WisdomTree Arts

WisdomTree Arts facilitates community engagement through the arts to catalyze positive changes in neighborhoods and forge connections and collaboration between artists, corporate sponsors, social service providers and community residents while creating transformative public art. The approach to public art involves art therapy which uses art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork as a therapeutic and healing process. The primary technique involves the use of mural cloth which is painted and then permanently installed in the identified location. This method creates the possibility to create murals year-round and engage community members of all ages and abilities. WisdomTree Arts Founder, Ellamonique Baccus is a professional artist and art therapist with a Master of Arts in Art Therapy from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She was trained in Renaissance Oil Painting at the Atelier Neo Medici in Monflanquin, France by Master Painter Patrick Betaudier and received her BFA in Painting from Bowling Green State University. In 2005, she developed WisdomTree Arts to create public art, provide arts education and community-based art therapy programs. Ella has completed over 30 public art projects in culturally diverse communities. Her expertise is at the intersection of community engagement through the arts, urban renewal, youth development, and artist training. By engaging community stakeholders through personal interviews and historical research, Ella documents and preserves the history of communities in public art that celebrates community strengths and leaves a legacy for future generations. In addition to her work as an artist consultant through WisdomTree Arts, Ella is the Executive Director of Arts Partners where she leads a roster of 35 visual and performing artists who provide more than 10,000 encounters with the arts annually to students in grades Pre K to 12. In 2021, Ella received the Wichita Arts Council Chris Cherches Award, an award presented by the Design Council to honor excellence in public art. The award is in honor of Chris Cherches, Wichita’s city manager for 18 years, who was a strong advocate for the arts in the Wichita community.

In the development and creation of the public art, WisdomTree Arts can provide the following activities:

• Stakeholder Meetings – to identify locations where art could happen, sharing the cultural history of the neighborhood, presenting proposed designs.
• Community-based Art Therapy Workshops – involves collaborative, therapeutic art making with members of a specific group, facilitated by a trained art therapist. Participant artwork is incorporated into the design of the public art work.
• Community Paint Days – community members of all ages participate in painting the mural. No painting skills are needed at this paint-by-number style event. Engaging community members in the creation of the artwork contributes to the beautification of their neighborhood, preserves their historical legacy, and is a source of pride.
• Artists Talks – open forum to learn about the artist and the story behind the public art work developed for the host community.

WisdomTree Arts has engaged thousands of youth with limited access to the arts in art education workshops, arts training and employment both virtually and in-person.

Educational Activities can include:

• Youth Arts Apprenticeship
• Program Artists Talks for Kindergarten to College
• School-based Art Therapy Workshops

Public Art projects vary in cost based upon materials and labor. Typically a public art project that includes the design process, community engagement, creating the work and installation starts at $10,000.