Save A.R.T. in RVA

Our host organization has decided to stop our funding!  We would like to keep A.R.T. in RVA going but need your help. We need your help to reach our goal of $100,000 to keep the campaign for true individual creative power and freedom alive. So many artists are involved and so many more are waiting to unleash their inner voice!

Now is a great time to give if you haven't done so yet, and a great time to give a little bit more if you can. That means that when you donate now, you are effectively doubling the impact of your giving. We'd really like to raise all $100,000 needed to provide this opportunity to the artists, and every donation helps!

Thank you in advance for supporting A.R.T. in RVA!!

About A.R.T.

A.R.T.'s mission is to provide techniques that give direct creative expression to those who lack use of their limbs -- even those with "locked-in syndrome" who can communicate only through eye signals or assistive devices.

A.R.T. is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization established by Tim Lefens in 1995 to share its breakthrough method of bringing profound enhancement of quality of life to a severely marginalized population. This breakthrough offers a powerful new way of seeing that is key to our evolution as human beings. A.R.T. helps able-bodied people become aware that disabled persons possess deep, articulate, creative powers that many times overleap their own.

Witnessing new A.R.T. artists emerging appears nearly miraculous. Our process brings a person thought to be inert, to new vibrancy. It isn't a miracle. All it takes is a new way of seeing. Jump away from the primitive instinct to judge by appearances, to the ability to see what is really there: the individual as full of life, but simply trapped. A.R.T. brings the means to get everything that is trapped inside, out. When people see this happen - this leap from the bottom rung of the ladder to the top - with so little effort - Just by looking at things a new way, the quote we often hear is: "I am blown away."

Here's the situation: Our society, although doing their best, with good intentions, leave fellow humans trapped in a dehumanizing, unnecessary void of passivity. We have worked with disabilities organizations and schools all over the country, for the past 16 years. Brilliant, deep, rich, witty, ingenious, warm, hilarious, unique, powerfully creative individuals of all ages are not offered pathways to show us who they really are, who they are on the inside. Current approaches don't offer them any means to subtlety, complexity, exactness, sophisticated self-expression. When asked why these things were not being offered the traditional response is, "You can only expect so much from them."

These same people deemed incapable, linked instantly with the A.R.T. techniques. They were in there the whole time, ready, waiting. This 'being trapped' being locked in, is a terrible situation that can be ended. Everyone who sees A.R.T. in action is deeply stirred, both emotionally and intellectually. A.R.T. is a simple approach. It is based on common sense. It worked the first day we tried it in 1994, and continues to work, everywhere we take it around the country. A.R.T. creates innovative tools and technologies. We offer training that empowers organizations to have their own A.R.T. studio program. Our breakthrough approach brings perfect individual control of creative processes to a population that cannot walk, few can talk, and none have the articulate use of their hands.

A.R.T. is not recreational therapy, and although it has the deepest therapeutic benefits, the work produced is not art therapy art. The work produced is Art. It is Art that comes solely from the individual. There are no art lessons. There is no guidance. It comes from them. Amazing. With this leap from passivity to perfect control, the user gains the voice, the power, to show the world who they really are. And when those around them see the full power the individual holds in their inner life, everything changes. Seen differently they are treated differently, doors once closed to them, open, and in comes the fresh air.

Watch the "Essence of A.R.T." here, featured on CBS Evening News http://www.artrealization.org/video/vid_2.html&h=FAQE8WtFb&s=1" target="_blank">http://www.artrealization.org/video/vid_2.html