To be honest, donating money to the National Endowment for the Arts seems petty when Haiti really needs our help.
However, I announced this promotion before the earthquake, and I promised participants that money would be donated to a specific organization.
On December 25th, I launched Too Shy Twenty Ten. I wanted to do something special to celebrate the one-year anniversary of our website launch and the new year/decade. For a donation of $20.10, I promised to write a 500-word piece about the contributor.
We will tell your story, include all your links (Twitter, website, Facebook fan page, etc.), and display one thumbnail photo that readers can click to view the full size.
This is an excellent advertising opportunity for musicians, artists, crafters, bloggers, website owners, writers, poets, fashion designers, young business owners, models, etc. Basically, if you have a story that you want to share, we can share it for you!
In total, we raised $170.60. Contributors included: Chris Braciszewski (musician), Daniel O’Brien (law school student), Lisa Rowan (blogger and vintage clothing enthusiast), Sammy Davis (owner of Sammy Davis Vintage), James Reilly (neuroscientist), Jane Satterfield and Ned Balbo (poets), and me.
You can read all the profiles here. If you want to see the letter I sent to the National Endowment for the Arts, you can download it (Word document) here.
The most challenging aspects of Too Shy Twenty Ten were 1) spreading the word 2) helping potential contributors understand what they needed to participate and 3) making sure everyone sent their checks and responses on time.
Overall, the project was fun to organize and execute. I learned a lot about some very interesting people, and I always enjoy any opportunity to write profile pieces. I would definitely do it again – Too Shy Twenty Ten was a last-minute idea so I didn’t have much time to plan.
The next time I am tempted to lament the state of the arts in the United State, I will re-read this Los Angeles Times piece about art in Haiti after the quake.
Joseph Gaspard, a member of the board of directors of the College Saint Pierre museum, was inspecting the site Saturday for the first time since the Jan. 12 earthquake, crunching broken glass as he walked through the debris. He struggled not to cry.
“Haitian art is what makes the international eye see us,” he said. “Every Haitian is an artist. Art, it is us, it’s what we are. Even our children are artists.”
Art is meaningful and worth protecting.
So happy I was a part of this. We all put together a pretty substantial contribution. And as a journalist in a past life, I love the particular area toward which the donation went!