Can art fuel a movement? You bet it can! History is thick with poignant and powerful examples. Can it win hearts and minds as well? We know it can because art is as much a part of life as food, water and air and that’s the message of a new campaign. ArtPride NJ is collaborating with the Printmaking Center of New Jersey on an exciting Kickstarter project to spread that message and give us one more example of how art can spur action and affect change in our state and beyond.
Running through May 22 this campaign supports creation of a limited-edition of original silkscreened and digital prints and posters by Newark-based artist Lunar New Year (LNY) in collaboration with artist and master printer Jase Clark. Together we have been working for several months planning not only the art, but an entire campaign including a video, the sponsors’ rewards, promotion, and distribution. To actually produce the prints and posters we must raise $14,000 in 17 days. So we need your help today. And with Kickstarter, it’s very easy.
LNY, an accomplished muralist, tells the story of his inspiration so well in the Kickstarter video of how deeply important art is to his personal life and fundamental to all lives. As an artist working nationally he engages young and old by creating murals that transform neighborhoods and communities. In FOOD WATER AIR ART, he portrays these essential and powerful elements of life to inspire us to make the world a better place by embracing art and passing that inspiration on to others.
Funds raised through Kickstarter will allow the prints and posters to be created and rewards fulfilled for project backers. Then leaders of dozens of New Jersey’s art museums, theatres, and orchestras will hand-deliver to elected officials in Trenton and Washington, DC the signed and framed poster that contains the message we all believe and invite them to share—FOOD WATER AIR ART! This message is more vital now than ever when need and desire are high to keep the arts affordable to all, but government support for them is so lean.
To make the goal we need hundreds, if not thousands, of artists and individuals who believe in this message to back the project for rewards ranging from $5 – $500. Our strength lies in numbers and we know supporters all over the world share in our belief. You can help us by making the campaign viral. Spread the word right now through all your networks. But please don’t stop there. Make it real by Backing the project. Our vision and goal is to cover the state and beyond with FOOD WATER AIR ART posters: in the lobbies and windows of cultural institutions and galleries everywhere in our state, poster bombs all over downtowns, stickers on hundreds of cars and thousands of laptops, and our reward t-shirts proclaiming FOOD WATER AIR ART on arts advocates throughout the country. Here are some photos of our wonderful, generous, tireless and tremendously talented artists working on the project. Be part of the movement and back the project by May 22!
Ann Marie Miller is the Executive Director of ArtPride, the premier arts advocacy organization in New Jersey, and a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.