Hi! My name is Lauren McCarthy. I am an artist, educator, and open source contributor. I'm also the creator and project lead for p5.js, a JavaScript library for creative coding, with a focus on making coding accessible and inclusive for artists, designers, educators, beginners, and anyone else! You can try it for yourself here.

p5.js is a community of, and in solidarity with, people from every gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, language, neuro-type, size, ability, class, religion, culture, subculture, political opinion, age, skill level, occupation, and background. We acknowledge that not everyone has the time, financial means, or capacity to actively participate, but we recognize and encourage involvement of all kinds. We facilitate and foster access and empowerment. We are all learners.

For the past 6 years, I have led and developed this project in my volunteer time, averaging around 10-20 hours a week. I work on code, documentation, educational materials, examples, and community outreach, and I also mentor and teach new people to contribute to open source. In addition to maintaining the p5.js repositories and community, I also share my curricula and teaching materials, and the open source code behind my artwork on GitHub. I am deeply committed to building open source communities that are more inclusive, diverse, accessible, and welcoming to all people regardless of skill or background. I see a shift happening that your support will push onwards and intensify.

Thank you! 💥🎨💕