Help the LES Girls Club & The Clemente

Getting There is a mural by Morgan Everhart near the intersection of Grand and Suffolk Streets in New York City’s Lower East Side that commemorates our persistence through the isolation brought on by the pandemic and supports two local non-profit organizations central to the community: The Lower Eastside Girls Club and The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center

The sooner we have the funds for these essential epicenters of inspiration, creativity, education, and wellbeing, the sooner their programming can happen! With your donation, thousands of community residents will receive access to free education, free healthcare & wellbeing, and free arts programming.

Proceeds will be split between The Lower Eastside Girls Club's Center for Wellbeing & Happiness and The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center's International Puppet Fringe. All charitable contributions will be received by The Lower Eastside Girls Club and then distributed accordingly to The Clemente at the end of the fundraiser.

Any donations over $300 will receive a signed, limited edition print by mural artist Morgan Everhart.

Any donations over $5,000.00 will receive:

-Special recognition in programming by The Lower Eastside Girls Club and The Clemente Center

-10 tickets to The Clemente Center’s International Puppet Fringe Festival

-Gift basket and thank you note from The Lower Eastside Girls Club

If you have any questions about how your organization can partner with this initiative, please contact Morgan Everhart directly.

The Lower Eastside Girls Club provides free, year-around, innovative youth programming. In January 2022, they will open the Center for Wellbeing and Happiness for intergenerational and holistic wellness programming for all community members, at no cost. The Center for Wellbeing and Happiness (CWBH) strategically addresses wellbeing and health disparities in the Lower East Side by utilizing intentional, trauma-informed, holistic programming rooted in community-centered resilience, prevention, recovery and self-reliance. The CWBH will serve as a wellness hub providing the space and opportunity for local organizations, expert practitioners, health-based city agencies and institutions, and their talented and resource filled community members, to connect, collaborate and serve.

Donations from this mural project will underwrite workshops for community members at the Lower Eastside Girls Club’s Center for Wellbeing & Happiness (CWBH).

The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center Inc is a Puerto Rican/Latinx multi-arts cultural institution rooted in NYC’s Lower East Side/Loisaida. The Clemente operates polyphonically to provide affordable space and venues to artists, small arts organizations, emergent and independent community producers that reflect the cultural diversity of the LES and our city. The Clemente seeks donations to raise critical funds to sustain itself as an affordable performing arts hub and support BIPOC artists.

Donations from this mural project will specifically fund The Clemente’s Puppet Fringe NYC (August 11-31, 2021), the first ever international & bilingual fringe festival dedicated to puppetry. Over 24,000 guests and 10 international companies representing 16 countries will participate in this event.

Location: 393 Grand Street New York, NY 10002

The Board of Directors for Seward Park Cooperative, home to over 5,000 residents, selected this mural proposal. Nearby you'll find: The Essex Street Market, Seward Park, Trader Joe's, Target, popular nightlife spots, Chinatown, Abrons Arts Center, countless world-class restaurants, cafes and specialty food shops.

About the Artist: Morgan Everhart

Morgan Everhart is a Dallas born, Brooklyn based artist who works primarily in painting, installation, performance, and writing. Everhart’s practice challenges naturalism and ontology through reflection on personal experiences, identity, religion, and art history.

Everhart currently has a solo exhibition at the David Owsley Museum of Art in Indiana titled, "Flesh & Bloom ", curated by Dr. Yassana Croizat-Glazer of YCG Fine Art . Recent exhibitions include: Flowers for my Failures at the Longwood Museum, Virginia; BLOOM at Millersville University, Pennsylvania; and, Four Degrees of Abstraction at Markel Fine Arts, New York.

Morgan Everhart is creating this mural and fundraiser, pro bono, to benefit the LES community.

This mural’s art supplies are funded by YCG Fine Art . YCG Fine Art, founded by Yassana Croizat-Glazer, is an online gallery and art advisory business specializing in modern and contemporary art, as well as European painting from the 16th to the 19th centuries. If you have any inquiries regarding Morgan Everhart’s art, please contact YCG Fine Art.

YCG Fine Art is funding the painting production costs for this mural.

Thank you to our local Home Depot, Target, and Trader Joes for donating supplies for the production of this mural.

Thank you to our local Blick Art Materials for providing discounts on mural supplies.

This mural is a part of Neumeraki ’s exhibition, “Art Off Screen ”, an international exhibition of over 100 artwork and performances in outward-facing locations around the world. Eileen Jeng Lynch, founder of Neumeraki, is the Curator of Visual Arts at Wave Hill as well as a freelance writer, editor, and consultant in New York City.

Neumeraki will co-host a closing reception for "Art Off-Screen" at this mural's location (TBC). Juanita Lanzo's "Out/In: Reflections on life, joy and being together", 2020.

Lauren Damaskinos is a freelance commercial and portrait photographer based in Brooklyn, NY who is documenting the mural production. With a strong female gaze and an attuned sense of color her work finds harmony and strength in otherwise quiet and intimate moments. She works in collaboration with agencies, publications, and designers, large and small, to bring brands and stories to life.

Lauren Damaskinos is contributing, pro bono, her photography to highlight this mural project.

Cam Willis is a Director of Photography based in Brooklyn, New York. He had a unique start to his career by filming freestyle skiing. This lead to him working with world class athletes from around the world, filming multiple ski projects, and ultimately landed him an Xgames Silver Medal in a film competition know as Xgames Real Ski. Cam still spends his free time working and connecting with these ski athletes, but has largely shifted his focus towards building his portfolio as a cinematographer in the commercial world by working with brands such as Kate Spade, Armani, Nike, Adida, Furla, Target, and U.S. Nordic. Cam’s experiences thus far enable him to have an energetic approach to building unique sequences which motivate the story line behind every project.

Cam Willis is contributing a short video, at cost, to highlight this mural project.

Jon Lerner is a Chief Marketing Officer at Bakery Agency, a Business Developer, and Marketing Strategy consultant. Jon is an executive level expert focused on growth and business strategy in the creative and design industries. He has built meaningful business relationships with companies with top leadership at companies like Facebook, Google, Linkedin, Uber, Nike, Adidas, Equinox, and Vornado REIT, among others. As a seasoned marketer, Jon finds and tells compelling stories, and leverages a strategic network of strategic partners to place those stories in front of the right audiences.

Jon Lerner is contributing, pro bono, to this project to promote fundraising and opportunities.