A Salinas-based nonprofit celebrates 10 years of creating and promoting art in East Salinas and beyond.

On the corner of Midtown Lane and Main Street in downtown Salinas, there is a small space full of creativity and aspiration. Artists Ink is a nonprofit that brings art close to hundreds of kids in East Salinas, and it’s a channel for current and aspiring artists to pursue art professionally.

Artists Ink started in 2013, when a group of local artists came together to make a feature film titled A Tree in the Valley, showcasing 10 local teen artists. Emily Morales, one of those founders, says once that project was over, the collaboration turned into a full-fledged organization.

Morales says having an organization that supports artists was one of her goals; she and her peers didn’t have this support starting out. “I’d always wanted the opportunity for people to see me like the artist that I was and for the ability that I had,” Morales says. “But because I was so young, it felt like people didn’t take me seriously.”

“It would have been great if somebody had supported us when we were in high school,” says Carlos Cortez, program director at Artists Ink. Cortez says kids who want to pursue a career in art often face a lack of family support.

Artists Ink offers classes for young artists in which they can learn about theater, animation, photography, film, music and more.

Artists Ink focuses on displaying and sharing the experiences of local artists, a signature that is seen in many of its collaborative projects, including the film East Side Cenicienta, a reimagination of the classic Cinderella story; and the project “Mi Salinas: Viewing Community Through A New Lens,” where students explore their city with a camera and document their findings.

Artists Ink has a partnership with the Salinas Public Library offering video tutorials. It also supports Alisal Union School District’s after-school programs and history classes for fourth graders. For a local history class, students made a short stop-motion video about what they learned. This year, Cortez says, students will create stop-motion videos or picture books based on stories from the Indigenous Esselen Tribe.

In the coming decade, Morales hopes to expand and provide more resources to artists and students. This could include a gallery space and studios for dancing or recording, where scheduling would be as easy as checking out a book with a library card.

To learn more, visit artistsink.org