Art in the Endangered Everglades (“Alligators and Artists”)

As the result of a 2011 grant from the Puffin Foundation we produced a 14 –minute DVD and brochure aptly named “Alligators and Artists” to use as a fund raising tool for Artists In Residence In Everglades (AIRIE) and its many projects.
This DVD includes information about the endangered Everglades National Park, home to AIRIE residents with messages from both the Superintendent and Chief of Interpretation, and concentrates on visual art including photography and poetry by selected artists.
What does it tell? A&A describes a worthy project that has an important dual purpose—to inform the public and potential contributors about this magnificent national park, the most environmentally endangered in the system, and the advantage of having year-round artist and writer residents in the Park. These residents are ever after known as Everglades Fellows, becoming ambassadors of the Park which benefits both the Park and the artists’ careers.
A&A was completed last year and has produced results already. AIRIE is being enabled to raise funds for community outreach to schools and institutions, artist stipends and honorariums, publishing, and now a new project, a Fellows exhibition that will open in Oslo, Norway in the spring of 2014 and travel on to other venues that are being developed. The outreach is international.
Although A&A is produced and printed, there are still costs involved in the presentations and the projects it promotes. It is a tool with ongoing uses that still need support.