Death stalks my Garden

Where once flowers grew,
a sad death stalks my garden . . .

For my birthday last year
I asked you to celebrate
in my garden.

And I showed you pictures of my flowers. Like this one . . .

And so many of you,

being the kind and caring people that you are,

pitched in and worked with me.

Some of you came

week in and week out

to work with the kids.

Others of you sent very needed funds,

or supplies,

or reached out to friends who, in turn,

were extraordinarily generous.

Or you shared your creative talents

to help us raise funds

and the garden grew.

It grew wildly and wonderfully.

And my little flowers thrived.

Every week my flowers waited
impatiently
for Time In to take them
out into the world.

Looking and seeing
they became citizens of a larger city,

And wherever we went

whether Marian Goodman
or Tony Shafrazi
or Cheim + Read
or the Guggenheim

people gathered round to watch them draw
and talk and think.

marquell horse

And their composure, their engagement, their sophistication
flummoxed everyone's expectations.

And they asked,

Who are these children?

and I told them:

These are the kids from Time In:

a very special project dedicated to bringing children
out of underserved classrooms in Harlem
and into the world of the contemporary arts

-- during their regular school day --
--every week of the school year --

not only as effective and knowledgeable creators,
but as engaged, responsible
and active participants
in a larger democracy.

And they were impressed!

What I didn't tell them is that

yes, these kids are learning great things,

and doing great things

and thinking big ideas

and showing the outside world

just how amazingly

smart and talented
they are,

but that they are doing it in the

face of insurmountable problems.

Those people admiring them don't know

that these are kids whose daily lives are unfathomably difficult.

That every day some child in their classroom is

Moving to another shelter.

Being removed from their home because of violence.

Being taken away from a family
or
a foster family
because of abuse or neglect.

Dealing with the accidental drowning of a sibling.

Living in a residence for unwanted kids.

Losing their apartment - again - because mom can't come up with the rent.

Traumatized because their little sister
threw the dog out the window.
(window guards? housing law? parental supervision?)

Watching the police break up fights
between family members.

Terrified because drug dealers
have threatened them
on the way to school.

Being physically attacked by another child in the classroom.

Can you picture
your
four, five, six or seven year old
learning to read
in the kind of classroom
where scary, disruptive behaviors are the norm?

And there's no art, no music, no gym

No Hope?

No vision beyond the sadness of today's disruption?

And in this environment they're just supposed to
pull it together
and get good test scores,
love learning,
want to read non stop
and become model citizens?
Become our children's peers?

Hello?

Time In may not be able to bring back a lost sibling
or take mom off drugs,
but it does give children

hope

and
real world skills

and
personal integrity

which lead them

in
positive new directions.

Focusing on the whole child,
Time In works
to break apart
the impoverished self-image
all too common in an underserved community;

and to replace a sense of deprivation
with a sense of privilege and joy.

fanta

For the past two years, Time In has brought its children
the material knowledge

and positive reinforcement
they need to become

informed and equal players
in a world beyond their immediate community.

Creating a roadmap for action over passivity,

and knowledge over marginalization,

Time In has shown to what extent it can
and will continue to
change the lives of these children.

But right now,
Time In is homeless and destitute.

And the 250 flowers in my garden
and all the extraordinary artists who tend to them
are about to vanish into thin air
-- as if they never were.

Yes, it is unbelievable but true.

At the end of May we lost our studio.

See the boxes in the background?

I remember when the Time In kids first came to the studio --

They looked out across the river.

(Most of them had never seen the Hudson before.)

And they didn't even know what it was called.

Physically and metaphorically,

Time In changed their horizons.

Like the day -- after leaving Iza Genzken's show at David Zwirner's --

Alpha reached across to Taquan and, instead of slugging him, said,

"When I grow up I'm gonna be an artist."

Or the day we saw Cai Guo Ciang at the Guggenheim

and every kid got to ride in the little boats

- their first boat ride ever! -

and we sat under the tigers
and talked about packs and gangs
and what it means to think for yourself.

Or the day, thanks to the generosity of Agnes Varis,
we saw The Magic Flute at the Met.

And before the Met teachers could say anything
the kids burst out with

-- Oh that's Tamino! That's Pappageno's music!

