Established in 2008, the Freedom to Create Prize is a celebration of the courage and creativity of artists around the world who use their talents to promote social justice, build the foundations for open societies and inspire the human spirit. It is open to artists in all creative fields. Each year, US$125,000 in prize money is awarded across three categories: Main, Youth and Imprisoned Artist.

Freedom to Create (www.freedomtocreate.com) is a global movement of creative people who are changing the world.

To apply for the prize, click here, or visit the Freedom to Create website for more information. The application process is open until August 15, 2010.

I loved it because Mr. Landesman his colleagues talk about the connection between art, building community and economic development. Those things ARE connected, and it’s always crazy to me when I hear arguments suggesting they aren’t.

I’ve seen first hand, in a variety of situations, how art transforms and strengthens communities.

When I lived in Phoenix, I was lucky enough to meet two artists, community builders and entrepreneurs named Cindy Dach and Greg Esser. They have been instrumental in the metamorphosis of downtown Phoenix from dusty, empty lots and ramshackle structures to a vibrant arts district over the past decade. They have done this through a series of projects, both large and small. They’ve renovated an historic house, which they live in and rent out for events. They started an artist co-op gallery. They started an awesome store that sells beguiling artisan-made stuff. They started a nonprofit organization to advocate for and support the businesses in the neighborhood. They helped start a First Friday arts walk that now draws thousands of people each month. They’ve worked for and with the local government to create policies that support artists and encourage them to work in the community. And they’ve built a network of relationships with other community advocates, entrepreneurs and artists. Art, life, work, economic development, and community building are all intertwined in their lives. None exists without the others.

This is what local art looks like. This is what local art can accomplish. This is what the National Endowment for the Arts is talking about when they refer to art creating jobs, art building community, art revitalizing neighborhoods, art bringing people together.

Somehow, in contemporary American society, it has become fashionable to fund “science” and unfashionable to fund “art.” Science is associated with progress while art is associated with entertainment, escapism, and frippery. To toss out a fact, the National Institute of Health (NIH) “invests over $30.5 billion annually in medical research” (with an additional $10 billion at the moment, from the stimulus package), and the National Science Foundation (NSF), had a budget of $6.49 billion in FY 2009. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), by contrast, had a comparatively miniscule 2009 budget of $155 million.

I bet that doesn’t seem strange to you. I bet you think, as I have in the past, “Oh, well, science and health—those things really matter. They really help people. Art is just for fun.”

But I no longer agree. I think we over-invest in science, and we under-invest in art.

I happen to be married to someone writing a dissertation on how we invest in science, and what we expect to get out of it. He spends a lot of his time chasing bureaucrats around, and interviewing them. It’s not quite big-game-hunting, but he seems to enjoy it.

He often talks about 3 central myths that we as a society uphold about science.

1. That an investment in basic research automatically leads to progress. (It doesn’t.)
2. That technical advancement automatically leads to a better world. (It doesn’t.)
3. That the more research you do around a problem, the easier it is to solve it. (Also not true. Often, the more research you do, the more uncertain you become about how to solve it.)

(More info on this topic is available in a new handbook for policy makers.)

I would say there are three corresponding myths about art, and all together, these misconceptions about science and art lead to our wildly disproportionate financial support of them.

What are the prevalent myths about art?

1. That art is irrelevant to the general public and has nothing to do with social progress.
2. That art is merely a cost, and not a driver of economic development.
3. That art is a superfulous luxury with a personal outcome.

Cindy Dach and Greg Esser are one example that proves all these myths wrong. I’m not saying we shouldn’t fund medical research and basic science, but I would love to see us invest a little more in art.

I would say a lot of progress comes from communication. And art is really, at its most basic level, about humans communicating with one another.

So if you’re looking to create social change through compassion, education, economic development and interpersonal understanding, then fund more art, congress. Good luck, Mr. Landesman.

P.S. If you want to hear Greg and Cindy talking about their work, here’s a short interview done in honor of their receipt of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s 2009 Contemporary Catalyst Award.

Eliza Gregory writes a weekly blog for PhotoPhilanthropy.

Phymean hands out the eggs

In the UK there’s an old saying,”an Apple a day keeps the Doctor away”, this has been adopted here in Cambodia for the children of the PIO school, but using eggs and a daily multivitamin suppliment tablet.

Vitamin Content of Eggs: Eggs are rich in vitamin B, especially vitamin b12, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K. It should be noted that very few food items that contain vitamin D, egg being one of them.

