OUR APPROACH
ART, EDUCATION & COMMUNITY
Our mission integrates art, education, and community through a comprehensive three-fold approach. The Butterfly Art Collective partners with school safety nonprofits to bring prevention programs to under-resourced schools nationwide. By implementing research-backed curriculum, these nonprofit programs empower students and educators to recognize warning signs, implement effective interventions, and connect at-risk individuals with crucial support before potential crises can unfold.
Resilience amplifies these prevention initiatives through artistic expression, inviting students to craft their own miniature butterflies while engaging with the program. These student-created works will ultimately join the fine art butterflies in a powerful visual dialogue, celebrating collective resilience and marking each student’s journey toward personal empowerment and community stewardship. Local stakeholders, educators, community leaders, and art enthusiasts are invited to join our events intentionally designed to foster connection, learning, and community action.
Through uniting art with prevention programs, the Butterfly Art Collective seeks to empower participants with a tangible sense of agency. This approach also serves as a foundation for our broader advocacy efforts, creating a powerful platform to address the critical need for systemic change.
OUR WHY
The loss of a single child to gun violence creates waves that touch every corner of our society. When a young life ends too soon, we don’t just lose that child—we lose their future contributions, their potential innovations, their future families. Their classmates carry invisible scars. Teachers question their ability to protect. Parents hold their children tighter. Communities lose their sense of safety.
Even for those of us who haven’t directly experienced this loss, these tragedies reshape our collective experience—changing how we see schools, public spaces, and each other. Like ripples in water, the impact spreads outward, touching all of us in ways both seen and unseen.
This is why protecting our children isn’t just a personal concern for those directly affected—it’s our shared responsibility. Because when we lose even one child, something in all of us is diminished.
“Our nation’s young people deserve to have a life free from the threat of gun violence. They deserve to be kids.”
— NICOLE HOCKLEY
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Sandy Hook Promise and mother of Dylan, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting