Premier Sponsors:
Access Sponsor:
Partner and In-Kind Sponsors:
We’re honored by the incredible support of our sponsors, whose generosity ensures that our farewell celebration remains completely free of charge and fully accessible!
Join us on Thursday, September 25, 2025 from 6-9pm CDT as we gather at The Whim in Minneapolis to celebrate and reflect on the last 20 years of joyful, creative, impactful work.
Click here to register for a free ticket today.
Read on for highlights on our full circle of sponsors.
Huge thanks to our Premier Sponsors: The Graham Smith Team; Carpenter, Evert & Associates; Pharos Employee Benefits; MSS; and Merrick, Inc.
The Graham Smith Team of Keller Williams Realty
Graham Smith is a long-time friend and supporter who has creatively contributed to Upstream Arts by making a donation for every house bought or sold. This has resulted in an incredible impact over the years!
As The Graham Smith Team strongly believes in integrity, quality customer service, and the importance of doing business with likeminded organizations, we’re honored that they have generously supporting Upstream Arts in this generous way.
If you or someone you know is looking for a new home, learn more by visiting The Graham Smith Team website.
Pharos Employee Benefits
Founded by Lisa Scamehorn, Pharos Employee Benefits helps companies navigate the changing tides of employee benefits, approaching every customer with concierge-level service.
Named after one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the famous lighthouse Pharos of Alexandria, Scamehorn’s company acts as a beacon, evaluating employee benefits based on cost and alignment with company culture. Pharos engages employees in fully understanding their benefits and protects businesses by helping them stay in line with critical regulatory obligations.
Learn more about Pharos Employee Benefits at their website: http://www.pharoseb.com.
Carpenter, Evert & Associates
As the tax accountant Minneapolis, MN and the surrounding areas depend on, Carpenter, Evert & Associates specializes in providing outsourced accounting, advisory, and tax services for small to medium businesses. The company was born out of a true commitment to serving clients and a belief that the quality of service is more important than the quantity of clients.
Learn more about Carpenter, Evert & Associates at their website: www.carpenterevert.com
Merrick, Inc.
Merrick, Inc., has proudly provided life enrichment activities and employment support for adults with intellectual disabilities in the Northeastern Twin Cities since 1964. As wayfinders, they connect individuals, businesses, and our greater community.
Merrick offers a mix of day training and habilitation services, supported employment services, and adult day services for more than 375 clients. As the largest provider of their kind in Ramsey County, Merrick has a 50-year history of leadership in person-centered planning, meaningful work options, operational excellence, and continuous innovation. We’re honored to have partnered with them regularly.
Learn more at their website, www.merrickinc.org.
MSS
Through day training and habilitation, vocational services, arts programs, and more, MSS provides individualized approaches and support to people with intellectual and physical disabilities to help them reach their personal goals and achieve their full potential. With six facilities spread over the metro area, MSS programs nurture confidence, vitality and creativity in everyone.
MSS has partnered with Upstream Arts for many years, and sponsored our final Self-Advocacy class this summer. We’re honored by their commitment to our work and shared values.
Learn more about MSS at their website, www.mwsservices.org.
We’re full of gratitude for our Access Sponsor, Amazeworks, whose commitment to diversity and inclusion mirrors Upstream Arts’ values.
AmazeWorks
With a mission of championing equity and belonging for all, AmazeWorks uses anti-bias education theory as a model for identity development. They engage people in the process of creating the conditions for belonging by initiating important conversations with each other about identity, differences, bias/prejudice/stereotypes, and what action can be taken against bias-based mistreatment.
For more information about AmazeWorks, visit their website: https://amazeworks.org/
We’re full of gratitude for our Partner and In-kind sponsors, which includes Partnership Resources, Inc; Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts; Ideal Printing; and Marla Olivia Photography.
Partnership Resources Inc.
Partnership Resources, Inc. is a non-profit that advocates for adults with disabilities through encouraging personal creativity, unity through diversity, and the individual’s right to personal decision-making. With the belief that each and every individual has unique potential for community contribution, Partnership Resources Inc. offers person-centered vocational coaching to help participants find positions that align with their needs and goals as well as day programs that encourage individualized participation in community life.
For more information about Partnership Resources, Inc., visit their website: https://www.partnershipresources.org.
Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts
Interact is a progressive visual arts studio and theater company committed to artistic excellence and radical inclusion. Their work challenges perceptions of disability, and over 70 visual artists currently call Interact their studio. Their gallery aims to advance the recognition of their work through exhibitions, partnerships, and collaborative opportunities.
For more information about Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, visit their website: interactcenterarts.org
Ideal Printers
Ideal Printers is an independently, woman, and family-owned commercial printer located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Since 1979, they’ve been providing quality printing, binding, finishing, mailing, and creative services to a variety of local, regional, and national clients. With an experienced and dedicated team, they’re committed to delivering print projects on time and to the highest quality standards, every single time, no matter the size or complexity of the project.
For more information about Ideal Printers, visit their website: https://www.idealprint.com/
Marla Olivia Photography
Marla is a photographer and art director in Minneapolis who creates to move. Her work not only captures movement and gesture but also aims to move both others and self to see things in a different way.
Marla’s work focuses primarily on building compassion for human experience through conceptual portraiture and still life work. She is the creator of The Metamorphosis Project and continues to tell visual stories in Minneapolis, MN.
For more information about Marla, visit the website: https://marlaolivia.com/
Be sure to RSVP to The Art of You: Carrying It Forward on September 25. Join us at The Whim in Minneapolis from 6-9pm to celebrate, immerse yourself in Upstream Arts activities, and reflect on two decades of incredible work. Thanks to these generous sponsors, the event is free to attend!