Sprouts & Shutters: Cafe Art Moving

Dear Community of Livermore,

Over the last 8 years Cafe Art has been honored to be a part of this community. We have fallen in love with the community and people who have passed through our doors.

Over the past years we have financially struggled with keeping our doors open and have privately funded the holes in the budget to keep our doors open. In addition, we have lost our lease and will be moving to a smaller space.

We have been committed to being here for the community. The hundreds of stories that consistently come back to us have given us this passion to do everything in our power to be here for you. It's not just about coming in and painting a piece, it's about making memories. Being told from an under-privileged 8 year old, "that was the best birthday I ever had, Thank You!" Having a daughter come back to us after her mom spent months in our studio painting to regain her strength, energy and passion for life after having a stroke tell us "you saved my mother's life". The families who have gotten a handprint of their terminally sick child to have a forever memento. A child who requests a visit to Cafe Art to help him "cope" with the loss of his Grandfather. A severely disabled man and his caregiver who come regularly to bond and paint, not for the 50 pieces to put on the shelf but for the moments spent together, the family with teenage boys who refused to paint that end up breaking down and enjoying their family time, to see the smiles of the autistic child painting who does not speak, the un-involved father that comes in and actually paints with his kids... THESE are the moments that touch our heart and give us a passion to be there for you.

We've employed many people over the years from teens starting off at their first jobs, to mom's looking for a few hours of getting out of the house, to retired Grandmas wanting to share their love and be involved. We watched many of our employees grow up before our eyes, and have had quite a few come back with their babies to make prints for themselves instead of helping to make prints of others'.

Over the next few weeks Cafe Art Livermore will be going through some major re-vamping. We will be down-sizing to a new location on 2nd Street. We are unsure of what our future holds, but we hope to be here to continue to make life-long positive changes to many of you, we want to be a legacy that your kids can bring their kids back to paint and say, "I remember when..." Many times the pieces they can tell stories about are still front and center on that shelf, the "pride and joy" of something they did well and were praised for.

During this time, if you have a Cafe Art story of your own you'd like to share please post it on our facebook page for everyone to see, or send us an e-mail at julie@ceramic-cafeart.com. We'd like to know how we've made a difference. (We know we've had our share of problems or disappointments, it's only human, so please, positive stories only.)

Our customers have touched our hearts; we'd like to hear how we've touched yours.

We've also worked hard to do what we can to help support our community through school donations, library program donations, reduced fees for schools and non-profits, reduced field trip pricing, early opening to accommodate school schedules... We want to be here for you, so please we ask for your help in supporting us as we continue this journey. We would like to maintain our regular walk-in business as well as increase our off-sites, to-go items/parties, and camps/classes. In addition, you are ALWAYS welcome in our Dublin studio, it's not all that far to go.