Kismet Gallery is a new breed of bottom-up retail enterprises that pride themselves on doing things differently. Unlike other retailers, they never sell anything made in a sweatshop—just one-of-a-kind handcrafted items which are sustainable and manufactured by family, friends, and neighbors in the community. At Kismet, we stand for principles over profit; idealism over hype; values over image; and mutual aid over competition. Unlike retailers at the mall, for every dollar spent here at least 60 cents goes back into our community to pay our artists; the rest goes to keep the gallery open.

"As owners, we see ourselves primarily as ACTIVISTS fighting back against the corporate takeover which is running roughshod over our communities. We view the corporate flagpoles dominating our streets and the city outskirts as being representative of conquest, not community...The time is now to kick the corporations to the curb and to reclaim our communities."

VERY IMPORTANT NEWS: KISMET has an OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS!!! Go to SPRAYBLOG to find out details.

 

The Wheeled Migration is a cycling event bringing students, educators, innovators, and activists together to share ideas about the environment and sustainability. This year the rolling summit will ride across California on HWY 1 till it reaches the 7th Annual UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability Conference in San Luis Obispo on July 31st.

When: July 20 - July 31

 

Art the Vote is a nonpartisan, arts-driven effort to engage, register and mobilize young voters and the creative community in the political process prior to the November 2008 election.

Using contemporary artists' original works on billboards throughout the state of Missouri, from early September to early November 2008, Art the Vote hopes to elevate the importance of registering and voting in the November election. Art the Vote was launched by a committee of artists and arts supporters in January of 2008.

It is a Missouri-based unprecedented effort. Using original art, Art the Vote will build awareness through its billboard campaign and take action through voter registration efforts targeting young voters and members of the creative community.

Artists For Humanity's is a non-profit group whose mission is to bridge economic, racial and social divisions by providing underserved youth with the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in the arts. The organization give young people hands the opportunity to fuse their creativity with the business world and become more confident in their future chosen professions.

Most recently, Artists for Humanity have an apprentice program that is housed in an award-winning “green” building that inspired the teenagers to create a line of green furniture. After months of research and development, the teen-artists produced ReVision, a line of furniture that incorporates magazines and junk mail into no-VOC resin.

Fund-A-Stache is a charitable activity in which participants display, prominently and proudly, their compassion for a charitable cause in the form of hair between the nose and lip. Its pretty simple.

It's Simple,
1. choose a charity and create a charitable donation site on Fundastach.org.
2. ask friends, family, co-workers, the guy at the deli, etc… to support you and your just cause
3. grow and wear a solo mustache
4. regularly update your mustache photo / blog on the Fund-A-Stache website
5. communicate to all around that you are proudly wearing a mustache to support the charity of your choice.

 

 

Earth Day Network was founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970. Earth Day Network's mission is to grow and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable planet. We pursue our mission through education, politics, events, and consumer activism.

Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. They sponsor the Green Apple Festival, a series of music festivals celebrating Earth Day from Tokyo to NYC. 

Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in our campaigns every year.  The organization promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide.

 

Hoops of Hope is the worlds largest free throw marathon all for a great cause. Participants sign up to shoot thousands of free throws on December 1, World AIDS Day. Through sponsorship, participants raise money and awareness for the thousands of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS each day. In 2007, Hoops of Hope is raising money to fund the building of a medical building and counseling center in Sinazongwe, Zambia. The organization was conceived and developed by a 12 year old kid, named Austin.

 

Combining sculpture, philanthropy, and symbolic artistry, The Keep A Breast Foundation is a nonprofit breast cancer awareness organization unlike any other. Keep A Breast creates one-of-a-kind plaster forms of the female torso that are customized by fine artists and auctioned to raise consciousness and funding for breast cancer research and treatment. The casts are physical representations of a simple truth— while breast cancer attacks all women without prejudice, it is the powerful individual present in all women that will conquer it. Keep A Breast’s goal is to bring a fresh perspective to this important cause in a way that is relevant and inspiring to today’s youth.

NextAid is a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization committed to developing and implementing innovative solutions to the challenges facing African children. NextAid's mission is to promote community-driven, environmentally sustainable, economically and socially empowering responses to the AIDS orphan pandemic. NextAid collaborates with individuals, businesses and nonprofits to produce creative, culturally-rich, awareness-raising projects and music events involving technology, the arts, public education projects,and volunteer opportunities.

The Surveillance Camera Players (SCP) is a small, informal group of people who are unconditionally opposed to the installation and use of video surveillance cameras in public places. The SCP was formed in New York City in November 1996 by two groups of friends/activists: one centered around Michael Carter, the author of the manifesto for "The Guerrilla Preprogramming of Video Surveillance Equipment" (1995), and the other around Bill Brown, fresh from the "Unabomber for President" campaign (1996). Both shared a strong interest in the theories and actions of the Situationist International, especially its use of "pranks" or detournement (diverting bland or oppressive materials for subversive purposes).

The SCP's first performance was on 10 December 1996, when the group presented its version of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi on the 100th anniversary of the play's first performance. Texts relevant to this performance -- which was interrupted and shut down by the NYPD. In July 1998 that the group performed for a second time. But its third and fourth performances, which came in November 1998 and offered the SCP's version of George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four, really got things going. The group has been intensely active ever since then. The years from 1999 to 2001 were especially active, productive and rewarding.

Following the model of Food Not Bombs, the SCP has always encouraged others to form similar groups and, if desired, adopt the SCP name. Over the years, SCP groups have been formed in Tempe, AZ; San Francisco, CA; Stockholm, Sweden; Bologna, Italy; Istanbul, Turkey; and Vilnius, Lithuania.

While most "prankster" groups are short-lived, the SCP has managed to endure and, at times, thrive, for 10 years, despite the relocation of several key members to cities outside of NYC.

It is worth noting that, to this day, very few contemporary political groups or "independent" media websites inspired by progressive liberalism, ultra-Leftist or anarchism have made surveillance -- that is to say, privacy, the right to be anonymous -- a central concern or demand. Perhaps this speaks to the SCP's weakness, its failure to start a movement. But there may be other forces in play.

Text is a selected excerpt from SCP's 10 year report