The Holding Frames

About The Holding Frames

The Holding Frames is a healing arts initiative that helps communities impacted by tragedy connect, create, and rebuild hope through art. Our signature project invites participants of all ages to paint and write messages of care inside wooden frames. Each frame becomes a vessel of compassion: one is sent to another community impacted by disaster or violence, while another contributes to a larger collective art piece that remains locally. In this way, every participant both gives and receives—linking communities together through shared creativity and care. Founded by survivors and experienced disaster recovery leaders, The Holding Frames was born out of urgency: a call to provide connection when grief, isolation, and overwhelm can feel insurmountable. While rooted in lived experience, our work is guided by clinical insight, trauma-informed practices, and years of community activation across the U.S. and abroad. We are building The Holding Frames into a nonprofit organization dedicated to: Community Healing: Hosting participatory art activations that honor loss and nurture resilience. Connection Across Communities: Sending frames from one city to another as gestures of solidarity and hope. Partnerships & CSR: Engaging companies, schools, and organizations in meaningful volunteer and team-building opportunities. Affiliate Chapters: Expanding our model to enable communities everywhere to lead their own Holding Frames activations. Our guiding belief is simple: art holds space, and connection heals. We are currently in the process of establishing 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Until then, we invite individuals, funders, and partners to join our interest list and be part of the Founding Funders Circle. Together, we can transform grief into connection and create frames that carry healing far beyond their borders.