Health Benefits of Eggs: The nutritional value of eggs makes it good for immunity, strong vision, treatment of macular degeneration, cataract treatment, skin care, nervous system, strong bones, and blood formation. Recent research has also shown that consuming eggs does not lead to increase in serum cholesterol levels.

The Kids Love Them

Partially sited Lady at Stung Meanchey, Cambodia

Only after having taken this image did I start to think about how many blind people I have seen in Cambodia, especially elderly people. It’s estimated that over 120,000 people are blind in Cambodia, half of those from cataracts.Cataracts mainly affect the elderly, causing eventual blindness due to clouding of the clear lens that enables the eye to focus, it is a long term degenerative process but it can be treated.

“In a normal eye, light passes through the transparent lens to the retina,” he said. “The lens must be clear for the retina to receive a sharp image. If the lens is cloudy from a cataract, the image you see will be blurred.” Dr.Nuch Sarita

Sadly also, there are lot of people coming in their mid-20s who are blind from vitamin A deficiency, who could be refered to as being Pol Pot’s children, because they had a diet of rice gruel, totally deficient in fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, and their eyes were destroyed.

“The only effective treatment for cataracts is surgery, which is recommended when cataracts begin to affect the quality of life or interfere with the ability to perform normal daily activities,” he said. “Cataract surgery is successful in about 95 percent of all cases, with improved vision.” Dr. Nuch Sarita

. ”there is a patient subsidy system in place to ensure the poorest of the poor have access to quality eye care services. Over time, as trust in the public eye health system grows, more people will use the services and enable a tiered pricing system, whereby wealthier paying patients subsidise the treatment of poorer patients”.FHF Foundation

Phnymean Noun,Exec Director PIO with Dr.Robert P Renner

All is not lost when people such as these give their time and resources so readily to help children that are most at need. Two agencies. and individuals, that fit together admirably to try to meet some of the needs of children of less than fortunate circumstance are People Improvement Organization (PIO) and Kids International Dental Services.(KIDS)

A Dental Volunteer with (KIDS)

Dr.Bob (Dr. Robert P. Renner),is a retired Prosthodontist, a professor Emeritus at The University of New York at Stony Brook and he leads a team of volunteer dental professionals and people from all walks of life that want to assist in providing the services. It certainly an international team and during my short visit as a witness to their work I met members from Japan, the USA and the Netherlands.

Dr Renner explains the reasons for the existence of his team are to ”provide pro-bono dental care to impoverished children in developing countries. There are children in the world who will never have dental care that we take for granted unless we provide it. Most of these children have never seen a tooth brush”. We have treated the children at (PIO) over the last few years and will continue to do so as long as our services are required. We have recently started visits to the Philipines also. This is dentistry at it most basic, conducted in ”Mash” like circustances with very few home comforts but the kids get the treatment they so badly need and the young professional on the team benefit also by gaining experience and confidence.

” We provide dental care to children in orphanages where they come after being abandoned by parents, family members. They are forgotten children of sex slavery, dead parents of AIDS, gang violence, street accidents. We have seen and treated over 1000 children during our stay in Cambodia”.

Volunteers on the KIDS team

The People Improvement Agency (PIO) set up by Phymean Noun, to help educate children on the dump site at Stung Meanchey,Phnom Penh, in Cambodia is just one of the places that gives us a platform to do our work, the children attending the PIO school and the Orphanage it runs close by get dental treatment and free toothbrush.

” Most days we treat between 100 to 200 children. On the bright side, the cost of providing basic care to these children is less than $3 per child for treatment that would cost over $30 per child if performed at the health unit. So far we are personally committed to providing regular care to these children. We try to encourage young local dentists to partner with us and understand our American spirit of volunteerism. For a dental program in a developing country to be successful one must partner with a local agency and involve the local dentists/government”.

” Educating the children themselves and helping them learn the importance of daily dental care will in the long term reduce the number of dental problems in the future and will hopefully be passed on to the next generation”.

Kids waiting patiently to see the Dentist

” Obviously our services cost money and we are always grateful for donations and support. Anyone able or wishing to donate something, no matter how small can do so here (DONATIONS) or if you would like to offer your service as a volunteer why not visit out site at KIDS ”.

Little girl talks to the Dentist

We spent a week in Djenne and got to meet many of the street children. They followed us around, a few asking for money but most just curious to know more about us. We discovered that many of the children in Mali are orphans, often given up by their parents who can not afford to care for them. Boys are sent out on the streets to sell sugar or to beg, while girls are kept in the house to perform manual labor, or even sold to other families to do chores.

