Art For The Animals 2007 Offerings Unveiled at Monterey Bay Aquarium Event
Creative Program Turns Holiday Gift Giving into Wildlife Conservation
Carmel, CA. September 28, 2007– Central Coasters looking for alternatives to traditional gift-giving this holiday season discovered just the thing last evening when AFTA Associates unveiled its 2007 Art For The Animals Gifts of Giving program at a special event in the Outer Bay and Jellies: Living Art Exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Volunteers and representatives from several conservation organizations were on hand to explain the Art For The Animals program to guests, and show them how their gift donations support wildlife and nature conservancy and provide income to the artisans who create the folk and tribal art we use as donor premiums.
Conservation organizations have long promoted the idea of giving charitable donations as gifts during the holidays, but the Art For The Animals Program goes a step further. It takes the “gifts of giving” concept and then leverages this fund raising process to support the development and growth of ‘conservation enterprises.' “By using folk art and nature-friendly goods from Africa, India, Asia, Asia Pacific, and Latin America as donor thank you gifts, we can help create new and hopefully sustainable markets for these products -- encouraging alternatives to resource depleting economic development. When we create new income streams for communities in which endangered animals live, we begin to address the underlying social and economic factors that really threaten the environment" says Lori Stewart founder of AFTA Associates, which runs the Art For The Animals program. "We give those communities both the incentives and resources to help preserve their environment.
“Art For The Animals is a unique conservation program,” said Miles Roberts, Deputy Head of the Department of Conservation Biology at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. "We know that the biggest threat to wildlife conservation is poverty - people need a way to make a living from something other than land use and resource depletion. Art For The Animals creates a circular connection between conservation, and the economic and cultural well being of local people.
This year, Art For The Animals is supporting 25 threatened or endangered species and habitats programs of 12 conservation and research organizations working around the world. To the extent available, Art For The Animals donor gifts are folk art and crafts made by artisan or crafts groups closely tied to these conservation organizations.
Several new programs were featured at the event this year. Conservation Through Poverty Alleviation International is helping save Madagascar's forests and Malagasy culture by revitalizing the wild silk craft. Rural farmers generate income by collecting silk cocoons from the forests, and weaver's cooperatives spin and weave the wild silk into beautiful aviator scarves, and wraps.
Amazon Conservation Team's (ACT) work with the Trio and Wayana tribes in Suriname is helping develop economic opportunities that foster the sustainable use of their natural resources. ACT's donation gifts are combined with thank you gifts of seed purses and jewelry, carved stools and serving bowls that preserve Amazonia and the ancient artistic traditions of its people.
Those who were touched by the loss of the Marcel, the beautiful silverback mountain gorilla who was shot to death along with an adult female, while trying to prevent the kidnapping of an infant, will be interested in International Gorilla Conservation Programme's work with local communities. Virunga Artisans is working with local people in Rwanda to produce the baskets, wood carvings, and tea we use as donor gifts, and to create markets for these products.
"Snare Art" continues to capture the imagination of thoughtful supporters of Painted Dog Conservation, which has contracted with local artists to create sculptures made from the snares removed from the bush by anti-poaching patrols. Donations to benefit Wildlife Conservation Network's Painted Dog Conservation program range from $250, for which donors receive an intricate snare wire sculpture, to $15, which is tied to a simple wire bracelet.
And lets not forget the ne plus ultra of holiday gifts, an authentic Mongolian, the large white felt tent that has been home to Mongolians for more that 2500 years. The $15,000 donation supports the International Snow Leopard Trust's (ISLT) work to find solutions to the long-standing conflicts between Mongolian herders and the endangered Snow Leopardl. The portion of the donation that covers the cost of the ger, also benefits Snow Leopard Enterprises, an ISLT program that gives the herders an opportunity to increase their household income, and add enormously to the value of their livestock products by producing hand-crafted items using wool from their sheep, camels and cashmere goats.
While the $15,000 donation is at the high end of the giving spectrum, Art For The Animals offers a wide range of giving levels and art premiums. A $10 donation to Project Seahorse is tied to a seahorse beanbag, made by the villagers in Handumon, Philippines, w here income increasingly comes from Kanagmaluhan crafts rather than the seahorse trade. There are over 100 other donor gifts ranging from Maasai beaded dog collars ($90 donation to Wildlife Conservation Network); to vetiver bird houses ($50 donation to Friends of the National Zoo's Migratory Bird Program); and tagua nut rainforest carvings ($100 donation to Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute); Ethiopian trading bead necklaces and Masaai beaded horse brow bands for the dressage crowd ($40-$150 donations to Wildlife Trust's wild horse program); embroidered linens from Madagascar; juggling balls from the gobi desert, and pine needle butterflies and baskets, and lead free pottery from Michoacan, Mexico.
“The program is pretty simple,” says Stewart. “You decide to make a tax-deductable donation based on the size of your wallet, your favorite animal and organization, or the art gift you want to receive. You can make the donation directly, or as a gift donation in the name of a friend. Art For The Animals does the rest. We send a gift card that features a wildlife photo, and describes the conservation program and the gift donation, along with a unique piece of folk art. 70% of the donation benefits the conservation organizations' programs, and 20% goes to the artists -- giving them income, a way to preserve their culture, and a reason to preserve their environment.
Those who have given through the program wax enthusiastic about the concept and the donor gifts. Gift donations are increasingly popular among aging boomers who have enough stuff and are looking to simplify the holidays and turn excess consumerism into a positive market force to benefit conservation. But during the holidays, it's nice to package that idea with a memento - a piece of art that represents the animal, the region or local culture. For some, it's a tiny sea turtle ornament, and for others its a ger - the program's appeal spans age groups and income levels.
Conservancy organizations currently participating in the Art For The Animals program include:
African Wildlife Foundation
Amazon Conservation Team
Conservation Through Poverty Alleviation International
Smithsonian Conservation and Research / Friends of the National Zoo
International Snow Leopard Trust
International Gorilla Conservation Program
Lemur Conservation Foundation
Michoacan Reforestation Fund
Project Seahorse
Red Panda Project
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Wild Camel Protection Foundation
Wildlife Conservation Network
Wildlife Trust
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To view the Art For The Animals donation packages visit www.artfortheanimals.org .
Art For The Animals is a program of AFTA Associates, Incorporated ( www.aftaassociates.org ) AFTA is a 501c3 non profit organization that works in collaboration with existing wildlife and nature conservancy organizations to preserve wildlife and nature through programs that make the business of saving wildlife, a business from which the people who share the region and resources with the animals can make a living. |
