THE GIFT OF ART

FOUNDATION

c. -94-07-Mark Spore

sporecreations.com

A non-profit educational, support and research foundation

designed to encourage and uplift the ‘hands on arts’, reaching

out to assist the disenfranchised gifted and talented through referrals, foundation programs, grants and supportive networks.

We Believe:

“Our gifted and talented are national Treasures”

1. We refer to the HANDS ON ARTS as those creative endeavors by various artists, musicians, authors, choreographers and creative craftsmen, who for the most part are making use of limited computer generated works and are primarily, (but not exclusively concerned) with physical and tactile involvement in the creative process.

The Foundation is concerned primarily with this genre of the gifted and talented who are in need of basic developmental tools, referrals, support and assistance and who demonstrate a sincere desire and vision for developing their projects and potential careers in the creative arts.

2. We will provide a workable networking system where these gifted and talented can receive support in the areas of career counseling, grant writing, art apprenticeships, work study programs, emergency housing and Arts showcase opportunities, and a special web page or website connected to the Gift of Art Foundation website. Referrals will be made for basic assistance in the areas of financial status evaluation, debt clearing, taxes and assistance in preparing an outline for a workable carrier plan in the individual’s chosen field of the arts.

3.   Each member of G.O.A.F. will receive an opportunity to be featured in our colorful and highly publicized web site. Instruction in web page building and design along with basic computer skills will be available at G.O.A.F. centers as part of our program for those needing development of those skills.

A COMMITMENT TO EXCELENCE AND SERVICE will be perpetual in our vision for assisting and supporting the gifted and talented disenfranchised wherever they may be found.

“We seek to raise the awareness of the arts and creative people to the position we feel they should be valued…as the cultural treasures they are.”

Contrary to popular belief, Artists and the arts create a great boost to the economic health of the nation and the world. We seek to counteract the false notion that the arts and Artists are on the fringe of society – to remain in a state of abject poverty or to become rich and famous only to sell their works for great profit or merely for survival.

We seek to expand the middle ground – bringing the arts and the working Artist more into the mainstream spotlight, where they can grow and blossom effectively in the process of making their contribution to society .The creative arts are powerful in nurturing the mind in many areas of life. One study has shown that after exposing students to Mozart, that their test scores and class attentiveness increased dramatically. The consensus is that the IQ increased in these  Individuals and the music assisted the mind to greater comprehension of mathematical and geometric knowledge, which greatly enhances other areas of study and life expression. The arts in the context of positive self expression increases the higher aspects of human behavior and cultural   perception in individuals in ways that harmonize cognitive and physiological processes toward greater mental and physical health of the individual.

 4. Art shows, fundraisers, music recitals and concerts will be arranged for those who have gone through some level of our counseling program. News reviews, radio and TV interviews, G.O.A.F. conventions, related books, CD’s, brochures and web pages will be powerful tools in promoting the outreach efforts of the foundation. Posters and greeting

cards by our artists will be produced in our own line called:‘Street People Greetings’. T-Shirts, mugs, pens and other ancillary products will be part of our agenda at G.O.A.F for getting the word out. Those gifted and talented completing the final phase of our counseling and referral program will receive our special silver or gold plated medallion with certificate showing The Gift of Art Foundation logo.

5. The Gift of Art Foundation Museums will be a long range goal that will showcase the creative works of gifted and talented in each community whose work may otherwise be lost to posterity.   One goal of G.O.A.F museums will be to provide showcases for unknown but noteworthy works by Artists in communities, who had passed on, and whose works may be packed away in a dusty closet or a Grandmother’s attic – unseen and thus unappreciated by the public. We will work at restoring and maintaining historical buildings for this purpose in towns and cities that will also serve as studio and office space for artists and members of the foundation. We will work with local and national restoration organizations toward achieving this goal. The museum buildings may include old school houses, historical homes and theaters and other sites, which may be donated or lent to the foundation.

6. We will work to provide basic art materials, such as sketchbooks and colored pencils and used or donated musical instruments, to be made available to every homeless shelter in the nation.

Our national web site with downloadable referrals and program formats will be accessible to every homeless or other shelter, with special instructions, suggestions and contacts for each area of support to be made accessible through our national network and referral system.

7. Our prison outreach will work with artists, art therapist and art teachers who will work with the gifted and talented in our prison systems with a teaching and certificate program from G.O.A.F.

8. Our senior citizen program will reach out to those gifted and talented seniors who may not be able to afford art supplies, shows, creative counseling and studio space to continue with their creative projects. Age-ism is one of the remaining prejudices in our country. This is due to a lack of education and understanding regarding the creativity and productivity of the more mature. A recent study has shown that the greatest works of art, music and literature where created by people over 50 years of age. From Da Vinci to Picasso to Grandma Moses, the list goes on and on!

9. Our outreach to the ghettos and trodden areas of communities will include making contacts with Muralists through our national muralist outreach/database. This would include seeking out Muralists and artists in geographical region. Art Therapists and already existing arts enhancing groups and individuals will be recruited in efforts to further enhance and support each region with the arts and in making The Gift of Art Foundation program with its helping referrals available.

10. Many of the above agendas will be featured in a bi-monthly newsletter and featured interviews with creative people on our live and pre-recorded radio programs.

11. Research will be undertaken at G.O.A.F. as a contribution to a broader understanding of Artists and the field of the arts. Cooperative studies with mainstream Art Therapists and researchers in the medical and scientific community will be collected in the areas of “right and left brain functioning”, environmental factors, sociological and creative processes. This knowledge, and new breakthroughs in these areas will help toward greater support, understanding and nurturing of creative individuals.

NOTE:  The Gift of Art Foundation is an equal opportunity –non-profit organization. We do not discriminate in our outreach and employment on the basis of race, age, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic/cultural background. We maintain positive ethics at G.O.A.F. and strive to not promote creative works of a pornographic and objectionable nature. We are sensitive to understanding some of the problems in these areas and will work with individuals and groups in finding fair and inoffensive solutions to such problems if and when they arise. We are committed to the arts and Artists of every genre and to the creative process toward its most positive aspects of human growth and enhancement. We are a humanitarian organization in our approach to life and the arts. We believe that problems in the past where discretion in nudity and other expressions were concerned should in no way become a license or excuse to discourage the arts and Artists from reaching their fullest potentials for creating works of art and the promotion of those works to the public in the furtherance of their careers.

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For more info. on G.O.A.F., email us at; info@sporecreations.com. We are presently in our developmental stage and welcome all inquiries and comments in regards to the efforts and future agendas of the Foundation.