not easy as Nebraska weather dictates a lot of the progress of projects and sometimes forces him to paint into the late hours of the night if that is the only time conditions will cooperate. We appreciated Derek's dedication to the project and ability to complete everything by our anticipated deadline even though the journey to do so was not always easy and despite that, he always found a solution to a problem."

"The Ravenna Chamber of Commerce not only had a great experience working with Derek and Impact Art, but the end product of the whole process was even more than we could ever hope for in a mural that was created to bring attention back to our small town. Also, the mission of Impact Art is something to be admired and supported and the Ravenna Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Community of Ravenna, appreciates what the organization is doing for artistic youth and communities in Nebraska!" - Gena McPherson, Executive Chamber of Commerce Director