ART FOR CHANGE

Giving back is fundamentally important to me.
In addition to donating to causes I personally believe in,
I will always find ways to give back through my artwork.

FOR THE OCEANS
For several years now, I’ve been honored to create paintings to benefit Oceana at their annual fundraiser, Oceana’s SeaChange Summer Party. Oceana is dedicated to protecting and restoring the world’s oceans on a global scale. Here’s a little more about this wonderful organization:

Oceana’s mission is to win policy victories that restore the world’s oceans.
Oceana campaigns to win policy victories that restore abundance and biodiversity in the world’s oceans, which cover two-thirds of our planet. Healthy marine ecosystems full of wildlife support fisheries that can feed more than a billion people a healthy seafood meal every day, forever. We can preserve the oceans for future generations while protecting a critical food source — wild seafood — that requires no fresh water or arable land to produce, yields minimal greenhouse gas emissions, and provides an affordable, healthy protein to hungry people around the world. Just 29 countries and the European Union are responsible for nearly 90% of the global fish catch. We can — on a country-by-country basis — win policy victories that will help to restore and protect oceans worldwide. Evidence from fisheries around the world shows that, when the right measures are put in place, fish populations bounce back.

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ART HEALS
In the Spring of 2020 – when the world came to a halt due to Covid – I wanted to find a way to lift the spirit of our healthcare heroes, so I sent dozens of fine art prints to front line workers nationwide through my #artheals campaign on Instagram. Nominated by their peers, friends and family, the shared stories of these incredibly brave men and women forever moved me. They are the ultimate heroes, fighting to save lives during a global health crisis.

UPDATE 2023 // Looking back now at the height of the Covid crisis, I have a more profound respect for the healthcare workers who put their own lives at risk on a daily basis, so others had a chance at survival. Unfortunately, over a million Americans have lost their lives to this disease, including my beautiful mother, but I can’t imagine how many more lives would be lost if our healthcare workers didn’t show up every day and fight. If you’re one of them and you’re reading this…
I THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMITMENT AND COURAGE.

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RACIAL INJUSTICE
In the summer of 2020, to witness the rising up of our society to protest injustice – all across America – was something I can’t really put into words. There are countless stories like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and enough is enough. I made a promise not only to educate myself further on Black History but to support the Black community by seeking out and buying from Black owned businesses and by donating a percentage of sales on my artwork in 2020 to charities benefiting the Black community. I selected four organizations that spoke to me (listed below), based on my own research and their overall ranking of financial health, accountability and transparency.

The optimist in me sees an incredible opportunity for humanity to continue to fuel this incredibly important movement. Change must happen now. Together, we can ensure that it does.

• EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE // eji.org
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

• THE BLACK ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS, INC. // tbaal.org
The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, Inc., is a multi-discipline arts institution. A large part of their work is to promote, cultivate, foster, preserve and perpetuate the African, African American and Caribbean Arts and letters in the Fine, Literary, Visual, Performing and Cinematic Arts.

• THURGOOD MARSHALL COLLEGE FUND // tmcf.org
Established in 1987, TMCF is the nation’s largest organization exclusively representing the Black College Community. Its mission is to ensure student success by promoting educational excellence and preparing the next generation of workforce talent through leadership development.

• PRO PUBLICA // propublica.org
ProPublica’s investigative stories have focused on issues of inequality among the most pressing in our society, and range across substantive fields. ProPublica believes that investigative reporting in the public interest on these matters has—and can—provide such facts in a way that strongly promotes civil rights and democratic governance.

SUPPORT BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES

Click HERE to view a beautifully curated list by New York Magazine, with links of Black owned businesses across America. From beauty products to fashion and home design, there are so many incredible brands to support, so please have a look and show these companies some love!