Art for Charity-Tips for Artists

Contribute Your Talents to a Good Cause
Art has found its way into the Tour de France. Depending on your definition of art, it may have always been there (Fans' costumes! Crop sculptures! Handmade signs and banners!). But now Lance Armstrong, in his first Tour in four years, has teamed up with Nike to enlist the talents of 30 of the world's foremost contemporary artists for an exhibit entitled STAGES, which opened in Paris last week. Details are sketchy, but as far as I can tell, the exhibit consists of a few Trek bikes that were decorated by the artists. (Yes, this recalls visions of Cow Parade and its infinite clones--artists working with the surface of an existing form.) Other works were created specifically for the show.

After its Paris debut, STAGES travels to New York, Los Angeles, and Portland. The artists' works will be sold with proceeds benefiting Armstrong's foundation to fight cancer. You can't argue that the artists are making a contribution.

I've written a lot previously about donating art to charity events--cautioning you against donating too much or feeling obligated. But there comes a time when your passion for a cause is so deep that you would regret not using your talents to help out. Rather than wait for the requests to come to you, organize your own charity event by teaming up with a nonprofit organization and at least one celebrity. Lance Armstrong might be out of reach, but there are probably celebrities in your town that would be willing to lend their name to a good cause.

You could donate work that you already have available, but you'll get more publicity if it's work created around a theme. I hate to say that because I'm not crazy about themed art, but I know what gets picked up in the mainstream media. If publicity is a goal (and it should be if you're trying to raise money!), a theme might be the way to go.

Let's look at some of the local celebrities and nonprofit organizations you could team up with.

Celebrity Chefs + Food Bank + Artists
Purchase plain aprons for artists to decorate and then sell or auction the aprons at an event that features the chefs' creations while raising funds for the local food bank.

Newscasters + Literacy Program + Artists
Ask artists to create artists' books. Exhibit the books at local libraries and galleries before holding a sale and having a party at a bookstore with proceeds going toward a literacy program. Bringing in the bookstore (a retail space with its own following) is a bonus to the partnership.

Sports Stars + Inner-City Sports for Kids + Artists
Ask artists, or pair up artists and sports stars into teams, to decorate baseball caps, footballs, jerseys, or anything else associated with your celebrity's sport. Ask a sportscaster to be the MC at the party and sale. You're likely to get TV coverage on the sportscaster's station.

One final note of interest: Lance Armstrong is said to be riding a few of the artist-decorated bikes in the Tour de France, including the bike by Damien Hirst to the finish line in Paris.
Know This . . .
Making a contribution to a cause that's important to you is extremely gratifying.
Think About This . . .
The more people you include in your event, the more publicity you will receive and the more money you will raise for a worthy cause.
Do This . . .
Contribute your talents to a good cause. Bring in a local celebrity (or celebrities) to help attract attention. Be diligent in your research to ensure your nonprofit is in good standing and well thought of in the community. There are many charity watchdog organizations out there. Try http://charitynavigator.org as a starting point.

Also, understand that--at least for now--when you donate your art, you (the artist) are able to deduct only the cost of your materials for U.S. tax purposes. See more about working with a nonprofit and donating art in my book, I'd Rather Be in the Studio!, pages 219-222. http://artbizcoach.com/irbits
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You are welcome to use this article on your website, blog, or in your newsletter as long as you include this complete credit line: © 2009 Alyson B. Stanfield. Alyson takes the mystery out of marketing your art and making more money as an artist. Visit http://www.ArtBizCoach.com to get articles just like this one delivered to your inbox.

Art for Charity Update

I support The MOM Foundation's Survivor Celebration. They are raising money to build a cancer survivors retreat center in California. I almost always donate art to their auctions, try to attend events and 1st QTR this year donated 30% of my art sales to them. Here's their latest fun event!

Time: September 12, 2009 all day
Location: Merry Acres Farm
Organized By: Jane Ali, Howie Feaga & Christina Marchetti
Event Description:
2nd annual Merry Acres Goes Pink Fun Horse Show benefiting the Marathon of Miracles Foundation.
Dressage, Show Jumping and Cross Country. Come out and join the fun as a participant, volunteer or spectator.
If you would like to make a donation for the auction please let us know.
We had a blast last year. Hope you can join us this year.

See more details and RSVP on Survivor Celebration - Inspiring and Empowering Cancer Survivors:
www.survivorcelebration.com
About Survivor Celebration - Inspiring and Empowering Cancer Survivors
The social networking community to inspire, educate and empower cancer survivors and their loved ones.

My Biggest Motivation?

"My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long university education that I never had - every day I'm learning something new. Plus, fantasizing about the future is one of my favorite pastimes." -Richard Branson

Right now I am working on the new design of my website. I should be able to announce it and have folks give me their thoughts over the next few weeks. This month my goals are to do some much needed clean up on all my websites and to work on a ton of new paintings that are waiting for me to eithor photo or finish up. So in the next few months look for new artworks to be going up. As I mentioned before I am running promotions on ebay and in my etsy store Have a wonderful evening!

Artscape 2009

I have been attending Artscape for many years and I always find artists that I love to buy from there. The food and performances are always a blast. Last year I tried the fried alligator..it was surprisingly good haha...hope to see you there..

artscape article

More Art for Charity

Art for Charity Update

I was recently featured in Art Business News "Art for a Cause". The magazine actually had a picture of me and a picture of "Purple Hearts Forever", a painting I did for the American Heart Association.

Article Here



In April and May, I donated another painting to AHA...

Heart Beat City