In Djenne we met with Amadou, a local man who has taken action to solve the town’s orphan problem. Djenne does not have an orphanage, and children without parents to care for them roam the streets, searching for a way to survive. Amadou invited us to his family’s modest home so that we could meet some of the children and learn more about the specific problems relating to orphans in Djenne. Amadou’s English was limited, but he did know one word very well: “problem”. On the street, we passed a young pregnant woman that Amadou knew well. He placed his hand on her belly and said, “problem”. He explained to us (in French and broken English) that she was not married, and when her child was born, it would likely become an orphan. A child born to an unwed woman is not only a financial burden on an already struggling family, but also a social embarrassment in this mostly Muslim community. Furthermore, children that are not born to married couples usually can not get an official birth certificate. This important document is required to enroll in school in Mali, and without it a struggling child has an even harder challenge ahead.

After weaving our way through the narrow streets of Djenne, we reached Amadou’s house. Many children were waiting to meet us. They were happy, excited, curious, and rambunctious. Packed into the front room of Amadou’s house, they said hello to us in French which they have been learning in school. They curiously posed for photos, and the older children helped the younger ones maneuver to the front of the pack to greet us. Fortunately, most of these children now have a home. Amadou and other community members recently started an organization to help place the orphans with nearby families that can afford to take in an extra child. The organization also acquires birth certificates so that these children can attend school, and provides funds to provide for proper medical care. An orphanage is also being planned, so that even more children can receive care.

After the children left, we stayed in Amadou’s house while he served us tea and explained more about his future plans for the orphans. Amadou and the rest of the organization’s members are attempting to raise a significant amount of money to build an orphanage on an empty plot of land just outside of town. But Amadou does not like “projects” as he describes them. He is referring to “projects” and funding that come from NGOs or foreign governments. When the money comes, Amadou says that the money is illegally squandered. “New house, big car for fat man in Bamako,” he says in his broken English. During our time in Mali, we have heard many other stories about corruption, theft, and resources diverted from the local people intended to receive the benefits. Amadou does not trust anyone outside of his community to run the project, and he wants to raise money for the organization directly from donors.

As we sat in his house drinking tea, I had more time to look around. The room we sat in was actually open to the sky, and a few smaller rooms with a roof extended through a small doorway on one side. A narrow stairwell led to another room built on the roof. Amazingly, the entire structure is built of baked mud bricks and then coated with a smooth outer layer of mud. Every year the family must repair the damage to their home after the rainy season. The town does not have plumping, and all water is carried in from the nearby well. His family’s life is difficult and demanding, and yet Amadou served us tea and peanuts while he explained to us how and why he wanted to raise so much money to help others.

However, this type of achievement is nearly impossible without connections to the outside world. Like many people in Mali, Amadou suffers from an inability to explain his plight to the outside world. Internet access is expensive and scarce, and very few Malians have a strong understanding of technological resources. While the organization’s plans for the orphanage are very detailed, the plans to raise money are not progressing as well. The members are trying to raise money from nearby towns, and they occasionally and politely ask tourists for help, but neither strategy has achieved much success. Amadou hopes that word will spread and donors will send money via Western Union. While this is far from convenient for anyone wishing to make a donation, it is the only way Amadou knows how to collect funds. The mail is slow and unreliable, and he does not have enough knowledge of or access to the internet to create well connected fundraising campaign.

After our conversation at his house, Amadou took us to see the site for the future orphanage. We made our way to the edge of town and down the small slope to the river. At this time of the year the river is very low, so we waded across the ankle-deep water while children played and women washed clothes. About five minutes later we arrived at a marked-off area with a stack of mud bricks in each corner. Amadou pointed at different areas and described how some rooms would be for the children, some for the school, and some for the small tourist hotel. He was very proud of the idea to let tourists stay at the orphanage – it will provide the funds to sustain the organization indefinitely as well as give tourists a cheaper alternative to Djenne’s mostly higher-priced tourist campements. The first step is to build a well, he said. Without water, the orphanage would not be practical and the construction can not begin. Next comes the construction itself, and the budget and work is entirely planned.

Work is progressing slowly due to a lack of funding. Most money that the organization raises is allocated to the daily tasks of healthcare and education. In addition to “purchasing” the birth certificates for orphans, medical expenses are a large portion of the organization’s budget. Several times each year, doctors from Europe come to donate their time for free. However, the hospital costs, while very inexpensive by western standards, are still far out of reach to most people in Mali. One young girl, Coumba Bah, is awaiting the opportunity to have an operation on her leg in late April if the organization can raise several hundred dollars.

