About Artists for World Peace
WHO WE ARE
The Artists for World Peace Foundation (AFWP) is a nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for artistic expression – fostering world peace and raising funds to benefit humanitarian causes around the world. Our goal is to feed the hungry, house the poor, and encourage the world to become a more peaceful place for all, working one person, one family, one community at a time. Through donations and fundraising events, we support grass roots organizations and other efforts to bring schools, food, clothing, and other necessities to those in need.
OUR BEGINNING
Wendy Black-Nasta, a jewelry designer since 1977 for museums, galleries, and stores around the world, founded Artists for World Peace in 2003.
When the Euro replaced most former European currencies, Wendy received a phone call from a local reporter that changed her life. When asked how she would integrate
the out-of-circulation European money into their artwork, Wendy envisioned a belt made of coins from Europe and the world, symbolizing the peaceful unity of all nations. With the help of two of her jewelry apprentices and several students, that dream became a reality: a sterling belt was created with coins and gems representing 115 countries, and a hope that one day all 191 countries will be represented.
Upon its completion in 2003, the International Peace Belt (TIPB) journeyed to India for the Golden Jubilee of World Peace and Harmony. With that event, a foundation was born. Wendy established Artists for World Peace (AFWP), a non-profit organization whose mission is to spread peace by supporting humanitarian projects in places where The International Peace Belt ventures. Since 2003, the Peace Belt has traveled to 18 countries on 5 continents. TIPB has been worn during hundreds of artistic performances, sacred ceremonies, and at peaceful and spiritual gatherings in New York (Ground Zero), South Korea, Haiti, Spain, Brazil, Tanzania, Canada, Egypt, Tonga, Scotland, and the list goes on. Wherever TIPB travels, dancers, artists, musicians, peace activists, and spiritual leaders meditate on and lend their voices to support peace. In this way, TIPB is transformed into a living link between cultures and a symbol of peace and unity of all nations, of all people as one.
ARTISTS FOR WORLD PEACE: PROJECTS AROUND THE WORLD
Successful humanitarian projects have complemented the International Peace Belt’s journeys. Partnering with individuals and humanitarian organizations around the world, AFWP assists those in need and helps transform lives. From helping to build a safe house for battered women and children in Cambodia, to helping to build a school in the Ecuadorian rainforest, to supporting a grassroots orphanage for orphans of the AIDS epidemic in Tanzania (a current project for 2010), AFWP helps create the foundations for healthy, peaceful lives around the globe. Artists for World Peace’s ongoing projects at home and abroad include the following:
CHILDREN OF PEACE
AFWP provides educational and living expenses for children in need around the world. AFWP currently sponsors a child in India, Haiti, young girls in China, and the United States. AFWP’s goal is to one day be able to help a child in each country TIPB visits by covering educational and other necessary living expenses. AFWP’s latest Children of Peace project is supporting a scholarship fund covering high school tuition for children in Brazil. All proceeds from our Hats for a Cause in 2010 will benefit our scholarship fund.
BATTERED WOMEN’S SHELTERS/SAFE HOUSES (Cambodia, U.S.)
ANNUAL FOOD AND CLOTHING DRIVE TO ROSE BUD RESERVATION
From September to December each year AFWP hosts its largest undertaking, gathering blankets, toys, warm clothes and food for the Rose Bud Reservation, in South Dakota. This Holiday Drive is held in memory of Chief Luciano Perez, who began this event over 20 years ago. Also through this effort, clothing is donated to the people of Haiti and food is delivered to Connecticut food banks.
HATS FOR A CAUSE
Every winter AFWP brings together local artists to create one-of-a-kind hand-made hats. Raising money through donations and charity events, these hats supported the completion of a safe house in Cambodia for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. AFWP donations also provide abundant support to food banks and women’s shelters in local communities.
500 SHOES
AFWP hosted a fundraiser that yielded 1200 pairs of shoes that were flown, trucked, bussed and canoed up the Amazon River to waiting children in the Rainforest of Ecuador. Other 500 Shoes events include providing 500 pairs of new shoes for children in the favelas and orphanages of Brazil; in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti; and at the Rose Bud Reservation in South Dakota.
PARTNERSHIPS
AFWP assists artists and community leaders in other countries, partnering with them to realize their community aspirations. For example, in Ecuador, AFWP raised money that helped support the completion of a school for children living in the rainforest.
GETTING INVOLVED
To work on a project, caretake TIPB to a country, perform, film, photograph, document, or volunteer…. please contact us through our website. Drop us an email through our “contact us” link and tell us how you are interested in working with us. We will keep you on our contact list and get back to you as soon as possible. We are always looking for volunteers to help and get involved with our many ongoing projects around the world.