Alpha Workshops Uses Art to Heal and Empower

By Ellie Hurley

In 1981 the AIDS epidemic, which had been silently spreading across the globe, finally came into the public eye.  The disease took the form of a rare cancer, normally found in the elderly, called Kaposi's Sarcoma.  It was during this same time that Doctors noticed an increase in a lung infection called Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia or PCP.  Both diseases proved incurable and both proved to be spreading.  In response the Center for Disease Control (CDC) formed a Task Force on Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (KSOI). 

These diseases, which spread rampantly, became known as AIDS.  Whether a person was infected with HIV/AIDS, suffered from the stigma attached to the disease, or suffered from the loss of a loved one… nobody has gone untouched by the disease. 

Lamps custom designed in the Alpha Workshop studios.

To this day, while it can be managed, AIDS is still incurable and the epidemic can feel overwhelming.   There are many though, working towards a solution to the wreckage the disease has left behind, and notable among those is Alpha Workshops and its founder Kenneth Wampler.

WHY receives hundreds of applications for the Harry Chapin Self Reliance Award each year, and Alpha Workshops was a stand out from the beginning. The Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Awards program distributes cash grants to outstanding grassroots organizations in the United States that have moved beyond charity to creating change in their communities. Organizations selected as Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award winners are judged outstanding for their innovative and creative approaches to fighting domestic hunger and poverty by empowering people and building self-reliance.

Alpha Workshops fits WHY's criteria for the HCSRA perfectly.  Alpha offers a unique program that trains people living with HIV/AIDS in the decorative arts with the goal of employing these students in their in-house design studio.  In this unique and supportive environment, people who were once told they wouldn't live, who were unable to work because of their disease, and who are now trying to embrace their futures, can take back their humanity and their dignity.

Alpha Workshops fills a social service gap that isn't addressed anywhere else in the United States… they help people who are living with HIV/AIDS.  Most of the students and employees at Alpha originally lost their jobs due to their illness, Now that medical advances have increased the life expectancy, people with HIV/AIDS need to re-enter the work environment. Wampler, whose background is in theater and design, saw an opportunity to capitalize on New York City's artistic culture in order to create a job-training program for people suffering from HIV/AIDS.

Wampler started the organization in the 1995 after years at an AIDS resource center where he focused on finding supportive housing for homeless people living with HIV/AIDS.  As he watched the virus spread throughout New York he noticed that the people he was helping had lost their identity.  They were no longer acknowledged as people with futures, they were simply defined by the disease, by acronyms, and by what was viewed as their inevitable death.  Out of Wampler's strong desire to give people their identity back, Alpha Workshops was born.

Through AIDS resource centers and supportive housing programs Alpha has recruited over 100 men and women and trained them in the basic skills of the decorative arts.  Participants don't need to have any background in the field, the only requirement is that they are HIV positive.  The early stages of training range from basic art skills to workplace etiquette.  From the basic training program students are selected to continue on to advanced training, and after completion are considered for employment in Alpha's studio.  So far Alpha has employed over 50 of their program participants.  As their program grows, Alpha's goals have as well, recently they have expanded their career services to include job placement for students who they cannot hire.

In their studio Alpha Workshop employees design high end wallpaper, lamps, gilding and restoration, as well as take on custom design and decorating jobs. The money from the purchase of their products is used as a funding mechanism for their organization and currently covers over half of their current budget.  Their products have been featured in House & Garden, Interior Design and O at Home and several of their designs are in the permanent collection of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution.   Not only was Alpha Workshops a 2006 finalist for the Harry Chapin Self Reliance Award and a 2007 winner they have received numerous accolades within the design and non-profit community. 

AIDS is by no means a disease of the past. A recent UNAIDS report estimates there are 33.2 million people living with HIV world-wide.  While this number seems staggering it is the efforts of organizations like Alpha Workshops that bring humanity back to those struggling to survive with this disease.  As Alpha grows and interest in their products increase they are able to offer more people new jobs, new skills, and a chance at a life where they are defined by much more than their disease.

Alpha Workshops products can be viewed on their website.  The website also offers showrooms where the various items can be purchased.