Your Gift Tripled

A generous donor has offered us a two to one challenge grant. Make your tax-deductable gift before midnight, August 15, and your gift will be matched two to one, up to $6,000.

What Your Contribution Supports

ISLAND’s current programs reflect our commitment to serving the arts, agricultural and ecological communities of northwest lower Michigan:

• The Hill House Residency Program is an artist residency serving emerging musicians, writers at all stages of their career and a growing selection of non-studio artists. Awards are given to between 12 and 18 artists each year and consist of time and space—two to four weeks in a rustic log cabin near the Jordan River, stocked with local and organic food—as a way to support artists and the creation of new art. According to Caitline Strokosch, Executive Director of the Alliance of Artists Communities, “ISLAND is an emerging leader in this field, and has already begun to shape the ways we think about the interconnectedness of artists and community.”
• School Garden Projects in Rapid City Elementary School and Central Lake Elementary School connect K-5 students with nature and science through hands-on work in student-driven school and community gardens.
• The CRAFT Program, the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, enhances agricultural internships through a regional network of farms. Each growing season a score of small farms take turns hosting workshops, farm tours and social potlucks as a way for interns to gain exposure to a wide range of agricultural techniques and management styles, and to build community amongst young and beginning farmers.
• Workshops and Skill Swaps focus on building community self-reliance through a wide range of skills, from beekeeping and home-mushroom production to wildlife tracking, cordwood building and mead making. ISLAND has hosted nearly 100 different events over the last six years, with over 60 slated for 2011.

A generous donor has recognized ISLAND’s important work in this community. Please join her in supporting local agriculture, the arts and ecology.

Three easy ways to give:

• Donate online
• Send your check to ISLAND at 5870 Cottage Drive, Bellaire, MI 49615
• Call 231-480-4515

PS: There are only six short summer weeks before our August 15 deadline. Your gift will be matched two to one, so please give today!