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Preserve the history we preserve the artist. We document and catalog the history of our artists, making it possible to publish and preserve the artists and their work

Rescue Mission Team at Work

RESTORE - SHELTER - PROVIDE - PRESERVE

Archiving is a major portion of what we do, and essential to our PROVIDE program seeking to establish legacies by publishing books and films about our artists and the lives they have led. Our efforts are not only in-house, but coordinate with other archives in the Texas Arts infrastructure like the University of Houston Special Libraries. Our Archive is open source as well, and seeks community input to preserve all available information.

We are looking for a volunteer or volunteers (09-16-2925) to put in about 4 hours a week for this program. This will be a paid position as we move forward with our grant writing, and donations. If you are interested please contact us! artsrescue2025@gmail.com or contact us here.

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4 Hands - 1 Purpose

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Preserve

WE ACCOMPLISH THIS WITHOUT THE COST OF A PHYSICAL SITE

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ARCHIVING HELPS US HELP YOU WITH:

  • Store & Move Physical Art & Collectables

  • Organize help during a sudden illness or accident 

  • Document Collections for artists & collectors

  • Placing Artworks

  • Gifting Artworks & Collectables

  • Posting Documents For Community Use

  • Raise Awareness & Recognition For Artists 50+

  • Create a Website

  • Wikipedia Listings

  • Publish Books

 

We have an on line staff consisting of a Director (Fulltime), a Secretary for Bookings, Events, and Correspondence (Fulltime), a Treasurer for Bookkeeping and Reports (part time), a Grants Writer overseeing donations, & subscriptions, a Technical Support Director who acts as our Web Master and Archiving, as well as a Wikipedia writer to document our Visual and Performing artists careers. Earmark your donation to our PRESERVE program here.

Monthly subscriptions at any level receive a 50% discount on all event and table and chair reservations.

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•Director (Fulltime) 

•Secretary / Bookings / Events / Correspondence (Fulltime) 

•Treasurer / Bookkeeping / Reports

•Grants, Donations, & Subscriptions:

•Technical Support: Web Master, Arching & Gifting Over-Watch 

•Research: Gifting Art / Document / Resources & Assets for  Artists  

•Project Manager: PRESERVE 

 

Dan M  Allison

Founder Arts Rescue Mission

artsrescue2025@gmail.com

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4. Preserve Program /A Lifetime of Work Saved for Future Generations 

Archiving a Lifetime of Artistic Work

Purpose:
To safeguard the documents, images, records, and materials that make up an artist’s full professional history ensuring a reliable archive for book and film initiatives, future appraisers, scholars, curators, and family members.

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Why Preservation Matters:
While artwork is often saved by families, the essential paper trail articles, reviews, correspondence, exhibition paperwork, grant files, catalogs, and ephemera is frequently lost. Without these records, an artist’s life becomes difficult to reconstruct, their legacy becomes vulnerable, and their value in the historical record diminishes.

What the Preserve Program Does:
ARM assists aging artists by helping them secure and organize the materials needed to reconstruct a complete professional history. This is a detailed, multi-step process involving:

  1. Photography of artworks and archival materials

  2. Scanning documents, letters, articles, and records

  3. Tagging and metadata entry for every file and image

  4. Building chronological archives (often 1,000+ entries) using Excel or comparable systems

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This is painstaking, essential work and it is often neglected because of cost, time, and the complexity of managing a lifetime’s worth of material.

How Preserve Is Funded:

  • Supported through subscriptions specifically earmarked for Preservation initiatives.

  • Includes a future Project Manager role (16 hrs./month) to oversee archiving tasks and coordinate with artists, as funding becomes available.

  • Additional support comes from the Station Cabaret fundraising event each October.

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Why Preserve Exists:
Because an artist’s legacy is more than their artwork — it is the complete story of a life lived in service to creativity. ARM ensures that story is not lost.

Donate Preserve

Funded through subscriptions to oversee PRESERVE initiatives.  Project Manager 16 hrs./ month More Info Here.

Preserve

Funded through subscriptions to oversee ARM preservation initiatives.   Click Here to find out more. / Project Manager 16 hrs./week

From years of experience, it has become evident that while family members often retain and pass down artwork, crucial documents, such as articles, exhibition records, and professional correspondence, are frequently discarded or overlooked. We would like to ensure that such materials are preserved, providing a historical record of the artist and their work for future reference by appraisers, archivists, and researchers. This is a lengthy and expensive four-step process that's involves photography, scanning, tagging the photos and scanned images, and putting them together in Excel files chronologically. We are recreating a life and there are lots of judgment calls while setting up an Excel file which oftentimes more than a 1000 entries in a professional performing or visual artist's lifetime. This is essential work as the book closes on a lifetime of accomplishment but it's often neglected because of the expense. Click Here to earmark your donation to our PRESERVE program.

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