Dear Friends,

SPIRAL Arts urgently needs your support.  Much has gone on in the past year...

In January, SPIRAL Arts taught a group of young students in a tutoring program at Immanuel Baptist Church about Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement. Some of the children were hearing this history for the first time, and they created clay tiles in response. 

At our SPIRAL Hearts Festival in February, where adults and children spent a Saturday afternoon creating all kinds of art about love, a little girl was overheard telling her mother, “This was almost the best day of my life!” 

Bishop Peter Weaver of the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church was presented with a braided wall hanging filled with prayers from people across New England.  In October, at a welcoming event in Portland for the new bishop, individuals had written their blessings and prayers on strips of fabric and then braided them.  Since then, two SPIRAL Arts artists have sewn the multitude of braids into the hanging, which the bishop received with gratitude and emotion. 

In May, SPIRAL Arts artists, assisted by volunteers from Grace Episcopal Church, led an evening of artmaking with Adams Elementary School students and their families on the theme Down by the Sea. The 150 attendees painted a mural, created windchimes starfish, and prints, and painted rocks. One dad told the principal, “This was the best event like this that we’ve had in years!” 

The Mosaic of Hope Project in Parkside -- a collaboration between PROP and SPIRAL Arts --  enters its final phase as a dedicated group of artists and neighborhood residents design the mosaic that will be installed later this summer on the outside of PROP’s new Parkside Neighborhood Center. 

On June 1, struggling to keep their magnificent stage from blowing away in the wind, a group of children in Kennedy Park who were part of a SPIRAL Arts afterschool art class, put on a wonderful outdoor puppet show using their handmade clay puppets to tell an beautiful African folktale. 

The stories go on and on.  It has been a wonderful year at SPIRAL Arts!  It has been an honor to collaborate with a broad spectrum of community groups, faith communities, agencies, and schools.  People of all ages have experienced the joy of creating in community, and in the process, community has been created.  People have made new self-discoveries and found new hope within themselves as they have told their own personal stories through art. These are sacred, healing experiences.

Each year presents us with choices-where and with whom to share our resources, and how we can make the most difference in the world.  Your contribution makes a GREAT difference in our work and in the lives of people in our community.  SPIRAL Arts is helping people of all ages, from all walks of life, make their visions a reality.  Please become a part of the vision of SPIRAL Arts with a generous donation!  We sincerely appreciate your support.

Please send checks to:      SPIRAL Arts
                                        156 High Street
                                       Portland, ME 04101
                                        Phone: (207) 775-1474

Suggested donations:    $10        $25        $50        $100