About us
Performance artist Shanna Woods at Echoes of Empathy: Navigating the Baker Act Through Art.
What’s Your Elephant™ is a 501(c)(3) arts and education nonprofit dedicated to sparking dialogue, promoting emotional wellness, and supporting community healing through creative experiences.
Founded as a community movement in 2013 and officially incorporated as a nonprofit in 2023, What’s Your Elephant™ builds on Founder Niki Lopez’s more than 17 years of community arts leadership in Fort Lauderdale and across South Florida.
Through art exhibitions, mindful workshops, community conversations, and interactive installations, we create spaces where people can slow down, reflect, create, and connect — especially in communities where those spaces are often limited or underfunded
“What’s Your Elephant is a unique opportunity for our community to explore social issues and personal experiences through art which is unlikely to be exhibited in more commonly accessible or traditional art exhibits.” — Exhibition Attendee
What's Your Elephant is a unique opportunity for our community to explore social issues and personal experiences through art which is unlikely to be exhibited in more commonly accessible or traditional art exhibits. — Exhibition Attendee
OUR MISSION
To use the power of the arts to spark dialogue, promote emotional wellness, and support community healing — creating accessible, inclusive, and culturally responsive creative experiences for all.
Art is the doorway to truth.
LATEST EXHIBITION: SOIL: WHERE THE LIGHT ENTERS
December 19, 2025 – January 23, 2026 | 1310 Gallery, Fort Lauderdale
Our most recent exhibition, SOIL: Where the Light Enters, brought together 26 artists whose practices explore transformation, resilience, memory, and healing through deeply personal and lived experiences.
Inspired by the Rumi quote “The wound is the place where the light enters,” SOIL invited audiences into an immersive experience of art, reflection, mindfulness, storytelling, and community connection — where art meets advocacy, performance meets reflection, and creativity becomes a vessel for personal and collective healing.
Curated and produced by Niki Lopez, SOIL unfolded as a living, community-centered exhibition through a full program of activations including a Mindful Mask-Making workshop, a Wellness Day co-hosted with Longville Wellness, a Mommy & Me family art-making experience supported by the Children’s Services Council of Broward County, and a closing celebration bringing together artists, vendors, and community members.
Funding for SOIL was made possible in part by generous support from Wayne and Lucretia Weiner, CSC Broward, and community donors.
What attendees said:
“SOIL didn’t rush me. It invited me to pause, to listen, and to sit with what I hadn’t named yet.”
“This felt less like an exhibition and more like a place to breathe.”
“I didn’t expect to feel this grounded walking through an exhibition.”
WHAT WE DO
Art Exhibitions & Cultural Programming Large-scale, multidisciplinary exhibitions that center lived experience, storytelling, and social impact — blending visual art, performance, dialogue, and community participation.
Creative Wellness Workshops Hands-on art experiences rooted in mindfulness, cultural symbolism, and creativity as wellness — including our signature Mindful Mask-Making workshops. Offered at youth centers, transitional homes, schools, recovery programs, and community spaces.
Interactive Installations Immersive works that invite audiences to reflect, express, and speak the unspoken through writing, collage, mark-making, and shared storytelling.
Community Partnerships & Civic Engagement Long-standing collaborations with community organizations, schools, nonprofits, and civic agencies including the Children’s Services Council of Broward, the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Lauderdale, and the L.A. Lee YMCA/Mizell Community Center.
WHO WE SERVE
Our programming reaches across South Florida with deep commitment to:
- LGBTQ+ communities
- BIPOC communities
- Youth in underserved neighborhoods
- Individuals impacted by trauma, mental health challenges, and social inequity
- Anyone seeking a creative space to be seen, heard, and connected
Since 2013, What’s Your Elephant™ has engaged more than 3,500 individuals through exhibitions, workshops, and immersive art experiences across South Florida.
PAST EXHIBITIONS & PROGRAMS
Echoes of Empathy: Navigating the Baker Act Through Art (2024) A major collaboration with the Children’s Services Council of Broward County exploring youth mental health. This exhibition activated countywide dialogue through art-making, hybrid talks, and cross-sector engagement.
What’s Your Elephant™ LGBTQ+ Series (2021–2022) A 9-month program in partnership with NAMI Broward, World AIDS Museum, South Florida Afro Pride Federation, and more — centering LGBTQ+ voices through workshops, exhibitions, and community talks.
Sankofa Arts Project | Aya Arts Project | The Art of Justice Community-centered projects rooted in cultural preservation, placemaking, and social justice.
RECOGNITIONS
- 2025 Finalist — 211 Broward Best Arts Nonprofit of the Year
- 2024 Commitment to a Cause Philanthropy Award — Our Fund Foundation (Founder)
- 2023 Pioneer of the Year — BLACC + SPARK (Founder)
- 2023 Women’s History Month Honoree — Broward County Commission on the Status of Women (Founder)
- Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow Nominee (Founder)
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Niki Lopez (she/her/they) is an award-winning Afro-Latina, queer interdisciplinary visual artist, curator, and social practitioner based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her work blends visual storytelling, cultural symbolism, and social practice to create spaces for reflection, dialogue, and collective care.
As the founder of What’s Your Elephant™, Lopez produces immersive exhibitions, workshops, and wellness-centered art experiences that merge creativity, advocacy, and mindfulness. For nearly two decades, her projects have invited communities to transform vulnerability into visibility — and creativity into social impact.
Lopez is also the host of The Circle, a video podcast sharing stories of creatives, activists, and social entrepreneurs, and the founder of Niki Lopez Creative, a mission-driven creative agency.
→ Learn more about Niki → nikilopez.art
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
- “Art bridges across differences among people and helps us address taboos.” — WYE Exhibition Attendee
- “What’s Your Elephant is extremely important. It helps people express themselves and support each other to feel less isolated.” — N.G., Exhibition Attendee
- “What’s Your Elephant creates a sense of community and helps paint the picture for how connected we truly are.” — Workshop Attendee
- “Art is often an access point. Connecting us despite of, and because of, our differences.” — Chevara Orrin, Workshop Attendee
Together, we are transforming creativity into connection — and connection into community care.
👉🏾 Support Our Work → Get Involved →
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Uncover your voice, share your stories, and be part of the change with What’s Your Elephant™.