“When life comes at us hard and we find ourselves in the midst of the fire, the burning desires within us can be silenced.
 Just as sand is beautifully transformed into glass under fire, we too, can be transformed, by hope.” – Terri Albanese

    The Clark Hulings Fund is honored to be the fiscal sponsor for A Garden of Gratitude—Thanking our Wounded Healers and Healing our Communities. The garden is composed of 18 original glass paintings that will travel to six Ohio and Kentucky hospitals to thank our hospital workers who have courageously given so much during this pandemic.

“Through it all they cared for us—let’s care for them. A Garden of Gratitude is more than an art exhibition— It is a Thank You. It is a thank you to those who chose to be on the frontlines in our hospitals, while we stayed safe within our homes; who were away from their families, while caring for ours; who held the hands of our loved ones, when we could not. It is an Invitation. It is an invitation for our wounded healers to come and walk through a garden, to take a moment to breathe – to give them access and exposure to an art exhibition. This calming haven will be a place to find hope while they are still in the midst of the fire.” - Terri Albanese

 

The exhibition of glass paintings features vibrant flowers that symbolize the heart and spirit of our healthcare workers.  The goal of this exhibit is to thank healthcare workers for who they are and all they have given. The flowers symbolize:

• Courage Sacrifice Hope Resilience Perseverance Wisdom
• Inner Strength Gentleness Peace
• Inner Beauty Patience Selflessness
• Compassion Dedication Healing Touch  Devotion Thoughtful Determination

As a contemporary glass artist, Terri Albanese believes in the underlying healing power of art. During her time as a CHF Art-Business Accelerator Fellow Terri’s talent was seen, not only in her art and entrepreneurial skill but in her ability to relate to those around her. It was no surprise to the faculty and her classmates that she would create A Garden of Gratitude to honor and bring a place for healing for total strangers. Her understanding and empathy around communities who have selflessly cared for patients, neighbors, family members, and business associates during the pandemic shows a beautiful part of her spirit—one we are grateful to have experienced. At the foundation of CHF, there is a community of support and patronage on which our Accelerator Fellows can count. On this occasion, the long-term relationship we have with our Board Member Susan Goldstein helped to create the connection between Terri Albanese and the University of Kentucky Hospital System.

“I LOVE this story and the inspiration of Susan Goldstein supporting your CHF Fellow, Terri Albanese, who has been trained by CHF—not only in her art business acumen, but also in making a difference with her art. Then Susan put Terri in touch with the University of Kentucky Hospital system—and they're now paying $15k to feature the Garden of Gratitude: Thanking our Wounded Healers and Healing our Communities project in 6 hospitals 2022-2023 to inspire their patients and family! Yes, it’s a Full CHF Circle of Philanthropic Support through Board Member major contributors, to Artist Fellows, to a hospital, to the patients and family members who need gratitude in their lives during the most challenging of times.” - Lynn Trojhan of Thrive Consulting

 

A Garden of Gratitude will travel to these hospitals from the beginning of 2022 through April of 2023. CEOs, Foundation Directors, and Art Curators of six Ohio hospitals have chosen to thank their healthcare workers by featuring this exhibition. A Garden of Gratitude will be featured at each of these hospitals for 8 – 6 months.

• Mount Carmel East - Columbus 1,100 wounded healers | 20,000 visitors monthly
• University Hospitals - Cleveland 6,500 wounded healers | 60,800 visitors monthly
• Kettering Medical Center - Dayton 3,040 wounded healers | 29,400 visitors monthly
• Grandview Medical Center - Dayton 1,329 wounded healers | 30,200 visitors monthly
• McLaren St. Luke’s Hospital – Toledo 1,500 wounded healers | 13,800 visitors monthly
• University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital - Lexington
• University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Hospital

     

If you would like more information or to donate to the project, please visit The Garden of Gratitude.

To help artists like Terri gain the skills and the network to create projects like this one, give to CHF.

You’ve probably heard of #EdTech, a portmanteau of the phrase “education technology." It represents the combination of IT (information technology) tools and educational practices aimed at facilitating and enhancing learning. Now The Clark Hulings Fund is leading the way in the #ArtTech realm. What does it mean? It is, in fact, a combination of IT tools and education practices aimed at facilitating and enhancing artistic sales with the most cutting-edge technology. CHF has led the way through the ongoing Thriving Artist^TM Podcast Series, the Digital Campus, Brown Bag Lunch Series, the Thriving Tuesdays^TM , and the collaborative effort to create a virtual art space in NDN World! Elizabeth Hulings underlines CHF’s collaborative leadership role in Selling Art in The New Normal: Marketplace, Native Communities, and Virtual Reality on The Thriving Artist^TM Podcast.

