Sticks and Stones Studio was born from a deeply personal vision — a world where every child has the opportunity to experience the transformative power of art, regardless of where they come from or what they're going through.

For founder Katie Walker, art has never just been a hobby or a class on a school schedule. It has been a compass. When Katie became an adult, she found herself suddenly and completely on her own — financially, and in many ways personally — without the safety net many young adults rely on as they find their footing. Navigating adulthood under the weight of financial hardship and survival, she found in art something that circumstance couldn't take away — a way to process the hard things, make sense of her emotions, and ultimately find her place in the world. Art helped shape who she is today, and it is her goal to share the empowering nature of art with the world.

That's why it hit close to home when she began to see how many children were losing access to it. As art programming continued to be the first cut from K-5 school budgets, kids from low-income families, rural communities, and those with special needs were increasingly left behind — not because they needed art any less, but because the systems around them valued it less. When Katie worked for a for-profit art studio offering after-school classes, she saw this gap up close every day. The children who could benefit the most simply couldn't afford to walk through the door.

She knew she had to do something about it. So she built Sticks and Stones Studio — not just for the children whose families could afford it, but for every child who deserves a chance to discover what art can do for them.