In this Issue:

Rauschenberg Grant Announcement
Art 4 Freedom Event on Saturday!!
Squeal on Human Trafficking (Pig Fundraiser)
Sanibel Library Event
New! HTAP T-shirts for Sale
ARTREACH Updates

Rauschenberg Grant

Robert Rauschberg, one of the great American artists of recent times, was a believer in art as an agent of social change. That's why we are so excited to have been chosen as one of the recipients of a Rauschenberg grant for our ARTREACH program.

We will be using his work as a source of inspiration and believe it will lead our program toward experimenting with alternate forms of art.

The grant will allow us to hire 5 art instructors to work with us this summer at our ARTREACH programs and a Curriculum Developer to write an art technique curriculum to supplement our current narrative guide. In addition, we will hire a part-time Art Coordinator in the fall to keep the art growing and going all year.

Click the titles below to view the job descriptions of these positions. Feel free to forward these opportunities to anyone you know that might be interested:

ART 4 FREEDOM this Saturday!!

It's almost time for an exciting event on Sanibel! Thanks to the generosity of our three partners: The Sanibel Community House, Traders Restaurant, The Zonta Club of Sanibel-Captiva and the many generous silent auction item donations from local business, this is going to be a great family event!

Featuring:

-Dramatic performances by actors of the Cypress Lake Center for the Arts

-Singing of anti-slavery songs by Mastersinger students

Kids, parents and community members are welcome!!

Squeal on Human Trafficking

People are always asking us how they can help fight human trafficking. When someone gave us 200 pink plastic piggy banks, we got the idea for the "Squeal on Human Trafficking Campaign".

Our pigs are starting to come home, all fattened up with donations for our Youth programs. So far the fattest pig held $142.23. We will have pigs available at our May 23 Art 4 Freedom event. Even if you don't have one of our pigs,

YOU CAN MAKE A DONATION

TO A VIRTUAL PIG

Sanibel Library Event

On May 13, a very successful outreach event was held at the Sanibel Library. It featured an update on the current status of human trafficking in Florida by Nola Theiss, including an update on the major case which has now been called the largest sex trafficking case ever in Florida and a presentation by Yaro Garcia of the ACT women's shelter and a survivor of human trafficking. It was a very powerful event. Women of Zonta and HTAP's own Karen Curtiss are pictured above. The event was sponsored by the Zonta Club of Sanibel-Captiva and the Sanibel Library.

NEW HTAP T-SHIRTS!!

$18.00/shirt

E-mail info@humantraffickingawareness.org or attend one of our events to order yours today!!

They are modeled by 2 of our 4 interns who have been a great help to us!!

ARTREACH & TIPS

Resurrection Catholic Church of Our Lord of Fort Myers, has begun our ARTREACH Season. We held our first class of 25 students this week. They are generously buying art supplies, canvas, providing food and covering some of the reproduction costs. They have made 100 art kits for kids in upcoming ARTREACH programs and bought new HTAP t-shirts for use in the program and for us to sell as a fundraiser.

We will be going to Our Mothers Home in June and to 2 Boys and Girls Clubs and other summer camps throughout the summer and have 2 programs set up at local churches. We are still scheduling classes so it's not too late to sign up.

a note from Nola...

Dear HTAP friend,

This summer we have scheduled ARTREACH programs with more to go, starting this week.

We also were given office space in Naples which will make it much easier to conduct our programs in Collier County.

We are so excited about our Rauschenberg Foundation grant which will allow us to hire summer art instructors, an art curriculum developer and part-time Art Coordinator for a year.

We're also in the process of redesigning our website to make it more user-friendly and easier to access on your smart phones and tablets.

We've decided to publish our newsletter more often to keep you up to date on all that's going on.

Nola Theiss, Executive Director

Grant Updates

&Thank Yous

The Rotary Club of Sanibel Captiva gave HTAP a check for $4000 as part of the proceeds of the wonderful performance of "Unsinkable Women". It was a great evening and we are thrilled to use their donation for our ARTREACH programs this summer.

Thank you to the many women's church groups who made donations to HTAP in the last months. We have enjoyed speaking at so many of them from Naples to Punta Gorda and many locations in between.