- Kids, make art based on our “Shared Themes” and have a parent email the art to: submissions@bigpicturefoundation.org, with your first name, your age, the name of your school, the town, the country
- You can also send art that you’ve made at home or made in a class. We’ll post that, too. Have a parent or teacher email it to: submissions@bigpicturefoundation.org, with your first name, your age, the name of your school, the town, the country
- You can have your teacher submit a portfolio of up to 30 class projects, Please ask the teacher to include the name of the school, the town, the country and the approximate ages of the kids
- Loom or knit a hat or scarf and we’ll give them to Kids in Crisis
- Organize a group of kids to meet weekly, to make art. Take lots of pictures for the website. BPF won’t post pictures without a parent or guardian’s consent.
- Offer to be an art buddy for a child who is new to the district, for a child who doesn’t yet speak English fluently, for a child who simply could use an art buddy, or for a child who is a recently resettled refugee.
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Host a bake sale. Incorporate art, in whatever way you choose (signs, invitations, cooking, etc). Donate funds to Big Picture Foundation’s programs for underprivileged kids (or you can ask us to re-route to a children’s cause of your choice). Take lots of pictures for the website. BPF won’t post pictures without a parent or guardian’s consent.
- Host a lunch, dinner, cookout, frisbee match, etc. Check the Big Picture Foundation “Focal Issue,” for that period. Give your invited friends the information about the focal issue and ask each person to make a suggested donation to the cause (do not ask for more than $25, but you can suggest less). Have the friends either donate by clicking “support us,” on the website, which is the very best way, because they’ll immediately receive a letter from PayPal for their parents’ taxes. Kids can also give check to the host to send to BPF headquarters: 369 Round Hill Road, Greenwich, CT 06831. Please keep a complete list of kids who attended an event and of exactly how much each person donated. Take pictures for the website. BPF won’t post pictures without a parent or guardian’s consent.
- Create an original art outreach project that could help your local, national or global kids’ community.
scroll below for more specific information about all of these programs
CONTACT INFORMATION
Adults with questions should email kmt@bigpicturefoundation.org. However, we encourage kids who are involved with BPF or who would like to be involved, to start by contacting our student administrators…
A student administrative team is available to answer kids’ questions. All the student administrators share the email address: BPF@bigpicturefoundation.org, which is monitored, but never used by an adult. Only kids may email from or to that address. Kids with questions should write to a specific student administrator (please write the student administrator’s initials in the subject of the email, because all child-to-child emails go to the same email address).
Student administrators, listed by their initials
DL – Friend Link (linking kids who are new to the area with old timers, to make art & linking refugee children with fluent English speaking kids for art and conversation)
CC – Friend Link (linking kids who are new to the area with old timers, to make art & linking refugee children with fluent English speaking kids for art and conversation)
AK – Friend Link (linking kids with special needs with BPF playgroups)
AL – Secretary and News (Noggins in the Newsroom Program)
KB – Shared Themes (kid created art themes that are shared by all BPF global groups)
CL – Change Bakers (kids who throw dinner party fundraisers for a list of causes)
TG – Manages kids who knit and loom hats (Knit Wits Program)
WW – Playgroups (groups of kids who meet regularly to work on BPF art projects)
BR – Financial Planning and Grant Writing
JM – Photography, Promo Videos, and BPF Benefits
LC – Advertising
SM – BPF TV
SS – Social Media
CSW – Works on projects to empower local and global girls. She also works on projects to encourage progressive thinking about gender equality, among all
CRM – Keeps a list of kids who speak more than one language, fluently, and who would be willing to partner with a new child to the district. These kids may also be asked (but not required) to translate at special events, if necessary.
MAKE ART FOR OUTREACH AND TO BUILD A GLOBAL COMMUNITY!:
- Shared Themes: Kids around the world make art based on our kid-invented Shared Themes. Kids approach the themes in whatever way suits them (“draw a part of an imaginary animal,” could turn into a sculpture, video, or dance).
- Art Outreach: Find a way to use art to create the world we want to share. The goal of this program is for kids to help and support other kids. There is no requirement for how this is done. Organize a project, take photos, and send us a recap to post on the website.
If you are in Rye, NY, please see more detailed information, below.
- Here are some ideas: Invite a newcomer to your school to make a BPF project with you. Loom or knit hats and give them to programs for kids in need. Make get well soon cards for kids in hospitals. Sell art or crafts to help charitable kids’ causes (community causes that somehow improve the lives of children are fine). Make public service announcements (posters) about causes that affect kids. Have a bake sale and donate the proceeds to a charity that affects kids. Design menus or invitations and host a dinner party, from which a pre-determined fee, collected from each guest, is given to a pre-determined charity that helps kids.
- Here are some ideas: Invite a newcomer to your school to make a BPF project with you. Loom or knit hats and give them to programs for kids in need. Make get well soon cards for kids in hospitals. Sell art or crafts to help charitable kids’ causes (community causes that somehow improve the lives of children are fine). Make public service announcements (posters) about causes that affect kids. Have a bake sale and donate the proceeds to a charity that affects kids. Design menus or invitations and host a dinner party, from which a pre-determined fee, collected from each guest, is given to a pre-determined charity that helps kids.
- Student or Class Portfolios: Kids and teachers can also submit a body artwork (or doodles) that’s not part of our Shared Themes, just so they can share their work on our website. Kids who submit a portfolio of their own work may have their art showcased under our “Independents” category. Teachers who submit a body of students’ work should either submit art that somehow fits our “Shared Themes,” or that’s of a consistent subject or approach. Students and teachers who submit work outside of the Shared Themes, may submit up to 30 pieces for consideration.
