Dear You-

We're writing on behalf of Gallery Aferro to ask you to donate an artwork or experience to our very first benefit this June 20th. All proceeds will be used to cover the costs of finalizing our 5013c status as a nonprofit organization and expanding the range of programs that we offer. Information about donating and the event is here:

http://www.aferro.org/websitebaker/wb/pages/submissions/aferro-benefit.php

or you can write to ewilcox@aferro.org for more information.

Please feel free to share this. Art is due by June 6, 2009.

A belief in locating and sharing resources was instrumental in our descion to create Gallery Aferro. This belief in the primacy of intellectual and physical resources continues to guide and inform the gallery's progress.

We need to ask for your help to sustain our artist-run organization and truly fulfill the possibilities inherent in these ideas. The works will be showcased in the main gallery, and your name will be honored in current and future records of gratitude.

Since reopening in our current 20,000 sq ft building in 2006, Gallery Aferro has offered curated exhibitions that are open to the public and connect artists. We create events such as interactive workshops, performances, screenings, artist talks and tours for K-college students, educators, adult education groups, after-school programs and other groups. Aferro Publications creates exhibition catalogs, artist books, and commissioned essays, and will be at Publication No. 10 in a few months. We have developed an off-site public art series; Storefront Films, screening films in donated spaces throughout the tri-state area, and have curated and mounted several exhibitions in off-site locations as well. Our year-round residency program serves emerging or established artists by offering large studios to continue or create ambitious work, with access to open studios and other exposure and promotions.

Exhibition programming has been formalized into three spaces: Main Gallery, Project Room and New Media Room. The Project Room and the New Media Room are both reserved for career-building solo shows. As with all of our programming, New Media-based resident artists and exhibitions serve to connect new audiences to the art form in an accessible and engaging format, and address barriers to access.

Resources for artists and curators are both physical and online: we provide letters of recommendation, make curatorial referrals, and review portfolios. In addition, we maintain a physical file of artist portfolios. Gallery Aferro collaborates whenever possible with other community-based organizations on space donation for events.

A great deal has been accomplished already, within, for, and because of our community. It is this fact, and our ongoing belief in the value of working with ideas in public, that makes us confident in asking for your support, and telling you that contributions you make will go a long way.

We have accomplished everything so far on a self-funded basis.
In addition to allowing us to continue our current offerings, planned projects that nonprofit status will make possible are:

Expansion of Storefront film programs, development of innovative public art commissions outside of the gallery building, formalizing of our educational offerings, and furthering our existing exchanges between Newark, Oakland, and Detroit-based alternative spaces.

Please join us!

Evonne M. Davis + Emma Wilcox
Gallery Aferro
www.aferro.org