Arts For Earth

duplicated by many passionate groups. What’s The Eyeopener? Passionate people form groups that prepare for the catastrophic things they know will happen, ready to help when the need arrives. It’s not IF, it’s WHEN the need arises. As an artist with a career in marketing and advertising Nosco donated several fine art prints to the ferrule cat fundraising event to help pay for their good work with Katrina. It was an exchange of the heart. She found that this was a magical way to use her passion to aid their compassion. The bigger picture continues to show that the passion of visual, performance and literary artists can transform ignorance into compassion for the serious issues we… or others face, whether they are animal, mineral or vegetable.
“The arts open a person’s heart where pain or ignorance closes it.”

People want to help, but how? In May of 2007 a small group of visual, performance and literary artists were gathered by founder Michelle Nosco to proclaim the Arts For Earth Foundation, a 501c.3 non-profit corporation, as dedicated to Educate and creatively support sustainable living in our community and beyond. We understood that a complete concept of sustainability means one whole earth: land, air, water, plants, animals and people living together in a healthy ecosystem of mutual love and respect. Headquartered in Glendale, CA, Arts For Earth Foundation members were spread out from Southern California to Boulder Colorado. Educational events:
We celebrated our first event at the Los Angeles Earth Day Festival 2007 in Santa Monica. Arts For Earth stocked an outreach booth with crafts for visiting children, displayed fine art prints of clouds with hidden images in them, held solar energy demos with resources for purchase and construction and introduced a buying group offering goods promoting sustainability headquartered in San Francisco. After participating in steering committee meetings for the Balboa Park Recreational Center, Arts For Earth organized its first gathering to introduce local residents to the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Encino California. Local CalTrans debates re: I-405 construction misunderstood the importance of the reserve as a flyway for Canada Geese and other migrating birds, as well as an oasis for wildlife strayed from the nearby Santa Monica Mountains. Concerned residents needed an understanding of the positive impact wildlife crossings over the I-405 and 101 freeways would have in linking habitats and reducing roadkill. During the May 2007 Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve event we hosted environmental group affiliates who met regularly as a steering committee to oversee Army Corp of Engineer activities in Balboa Park and in the reserve. The Sierra Club, Audubon Society, Tree People, LA River, CA Native Plant Society and Arts For Earth Foundation presented arts and educational materials to the public as well as offered small guided tours throughout the park. In planning for the event, members from the San Fernando Valley Art Club were invited to attend private plein air outings around the ponds that are part of the LA County water filtration system. Participating artists shared their interpretations of the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve at the festival. The Animal Ambassadors and the Southwest Herpetologists Society brought raptors and raccoons, lizards and snakes for attendees to get a first hand experience of local wildlife. In the years that have followed, Arts For Earth’s education and outreach programs have developed to include Earth Day Festivals, school arts & environmental outreach programs, storytelling, dance, arts, crafts, puppets, theatre and music for children while adults view gallery artwork, listen to music, watch photographic slide shows and films, learn from displays presented by various non-profits and sustainable interest groups offering their learning materials and participatory events. Arts For Earth Foundation invites and encourages partnership and affiliation with groups promoting sustainability and thrivability. The Arts strengthen the appeal of sustainable solutions that are otherwise too complex on first exposure. We prepare hearts to care for the solutions they’ll be offered, using passion to create compassion. Other events include film and theatre fundraisers, book & poetry reading, gallery shows promoting photography, sculpture, paintings along eco/sustainable themes.