Nate's Story
New York Art Teacher’s Fundred Initiative
My first introduction to the Fundred project was at the 2008 New York State Art Teachers Association Conference. In this short session it was clear that Fundred is smart and dynamic; it takes art from the classroom and makes it meaningful and relevant. I immediately took the project back to my elementary art classes and their experience continues to be one that the students talk and ask about.
In April 2009, while planning the 2009 New York State Art Teachers Association we discussed the potentials for NY State to be involved in Fundred as an important artistic initiative. The project offers the opportunity to reinforce curricular goals across disciplines. It provides our students a way to engage and make a contribution to an important environmental issue through their art making. The project is also experiential from the initial contribution to following the progress of the truck to the ultimate delivery of the Fundreds.
We also saw the project as a way to build our network of art teachers across the state.
In order to launch the project in New York we decided to invite Mel to jump-start the project as a keynote speaker at the state conference; Mel would surely be inspirational, engaging and fun. What happened after our follow up phone call with Mel I never could have imagined…
Mel agreed to waive his normal speaking fee in exchange for a large stockpile of completed Fundred Dollar Bills. I was taken aback by this generosity. On the surface it was an opportunity to save a speaker fee but, in fact it was a brilliant way to catalyze participation from the state of New York. This gesture challenged us to make a commitment to implementing the project. It also offered us a platform to reach out to our membership in ways that we never had before so we decided to turn the Fundred Dollar Bill Project into a NYSATA Initiative and encourage all of our members to participate with the goal of contributing 300,000 Fundreds to compensate Mel for his keynote presentation.
In order to mobilize our statewide network of art teachers we sent numerous invitations encouraging student participation. The project was met with great enthusiasm by most teachers and trepidation by others. Most teachers were thrilled and embraced the depth and breadth that this project could bring their art students. On the other hand, one city banned the project citing that the political nature of the project prohibited their involvement. As our November conference date approached we began to see the Fundreds arrive…. THEN IT BEGEN TO RAIN FUNDREDS! By the November conference date, we had raised close to 26,000 original Fundreds from all over New York State. The ten New York Collection Centers sent their Fundreds to be included in the stockpile and more arrived at the conference with individual teachers.
Yes, Mel gave a rousing keynote presentation. With the help of some of our pre-service art education student teachers acting as Fundred Guards, we presented Mel with close to 60,000 Fundreds.
We are finding Fundred a powerful teaching tool for our students. It is also an inspiration to the art teachers of New York because it encourages students to become part of the solution to problems in their world. NYSATA is continuing to encourage participation in Fundred with the intention of raising a large stockpile of Fundreds from the state of NY. We want to thank all the teachers and students who have already participated in this initiative. We also hope that many more art educators will join our cause in delivering $300,000,000 Fundred Dollars to Washington D.C.
Nate Morgan
NYSATA FUNDRED INITIATIVE Coordinator
BRIC Contemporary Art
New York State Art Teachers Association