The Change Bakers Change Bakers host breakfast, lunch, or dinner fundraising events, once or several times throughout the school year. The kids share information about focal issues with invited guests. Hosts collect donations from guests (Hosts may not suggest more than $25, but they may suggest less. Guests may donate whatever amount they choose, but they must contribute something, in order to participate). Big Picture Foundation combines proceeds from all the hosts, over a given period of time, and then makes donations to the identified charities. Any child may become a Change Baker at any time, simply by organizing an event. Focal issues for Change Bakers fundraising events:
- Mid-September through mid-October: Hurricane Harvey relief – Proceeds will support work by Americares
- Mid-October through mid-December: Aid to children in Venezuela. Proceeds will support the work of Barriga Llena Corazon Contento
- Mid-January through mid-February: 9th grader, Sally Mann and crew, would like to organize a silent auction to benefit a nonprofit that’s run by a friend’s family. Proceeds will support the organization’s work with children in South Africa. Details to follow.
- Mid-February through mid-March: We will continue to support the United Nations Association of New York’s work to develop the Furaha School at the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya
- Mid-March through mid-April: Unqualified support to the IRC
- Mid-April through the beginning of June: Support for Big Picture Foundation programs
- A child who is new to the town may ask for a partner, with whom to work on BPF projects and with whom to attend BPF special events.
- Kids who have come from abroad, who would like to improve their English skills may ask for an English speaking partner, with whom to work on BPF projects and with whom to attend BPF special events.
- We have children who are refugees involved with the program. In time, BPF’s Friend Link kids will do more to help child refugees. The program launched when a Syrian child, resettled in Jersey City, told me that she was concerned that she and the other refugees in her town weren’t learning English. She and her resettlement agency liked the idea of pairing high school age refugee kids with American mentors. Accompanied by an adult chaperone, partners from various tri-state locations will meet at Manhattan museums to view art, talk, and have lunch. When and if this program develops, kids will be paired by gender and age.
- Children with special needs may ask for a partner, with whom to work on BPF projects and with whom to attend BPF special events.
“Shared Theme” Artists: All kids are “Shared Theme” artists. All BPF members should try to make at least one project based on our 100% kid-invented “Shared Themes.” Global kids’ inventions, animations, math games, bandhani cloth, popsicle stick sculptures, paintings, drawings, and more made Round 1 a roaring success. Our continued success is based on inspired work by our awesome members!
Curbside Cookie Monsters: Kids organize their own curbside bake sales. Funds from these events support BPF programs in conflict zones and in locations that lack arts funding. Kids who run their own bake sales have the option of redirecting the funds to a children’s charity of their choice, but we ask that donations be made through Big Picture Foundation.
Special Event Bake Sale Brigade: Kids on the Bake Sale Brigade create a snack bar at our special events. During Round 1, proceeds from bake sales were donated to DDX3X research, to the Walkabout Foundation, and to providing art supplies to our members in Iraq. After each bakesale, Big Picture Foundation donates the funds to a charity that help kids.
Play Group Pioneers: You thought playgroups were a thing of the past… until you joined Big Picture Foundation. Kids in playgroups take turns hosting art sessions, either at their houses or at locations the host families organize (the library or Starbucks could work well). Play groups meet for 1.5 – 2 hours, once a week, on a day and at a time decided by participants, to work on “Shared Themes” projects. Participants bring their own supplies to each session. Collaborative projects are encouraged, but certainly not required. Kids may form their own playgroups or they may sign up individually and get placed in groups. In order to participate in the play group program, you may not form an exclusive group. You must agree to accept one or two additional members with open arms. Only join this program if you believe you’re able to befriend kids who you may not sit next to at lunch, each day. BPF kids are dedicated to building a better world, which includes approaching others with kindness.
Noggins in the Newsroom: A number of our members have expressed interest in reporting Big Picture Foundation accomplishments to each other, to the community, and to the world. Noggins in the Newsroom:
- Write articles
- Edit articles
- Make promo videos about BPF special events
- Collect and disseminate news within the organization
- Develop a televised news program (4 specific kids were awarded this assignment)
- Develop our social media presence
- Provide oversight
- Network with professional reporters, editors, and producers, to share our stories.
- Take minutes at meetings
Talent Scouts: All kids are Talent Scouts. Talent scouts encourage friends with talent to submit work.
Grant Writers: We encourage high school kids and interested parents to help by writing grants.
Contracted Expanders: Contracted expanders will work on building relationships with global schools and maintaining relationships with schools with which we already partner. They will also identify and connect with schools with which we would like to develop partnerships.
Rosetta Stone Masons Kids who fluently speak more than one language are our Rosetta Stone Masons. We want them to actively participate in our overall program, but occasionally, they may be asked to help the group as volunteer translators. By working with Big Picture Foundation, local kids of various nationalities play an important role in promoting respect, kindness, and cooperation among cultures.
The Stage Crew: These kids work on setting up special events, running the events, and dismantling events when they’re finished.
The Movie Producers: These kids will film at every Big Picture Foundation special event. Big Picture Foundation will post their edited movies on our website.
The Knit Wits: Every willing Big Picture Foundation member should loom hats. During the 2017-2018 school year, we will give the hats to Splurge Gifts to sell, with proceeds donated to Kids in Crisis, or we will give the hats directly to Kids in Crisis