LOOK. AT. ME. PATRON LEVELS

LOOK. AT. ME. Principal Patron                             $200,000.00
An organization or individual may choose to support the entire L.A.M. Project with a gift of $200,000.00.  A gift at this highest level affords the privilege of (1) named association in the Project's title and in all marketing, publications and products; (2) the personal selection of up to three individuals to be painted by Elizabeth McClancy as part of the Look. At. Me. series; (3) ownership of the completed painting(s); and, (4) should the Principal Patron so choose, the artist will also create - at a special, reduced fee - a portrait of one of the organization's founding partners or senior officers.*
*Please note: The additional painting of the corporation's Founder or Senior Leadership is not tax deductible, but will be offered at a significantly reduced fee.  Learn more about becoming the Look. At. Me. Project's Principal Patron

LOOK. AT. ME. Front-line Patron                           $  30,000.00
Donors who wish to contribute $30,000 on behalf of an individual or a front-line nonprofit group that serves this population, may name one individual to be depicted in the Look. At. Me. series, may use it as a centerpiece for their own fundraising event(s), and will own the painting, upon the Project's completion. Should the Front-line Patron so choose, the artist will also create - at a special, reduced fee - a portrait of one of the organization's founding partners or senior officers.*
*Please note: The additional painting of the corporation's Founder or Senior Leadership is not tax deductible, but will be offered at a significantly reduced fee. Learn more about becoming a Look. At. Me. Front-line Patron.

LOOK. AT. ME. Patron of a Painting                       $    6,000.00
A gift of $6,000 will support the creation of one painting. One or several donors may come together to sponsor a specific painting.  Patrons at this level may dedicate one of the series' paintings to an individual or organization of their choice, and that dedication will appear in that painting's label and with all printed materials about that particular painting. Learn more about becoming a Look. At. Me. Patron of a Painting.

LOOK. AT. ME. Project Friends                                  $           5.00 and up
Gifts in any amount from $5 - $500 dollars will be used to support the cost of (1) creating the paintings, (2) mounting the exhibition, and/or (3) designing and printing the exhibition's viewer's guide - a catalogue of the exhibition with personal narratives about each subject, with an attached special study curriculum for school and community groups to use in reflecting upon the L.A.M. message.  Names of all L.A.M. Friends will appear (unless withheld) in the Exhibition Opening materials and on the Project website.  Learn more about becoming a Look. At. Me. Project Friend

We know that there are many of you whose lives have been profoundly touched by association with someone with an intellectual disability; you already understand the profound blessings of that relationship. We would be honored by your participation in this empowering effort to convey that understanding to the wider community. Your gifts are tax deductible. 

The following  front line, nonprofit groups have committed to work together - through the message of the paintings and narratives - to build a public bridge from the existing "Don't stare..." mindset that has isolated these individuals, to a new appreciation of how profoundly they can enrich our lives.

ELIZABETH MCCLANCY – ART AS EXISTENTIAL EPIPHANY.  Elizabeth McClancy paints the faces of social crises. Each series of her paintings is, first, conceived within a specific social context and then, ultimately, exhibited to foment a specific revelation and activism.  Following the creation of the paintings, each aspect of the exhibition (the opening, the show’s duration at each venue, and, ultimately the sale of the art itself) is strategically positioned to support front-line social-change partners.
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McClancy's art exists before and beyond the canvas. As Huffington Post art critic Peter Frank, noted in To Be Self-evident: Purpose, Principle, Portraiture, "McClancy subscribes passionately to Marcel Duchamp’s dictate that 'the viewer completes the work of art,' and, further, that the work of art’s own history completes it as well. That is to say, the work of art incorporates its own history and future. ...Taking the bull by the horns, McClancy has decided to devote her art, and the process of its being made and seen, to affecting [social change]."

"My friend's 15-year-old daughter's intellectual disability is compounded by a syndrome that also prevents her from seeing, hearing and swallowing. I recently asked her, 'If we put an individual in front of a painting of [Abigail], what do you want them to understand? What do they need to understand' Her reply was this:  

'I have come to believe that these individuals are 90% divine. [Abigail] doesn’t know People magazine; these guys don’t know self-consciousness or maneuvering for stature or the gross penalty for flaunting cultural norms. She and they are free of all that.'

"Unencumbered. She went on to explain what has become the revelation for the L.A.M. series - that the power of these disabilities pulls one into that purer reality. Engaged with a disabled person, one’s self-consciousness, one’s need to establish stature and to comply with conventional norms – all fall away. They have no negotiable tender in that rarefied, immediate reality. To be with these people is to be instantly and necessarily unburdened of all that. The crux of this series will undoubtedly shift with the revelations to come, but that is a true measure of the caliber of understanding we seek to facilitate."

•    The paintings;
•    The human stories that accompany the paintings;
•    A “catalogue curriculum” that leads viewers through the exhibition and beyond it into discussion among classroom and community groups;
•    A documentary that will record the art and social-change as it unfolds;
•    The high-profile opening gala;
•    Ongoing gallery talks and educational settings; and
•    The visceral revelation that is peculiar to each human encounter with art.

1. Artist chooses the subjects for the paintings – individuals with disabilities of varied demographic origins and ages, whose respective visages and stories vividly portray the theme.
2. Essential to creating the desired relationship between each painting and its narrative is an understanding of the person being portrayed.  The artist and project writer must discover what part of each story should be captured in the exhibition. This will require ongoing face-to-face and online communication.
3. Artist then returns to the studio (DC) to create the paintings.  
4. Project writer begins to create the stories that will be used in the painting labels and the catalogue curriculum.
5. Artist and project writer work with curriculum designers to create a “catalogue curriculum” of theme-relevant information, plus follow-up curriculum for school children and community groups.

Kairos: A Greek word meaning a moment in time that will never come again – because of (a) the integrity of the initiative in question, (b) the caliber of the people gathered together, and (c) the situational factors in place to accomplish what must be done.

This is such a moment.  Please join us.