Because they had spent months in the studio,

making art, listening to Flute, singing and dancing.

Like regular kids.

Like our kids.

But now, the studio is gone

and after six months of pounding the pavement,

not a single affordable space

on the island of Manhattan has turned up
-- anywhere.

Without your help
there won't be
TIME IN
this year.

Time In always begins during the first week of October.

Yet this year,
the very week
that our children were expecting us to appear

I sit here in front of my computer
pleading
instead of teaching.

All the work we have done over the past two years,

all the community building,
all the horizon changing,
all the trust
and self-expression,
all the arts and culture,
and the therapeutic outlet
upon which our kids depend
will go up in a puff of smoke

-- whoosh --
just as quickly as it came in.

if I can't raise the money we need
to move forward responsibly.

And I have to say,
I just don't find it acceptable
to just toss away something that has had such
a fundamental impact upon these children

especially when we've all worked
so hard to make happen.

Time In is the real thing -- no fluff -- it's all about kids and artists working together -- and that's where the money goes. No corporate retreats to the Bahamas.

All arts all the time
and all about
the lives of the kids with whom we work.

So whether it's donating the equivalent of what you would pay for your own kids' HiArt! tuition for a term or a summer or a year . . .

Or sending us a donation of $200, $2,000 or $200,000

We need it.

Because without your support
my kids' world will stagnate exactly where it is

(and you KNOW that's not good for any of us)

I'm available --
and I'll meet with you,
sit with you, show you, tell you,
even take you over to meet my kids
at their schools
if you need a little extra convincing.

Every tax deductible cent of your money
will help change the face of all of our kids' lives.

Because if my kids do well, your kids do well too.

Here's our shopping list

We need a space.

If you have one to donate, great. Call me today!

Or, if you or your company want to become a sponsor
and would be willing to
donate the money for space,
we will sing your praises to the sky.

Space alone costs us between $80-$120K per year!

We desperately need money for our teaching artists.

Our artists - many of whom you probably know
because their work is already out there
in galleries around the city -
are still young enough
not to have money for simple things
like food and rent and doctors.

Time In gives them a meaningful job
-- no dude work,
as the wonderful sculptor, Nick Lascot says --
but a chance to use and share
their talents and their brains
with kids
who desperately need
sustained contact
and care and the opportunity
to develop real world skills.

There's a Time In video on my site.
It's short and shows you what we do.
Exactly the way it is and nothing more.

Four minutes of your time.

The second week of October begins tomorrow.

My phone is ringing off the hook.

Principals and teachers want to know when we're starting.

Artists are waiting to see if they have jobs . . .

and rather than writing and cajoling,

I should be teaching these kids

-- the same way I've taught your kids.

Please help us spread the net
far and wide.

Think about your own kids, what they have
and
be as generous as you can.

Tell your friends.
(This email has a forwarding link right at the bottom!)

Send it to everyone you know
with a personal note.

Help us find corporate sponsors.

Speak to your friends with foundations.

And to the media.

Tell them Time In needs flower money.

Because all kidding aside,
my garden is about to die.

If you believe that together we really can change the world,

one child at a time,

if at some time over the past 12 years

HiArt!
has

changed the world
for you and your child,

won't you help us share that?

With much love to all,

Cyndie

Dear Cyndie,

This is to keep the garden alive.

$____________________
(Fax: 917-591-3162)

Your friend,

___________________________________________________________

Name

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Address

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Credit Card: MC/Amex/Visa exp. date sec. code

Online contributions by credit card can be made through the NY Charities website. Artist name: Cyndie Bellen-Berthezene, Project Title: Time In.

Checks made out to NYFA should be mailed to Time In, 276 Riverside Drive 9C, NYC 10025.All contributions over $3000 must be accompanied by a letter stating that the funds are to be used for Time In.

The Time In Children's Arts Initiative is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts. All Contributions should be made payable to NYFA(with Time In in the note line) and are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Or, if you're willing to gamble on the US government and don't need your tax receipt asap, you can make the check to the Time In Children's Arts Initiative, a newly incorporated NYS charitable entity excitedly awaiting its 501(c)3.