Thank You!
Press Release
For Immediate Release
BANK OF AMERICA GIVES CRITICAL GRANT SUPPORT TO AN EMERGENCY RELIEF AND PUBLIC ART COMMUNITY PROGRAM IN A DIFFICULT NEIGHBORHOOD.
An award winning “Love My Neighbor” program kept serving community in times of crisis and now gets a gift from BoA for #GivingTuesday
Carson, Calif., November 21, 2020 – With the onset of COVID-19 emergency the award-winning Love My Neighbor program had faced a difficult moment. All its in-person programs and outreach events in the long marginalized and underserved “Scottsdale” neighborhood in the city of Carson, California had to be canceled. Yet, with its strong connection to the community organization knew that the need that was there before had just became even greater. With emptied store shelves and sudden risk to the elder residents with compromised immune system, with fear and uncertainty the community needed all help it could get. Artward Initiative and the project creator, noted California artist Alexey Steele went into a crisis mode. They decided that the critical need was food and emotional support to the most vulnerable community members. Within five days of the stay at home order of March 19 they devised and executed the way to adopt their program to the new need.
Artward Initiative had launched their emergency relief food and art program on Saturday, March 22, full week ahead of most local governments who developed similar food relief programs but without their resources. Importantly, Artward Initiative found and developed the way to combine food distribution program with art as an emotional support and outreach to local children.
They launched the program for home staying kids to create art with the purpose of lifting the spirits of their quarantined elderly neighbors. Then the images were printed out and prints with supportive messages attached to their food distribution packaging that the team of community volunteers - Sadie Dix, Scottsdale Townhomes Board President, Johnathan Delgado and Adam Valenzuela from Scottsdale security team, Michael Yadrick, property manager - would take to residents in need. With great community response to the program Artward Initiative and Steele had expanded it to include collaboration with nationally recognized Carson Sheriff’s Department Gang Diversion Team as well as in Scottsdale and distributed art supplies to kids with instructions to collect more artworks.
Steele, the Culver City artist laureate, had also brought this “Scottsdale” developed method to his collaboration with Culver City emergency food relief operation.
Steele’s portrayal of special neighbors as part of artist’s residency and the ongoing Love My Neighbor installation in the “Scottsdale”, Carson community had served as the center of program’s outreach and even in difficult emergency condition Steele had found the way to expand his body of work. He devised a technology powered distant-live method of portraying his subjects without contact in a series of virtual sessions and in his “John in Mask” portrait had delivered the forceful and compelling evidence of suffering and overcoming in our times.
Artward Initiative and Alexey Steele continue doing this program all this difficult time with over fifty food deliveries serving over one hundred at risk “Scottsdale” residents and families in need with approximately 15,000 lbs of high quality nutritious food donated by such grocers as Trader Joes, Whole Foods and Sprouts via Artward Initiative collaboration with Food Cycle LA nonprofit.
Facing unprecedented emergency the organization was able to adopt its award-winning program to the emerging and morphing community threats, remain nimble and adoptive to the need and to continue making impact.
Much like many other nonprofits Artward Initiative was greatly impacted financially by the emergency. With all its grants and fundraising coming to a stop in 2020 the entire emergency relief work throughout the crisis was done by the crew of six to eight volunteers, themselves affected by the crisis while giving to a program over 600 hours of combined emergency work.
It was an unexpected surprise when Bank of America, who partnered with Artward Initiative on the Love My Neighbor project before the emergency, not only answered the organization’s call for help, but even raised their grant request by fifty percent in the spirit of Giving Tuesday.
“It means a lot to our team that was working tirelessly and with great dedication throughout these unprecedented circumstances addressing the glaring need in the community. I cannot even express how all on our team are touched by this expression of solidarity and support by the Bank of America to what we were doing in the community seemingly alone throughout all these difficult months. Bank of America provided us with crucial support when we needed it most” says project founder artist Alexey Steele.
There is still a glaring need in the community ravaged by the pandemic crisis. The elderly at risk and the vulnerable, large segments of the community unemployed, kids at risk of pervasive gang influence while shut by pandemic from schools and all after school activities, gang related crime and violence rising. With deep impact of the pandemic on the inner-city communities the need now is more glaring than ever.
Artward Intitiative and Alexey Steele are planning to keep addressing this need with the support and partnership of Bank of America placing art at the center of engagement, utilizing technology for the outreach, widening the audience, inspiring others to serve community through art, engagement and outreach, showcasing the unique social and community constructing relevance of art in our moment in history.
Quote form BoA
*Digital images of artwork and program photos are available upon request.*
About Alexey Steele
Alexey Steele is an award-winning visual artist with a background of the Russian representational school. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, he began art training at an early age in the studio of his father Leonid Steele, a renowned Soviet Union artist. Alexey attended the prestigious Surikov Art Institute of the Soviet Academy of Arts in Moscow. He moved to Los Angeles in 1990 and has been a resident of Culver City since 2013, where he lives with his wife and two sons.
Mr. Steele is best known for his large-scale figurative works in oil and on paper, portraiture, and plein-air landscapes. His works have been commissioned, exhibited and recognized throughout California, Europe, and Asia. He is also the founder of the critically acclaimed “Classical Underground,” a classical music and visual art project that has run continuously since 2008. Since 2016, Alexey has been an artivist in The City of Carson, CA founding the non-profit Artward! Gallery “Scottsdale” in Carson's most difficult and long marginalized neighborhood where he developed the “Love My Neighbor" Public Art Project. The project is recognized for its measurable positive impact and for being instrumental in the community turn around with its art-centered outreach programs to local residents and at-risk children. Alexey Steele and his Love My Neighbor Public Art Project in Carson were selected as a 2019 California Park & Recreation Society (CPRS) Award of Excellence recipient in the Creating Community Award of Excellence category.
Artist Laureate Program: https://bit.ly/2WwLcwP
http://ci.carson.ca.us/CommunityServices/FineArts.aspx
About Love My Neighbor Public Art Project
About Artward Initiative
Artward Initiative is
formed to strengthen Southern California local communities through its
charitable cultural activities. Our goal is to provide the economically
disadvantage people and indigents in the local communities with improvement of
professional skills and other educational resources they may need. Our
events and projects are centered around community development and
revitalization, enhance community's quality of life through art, cultural and
educational projects. We support cultural and educational projects,
public art and social action programs in underserved communities of color that
promote cultural diversity and encourage greater understanding among different
cultures including community beautification, civic leadership, citizen
education as well as arts education initiatives that contribute to the positive
development of young people and young people at risk. We aim to support
projects and programs that promote cultural diversity and encourage greater
understanding among different cultures including community beautification,
civic leadership, citizen education as well as arts education initiatives that
contribute to the positive development of young people and young people at
risk. We support public art and social action programs that reflect our
goals.
During
the last several years, our main focus has been one
of the most diverse cities in California - the City of Carson, with the primary
focus on its long under-served and troubled "Scottsdale”
neighborhood.
Love
My Neighbor Public Art Project in the Scottsdale Neighborhood of Carson has
been selected as a prestigious 2019 California Park & Recreation Society
(CPRS) Award of Excellence recipient in the important Creating Community Award
of Excellence category.
In 2018 we have received Cultural Pathways Grant from California Arts Council
to increase the reach of our community outreach projects in the City of
Carson.
Artward
Initiative is a 501 c(3) non profit organization.
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