Arts Rescue Mission -Aid For Aging Artists
Statement
Aging Artists & Mending Broken Wings
FOUNDER'S STATEMENT: "Resurrecting the ARM from its 1994 version started for me after I broke my back in 2023. Then again in 2024 an appendicitis put me in the hospital for another week and gave me plenty of time to think through what my friends have done for me. The art community came to my rescue. It was not just the financial support that gave me time to heal up, but the fact that I was remembered. It was the most uplifting experience of my life. As I laid there on my back for weeks at a time I wondered how I could turn this around so that the gathering would benefit everyone else that had been so generous with me. So I dropped everything else and went to work in October of 2024 to resurrect Arts Rescue Mission with a more local focus on aging artists. Of course I am also committed to helping communities in other areas of the world, and think we can do that as well. Some would say this is gotten a little out of hand but I don't think so. This is for every artist you believe deserves to be remembered, is in need, or in distress."
Dan M Allison, January 2025
WHY ALL THE CURTAINS?:
The curtains are a symbolic nod to the Performing Arts, just as the avatars you see from time to time on the site represent friends and associates of Arts Rescue Mission. The curtains also symbolize protection and privacy. The decentralization of financial support, as seen in crowdfunding sites, challenges traditional geographic and institutional limitations. The notion that proximity is defined not by physical space but by networks of association, fundamentally alters the way assistance is distributed. A well-established personal network, combined with access to global crowdfunding infrastructure is a very powerful combination to raise awareness and funds where needed by a small group of subscribers. (2,000 - 4,000 individuals from a retired or active email list)
BEHIND A CURTAIN OF TRUTH:
A world that places power and profit over people will find itself in moral decay. Too often injustice operates behind a curtain of truth, disguising oppression as order and silence as peace. The measure of a just society is not in its wealth or might, but in its commitment to uplifting every voice and defending the dignity of all.
CIRCLE FUNDING:
This model of economic organization raises crucial questions. As public institutions retreat from their responsibilities, such decentralization systems a substitute or a symptom of a broader failure? The ability of communities to create money out of thin air so to speak by leveraging networks of affinity and trust, underscores both the power and the fragility of such systems.
DÉNOUEMENT:
In this sense, Rescue Mission is referring to the "all of us" connected to the internet. Anyone can start a crowdsource campaign to fund health issues, local infrastructure, or support a sympathy across the world. We will and encourage everyone reading this or on our website to do the same. Everything on this website is yours to use. Whether it's PDF files, forms, cartoons, badges, or copy, please feel free to use. You don't have to ask. We can help you with any of this, so you can set up your own virtual world, crowdsource, or any of the other things we are suggesting on this station. The internet is that infinite space that brings us all together at one one singularity. Realizing this overcomes geographical constraints.
GET INVOLVED
• Nominate artists for, urgent care, shelter support, or provision
• Host a fundraiser
• Join our Advisory Council and nominate artists for the ARMON awards
• Contribute your historic documents to our archive
• Donate to, or start a Crowdfund or Circle Source campaign
This is a virtual group. We don't incur the costs for a building, utilities, or maintenance crew, so 100% of donations earmarked for our RESTORE, SHELTER, PROVIDE, and PRESEVE programs go to the artists. A good and wise friend talked or director out of all that overhead when buildings were offered at little or no cost owned by the City of Houston and in their for unpaid taxes. We are an online virtual internet station. We Believe a lot of the resources we have come to depend aren't going to be as available as they once were. We believe that small circles of democracy around retired or even active email lists could make a lot of difference. We plan to spread the word.
ARM, Yesterday & Today:
The same principles that guided the first incarnation of Arts Rescue Mission in 1996 during the siege of Sarajevo, when artists faced destruction, displacement, and their voices silenced and that those principles should be activated now to help closer to home. Back then, we helped restore what was broken, offered shelter, provided what was needed, and preserved the voices that refused to be erased. Now, we stand with today’s artists under new kinds of siege, healthcare, housing, project funding, and preservation of their legacies. Our tenets remain, for artists aging or not to Restore, Shelter, Provide, and Preserve. See Our Legacy Here for more background.
Although funds are starting to come in to help out, funding for Restoration, at this time is exclusively Crowd Funding, and Circle Funding. This is immediate funds within 72 hours of accident or sudden illness. ARM will host awareness programs empowering other organizations to use their lists for Circle Funding, a simple system of continuous support for various needs outlined here. This system allows businesses, organizations, and individuals with established networks to occasionally share a brief message about someone in the arts who needs short-term financial help. No one gives away their contact list. That's not how it works. The primary originator of the list steps aside, functioning as a caretaker, and lets the subscribers on the list act as the "primary originator" initiating help they feel is needed. This is not about fundraising as a business, it's about cultural continuity, trust, and human-scale response.
Click Here To For Illustrated Version