Help Shape Helios’s

Next Chapter

Cut to the chase...Donate here!

What are we bulding?

  • ✽ Preservation ✽

    Preserve a Rare Craft.

    Glass fusing is a centuries-old process that is still evolving. By supporting Helios, you're helping keep this tradition alive, innovative, and accessible to new generations.

  • ✽ Education ✽

    Expand Accessibility to Classes & Workshops.

    With more instructors comes more classes, workshops, and hands-on learning, including beginner-friendly projects, advanced kilnforming techniques, and off-site youth programs.

  • ✽ Reach ✽

    Support online content.

    Offering online classes and providing video tutorials allows us to reach a world-wide community, who haven’t otherwise been able to join us in the studio.

  • ✽ Community ✽

    Support Community-Centered Spaces.

    Helios has always been about people. We’re known for not just being friendly, but being radically supportive. Donating means joining a community that believes art is for everyone.

  • ✽ Collaboration ✽

    Support Artistic Collaborations.

    Helios isn’t just a studio. It’s a connector. We help artists realize complex visions & collaborate across disciplines. You’re funding the spark & the space that makes big ideas happen

  • ✽ Public Art ✽

    Make Space for Public Art.

    Helios is a behind-the-scenes hero for more and more public art projects (like Entre Agua y Estrellas at Barton Springs). Your support grows our capacity to say “yes” to more.

Why donate?

For nearly 20 years, Helios has been a place to learn, make, experiment, and find community through glass. We want that community to keep growing, here in Austin and far beyond it.

Today, I'm asking for your help to bridge Helios into its new chapter during a difficult time that I can't navigate alone.

You've seen the realization of the move to the new studio and the incredible jump in abundance it's provided in every measurable way. Over the past year this new studio has seen higher involvement and more success than was ever previously possible. But it's coupled with the terrible truth.

Here’s the Honest Truth

The economic changes we're all experiencing are rewriting what it means to remain sustainable as a small business…couple that with my need to step back from daily operations to care for my health and be present during the (surprisingly) increased demands of raising teenagers. Over the past couple months, I've met with a few truly loving and capable artists and entrepreneurs who care deeply about the Helios community. And as it turns out, timelines of amazing people don't always align. Which means Helios needs to adjust.

So, I need to do a few things to change the long-term survivability of Helios. While still looking to transition to new ownership in the future (just not immediately). I need to bring new Helios team members into the work of caring for this studio and its community. This team also needs to prioritize operations differently to accommodate our changing economy and to better include our worldwide fellow glass lovers.

What I need is help. I've expended my abilities in order to get us here.

I need everyone who's loved Helios, the glass, and the community that sets us apart from every other studio to help.

Your contribution will bridge where we are with what comes next, because I can't do it on my own.

Click Here to Donate

Other ways to be part of this chapter

Take a class. Make something at the studio. Shop for glass and supplies. Share this page with a friend who loves glass. If you have experience in teaching, love talking about all things glass, are great a selling or building creative communities, then join the team! Either on staff, as a volunteer, or as a part of the community, come be a part of the future at Helios.

In the meantime, Helios is still open and creating.

— Kristine and the Helios team