Amadou is making progress to improve the situation for Djenne’s orphans. His plans for the orphanage are moving forward and he is slowly reaching out to beyond his immediate community. But with little outside help he is finding that the goals of the organization are being delayed. The community would like to begin construction of the orphanage in October of 2009, but over 10 million CFA, or $20,000 (US) must first be raised. In Mali, this is a daunting task, but one which Amadou and his community have taken on despite the challenge.

Anyone wishing to help can contact us at info [at] collectivelens.com

Chunks of mud splatter onto a face twisted in concentration; limbs scatter in all directions as the body contorts in a frozen moment of action that seems to mock gravity. Perhaps a few drops of perspiration fly from the forehead, and wisps of sweat-soaked hair join the body’s movement towards impact…

…and most importantly, the subject is a celebrity athlete, preferably the star player with a big contract from the NFL, the NBA, the MLB…

Or a more likely sports photographer’s dream shot:

A sports celebrity wearing plain clothes engages in a naughty act. Perhaps he’s tangled in a fight or cheating on a spouse. The news networks will shell out some big bucks for this shot.

I know that I’m not alone when I say that I’m tired of seeing sports photography used as a channel for mass-media gossip. Can’t we do better?

Indeed, we can. In fact, there’s a global community already working to change the way we play; their goal is to use sports to address our most pressing social issues. But in order to fuel a changing attitude about sports, we need to document our accomplishments and show exactly what we want to see. We want athletes who run for charity, soccer programs for underprivileged youth, rowers who cross the ocean to raise money for clean drinking water, and adaptive sports programs for differently-abled children and adults. And that’s where we could really use a new model for sports photography.

The sport-for-good community isn’t using cameras to display celebrity lives and high-profile action shots; this community is much more interested in documenting how we can use sports as an agent for social change. Young people, photographers, athletes, and activists are coming together to show how they “sport for good.”

For the next seven weeks, a youth-based activist web space known as YouthNoise Play City is hosting a photo competition that asks “What do you play for?” The entries are pouring in-each submission fulfills another athlete’s need to share her or his story. Through their photographic documentation, these artist-athletes are showing the world how they use sports to affect constructive change in their local and global communities.

It’s about time we take our sports media coverage back from the world of marketing strategy and celebrity hype, and start snapping shots of young athletes who are changing the world through sports and play.

That is why it is all the more tragic that more than 3600 people have died of Cholera in Zimbabwe since last summer. A perfect storm of events has led to a controllable disease having this bad an outbreak: a governmental collapse led to a collapse in infrastructure maintenance and repair. As a result, water became contaminated which led to an outbreak where more than 76,000 people have been infected. At the same time, the health-care system in Zimbabwe collapsed while floods took already contaminated water and spread it into streams and rivers to spread the disease even more. While there has been some media coverage of the Cholera outbreak, aid from developed countries has been slow in coming due to the political upheaval. As usual, Doctors Without Borders has jumped in to provide medical treatment where none would otherwise exist (they estimate that they have treated over 45,000 people already). But their efforts cannot stop the epidemic from expanding and killing more people.

Left untreated, Cholera will kill a person. Let to run rampant, an epidemic will lead to more and worse conditions. Doctors Without Borders warns that further troubles could be ahead for Zimbabwe if more aid is not forthcoming. Famine, further disease outbreaks, and a worsening of the death rate from AIDS are all things that can happen if cholera continues to ravage the country unchecked. A simply treated disease can cause a medical emergency. For the people in Zimbabwe, it already has.

A recent photo essay entitled Sugar, by Anton Kusters, is one of several on the site, and artistically portrays the life of a young girl diagnosed with diabetes.

She taught me a lesson there… The things that are on top of a kid’s list, should in fact be on top of anyone’s list: Life is about playing with friends and family and having fun as much as you possibly can…

Submissions are currently being accepted to burn magazine via their website.

Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day, and today over 4,000 people in Africa will die of AIDS, just as they do every day. 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day.

As Russ says, AIDS is a human rights issue in addition to a medical and humanitarian issue. The right to a decent standard of living is being denied to millions of Africans despite the many medical advances in recent years. In plain and simple terms, those medical advances are not making their way to Africa.

Various organizations are raising money to bring the needed medications to Africa. You can donate through The Global Fund or NAT.org.

The World AIDS Day official website lists other ways to get involved such as selling red ribbons and teaching about AIDS in schools. Also, posters can be downloaded at the World AIDS Campaign’s website.

For more information:

• World AIDS Day official website
• Over 4,000 People Will Die Of AIDS Today In Africa. (Just Like Every Other Day)
• The Global Fund
• Avert.org
• World AIDS Campaign