Free Arts

What Free Arts does

Free Arts, doing business as Art Heals Arizona, is a Phoenix-based nonprofit organization founded in 1993 that delivers arts-based therapeutic programs to children in Arizona who have experienced abuse, neglect, or homelessness. The organization addresses a documented need — over 78,600 Arizona children experience trauma annually — by combining creative expression with adult volunteer mentors to build resilience and process toxic stress. Programs are delivered directly at partner shelters, group homes, foster homes, and community sites across Arizona, with a recent expansion into Native nations and the Tucson area funded by a $250,000 grant from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation.

The organization's core offering is a portfolio of trauma-informed arts programs (including the Volunteer Mentor Program and Arts-Based Trauma Recovery Programs) supported by content and convening assets such as the Art Heals Arizona Podcast, an annual Symposium (Symposium 2026), a public events calendar, blog/news, and email newsletter. Its underlying "technology" is its program methodology and trained volunteer mentor network rather than software; there are no AI features, apps, or proprietary platforms disclosed.

Free Arts generates revenue entirely through grants, donations, and tax-credit contributions rather than fee-for-service billing — all programs are provided free of charge to beneficiaries. Revenue streams include foundation grants (e.g., The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation, Desert Financial Credit Union, The Genesis Inspiration Foundation), individual and monthly giving, matching gifts, corporate giving, planned giving, and the Arizona Foster Care Tax Credit program. The organization operates from a single Phoenix headquarters at 352 East Camelback Road and recently rebranded from Free Arts to Art Heals Arizona to better align its name with its mission.

Name

Free Arts

Legal name

Free Arts

Website

https://freeartsaz.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Free Arts, doing business as Art Heals Arizona, is a Phoenix-based nonprofit founded in 1993 that delivers free arts-based therapeutic programs paired with adult volunteer mentors to Arizona children who have experienced abuse, neglect, or homelessness.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Nonprofit Trauma Recovery Services

NAICS

Fine Arts Schools (61161)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Arts & Culture Service/Support Organizations (Networks, Advocacy, Capacity Building) (BPAGAHAL), Trauma-Informed & Resilience-Building Programs (Early Childhood) (EDACAOAD)

Keywords

• Arts therapy programs
• Trauma recovery services
• Youth mentoring services
• Nonprofit arts education
• Creative arts healing

Headquarters

HQ city

Phoenix

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Free Arts generates revenue primarily through foundation grants, including a $250,000 grant from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation for program expansion across Arizona.
2. Donations and Charitable Contributions: The organization raises funds through individual donations, monthly giving programs, matching gifts, corporate giving, planned giving, and the Arizona Foster Care Tax Credit program. All programs are provided free of charge to beneficiaries.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Free Arts (DBA Art Heals Arizona) delivers arts-based trauma recovery programs that pair therapeutic creative expression with trained adult volunteer mentors for children who have experienced abuse, neglect, or homelessness. Programs are provided free of charge to beneficiaries at shelters, group homes, foster homes, and community sites across Arizona.

Product overview

Art Heals Arizona (formerly Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona) operates as a single unified nonprofit offering, not a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offering consists of arts-based trauma recovery programs that connect children who have experienced abuse, neglect, or homelessness with volunteer mentors through therapeutic artistic activities. Supporting offerings include a Volunteer Mentor Program, Podcast content, an annual Symposium event, and the Foster Care Tax Credit Program which enables charitable giving with tax benefits. The organization rebranded from 'Free Arts' to 'Art Heals Arizona' to better reflect its mission of healing through creativity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Arts-Based Trauma Recovery Programs

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 78,600 Arizona children experience trauma from abuse, neglect, and homelessness each year, and Free Arts / Art Heals Arizona provides resilience-building arts programs to address this need.

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Partner Agencies & SupportersminorOthersArt Heals Arizona maintains a network of partner agencies and supporters referenced in a dedicated section of the website (Partner Agencies & Supporters page), though no specific partner names are disclosed in the available source data.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Free Arts NYC: Free Arts NYC is the most direct comparable, pairing volunteer mentors with at-risk youth in NYC through arts-based programs for healing and self-expression — the same mentor + arts + trauma-recovery model as Free Arts/Art Heals Arizona.
• A Window Between Worlds: A Window Between Worlds delivers visual arts programs to survivors of domestic violence, abuse, and homelessness, sharing the arts-as-trauma-healing thesis and similar beneficiary population as Free Arts/Art Heals Arizona.
• p:ear: p:ear uses art, music, and mentorship to support homeless and at-risk youth in Portland — closely aligned with Free Arts' arts-plus-caring-adult-mentor model for vulnerable children.
• Art with Heart: Art with Heart creates therapeutic art-activity books and programs for children experiencing trauma, illness, or hardship, sharing the creative-expression-as-resilience proposition with Free Arts/Art Heals Arizona.
• Youth Speaks: Youth Speaks uses spoken word and literary arts to build youth voice and resilience in underserved communities — a directly comparable arts-based youth-development and self-expression model.
• Groundswell Community Mural Project: Groundswell engages young people in public-mural and arts projects, often including youth from foster care, shelters, and similar settings — comparable arts-as-resilience model with a youth and vulnerable-population focus.

Broad incumbents

• National Guild for Community Arts Education: The National Guild is a broad membership and advocacy body for community arts-education organizations; comparable as the sector-level umbrella and capacity-building counterpart to Free Arts' arts-education nonprofit work.
• Arizona's Children Association: Arizona's Children Association is one of the largest statewide child-welfare and family-services nonprofits in Arizona, overlapping with Free Arts on the foster-care and at-risk-children beneficiary base with broader service offerings.

Regional players

• Heart Gallery of Arizona: Heart Gallery of Arizona supports adoption and permanence for children in Arizona foster care — a regional peer serving the same foster-children beneficiary base in Arizona through a different support mechanism.
• Tu Nidito Children and Family Services: Tu Nidito is an Arizona-based nonprofit providing bereavement support, mentoring, and therapeutic services to children and families facing serious illness or grief — overlapping beneficiary population and regional Arizona footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/FreeArtsAZ
• Facebookfacebook.com/freeartsaz

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Free Arts