“The thing that excites me about it is that it’s the intersection of art and tech, because it’s artists who are making the outfits [that the avatars in the VR world wear]. It’s artists who are going to be doing the dances, it’s artists who have constructed the whole thing and added their aesthetic. When we talk about community, my goal and the underlying reason for creating CHF and continuing to work on all of this, is to have artists and inventors and creators be at the center of community activity and development. That’s when we move forward as a species and that’s how we support our planet.” —Elizabeth Hulings

CHF is fully aware that the explosive growth in technology has fractured an already outdated artistic structure, and that the role and influence of individuals has grown. The artistic ecosystem has been incredibly destabilized as a result of Covid19 and, as a result, we’ve been forced into new technological spheres. In response to the technological acceleration. The Clark Hulings Fund will be hosting the State of the Art Industry Conference: Technology is Transforming the Business of Art—What You Need to Know. We’ll feature Artist Training Oct 11-14, 2021 (Virtual), and Full Industry Events Oct 18-21, 2021 (Santa Fe, NM & Virtual). The conference will power creative professionals with an understanding of the latest technologies revolutionizing the art industry and expand artists’ lexicon. The Conference will:

• Support artists with training that strengthens them as entrepreneurs and industry partners;
• Explore how dealers, curators, administrators, and other stakeholders are reinventing themselves as collaborators in a new, lean system where everyone is a contributor to the creative economy;
• Present developments that bring transparency, accountability, and trust to an often opaque industry—and analyze the benefits and outcomes;
• Connect with visionaries and leaders to discuss the path forward and how all parts of the ecosystem can thrive together;
• Engage collectors about their experience and expectations as the art world enters a new season filled with possibilities.

With an already incredible list of speakers, the conference is accepting proposals for workshop and panel discussions—both online and in-person in Santa Fe, NM. Speakers and panelists will highlight emerging tech trends, including, but not limited to:

• Augmented and virtual reality;
• Digital Placemaking;
• 3D printing;
• Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

If you have any questions, please visit the State of the Art Industry Conference website. Conference Sponsors have the unique opportunity to reach hundreds of talented artists and passionate advocates from around the world. It is the perfect opportunity to make meaningful connections and share your brand.   Read the Press Release here.

Each year, The CHF Annual Report provides insights into the lasting impact of our programs. It tracks our success through statistics and features feedback from artists and industry stakeholders. The Report documents how CHF delivered programming and consulting to ensure profitability for organizations and individuals, allowing them to sustain their creative businesses with cutting-edge insights and skills. Globally, Covid19 made 2020 a challenging year for everyone: health, economy, education, family, lifestyle, and the creative sector all felt the impact. We were all forced to reinvent, and CHF was in a unique position to offer our expertise. Our artists, staff, donors, and our stakeholders have had their own personal journeys, but we have risen to the occasion and CHF has had an amazing year! Fortunately, CHF has always been virtual; as such, we have been uniquely positioned to help artists and arts organizations pivot and thrive during the pandemic. We have broadened our collaborations and now actively work with Artspan, Cornerstones, The Heard Museum Guild, Naples Art Association, Southwest Association of Indian Arts (SWAIA). With the latter, we co-created NDN World; you can learn more about the initiative here. Our annual Art-Business Conference became virtual: Virtualize Your Art Career^TM—Thriving in “The New Normal” not only provided timely training on how to navigate a new world but offered diverse representation. Participants from 20 states and 3 countries attended 14 sessions featuring 18 speakers and supported by 10 sponsors. The Full Annual Report presents other important information, but below is a brief summary of CHF wins:

• Art-Business Accelerator: 58 Fellows and counting. 4 Executive Fellows working on pivotal projects: Manuelita Brown, Steven Lester, Robin Holder, and Tim Saternow.
• Digital Campus: Major upgrade to our online learning platform to make it faster, easier to navigate, and more fun: 93 art business courses, 1,000 members.
• Brown Bag Lunch & Thriving Tuesdays^TM: monthly virtual event programming featuring peer networking and content-specific education at no charge to the artists.
• The Thriving Artist^TM Podcast: Listeners in 50 states, 137 countries, 148,000 downloads. Featured on all podcast platforms: Apple, Stitcher, iHeart, Spotify, Google.
• Hulings’ Legacy: James D. Balestrieri is writing a major monograph: Clark Hulings: Quantum Realist to be published in 2022 as part of the centennial celebration of Hulings’ birth.

To read the full report, click here. As the Annual Report demonstrates, our efforts and your contributions toward a demonstrated economic and cultural need have impacted multiple sectors of our society. CHF’s Annual Report goes beyond providing updates on continuing programs that have been successful in previous years—although you will see some notable additions, expansions, and important growth. As a cutting-edge nonprofit that produces socially transformative change, CHF is continuing to move forward in 2021. Keeping artists up to date with the latest trends, CHF is taking the lead in representing and educating the #ArtTech world. Investing in CHF is needed more than ever. We’re expanding rapidly to meet the demand. CHF is fully aware that the explosive growth in technology has fractured an already outdated artistic structure and that the role of individuals has grown. The artistic ecosystem has been destabilized as a result of Covid19, and the whole system has been forced into new technological spheres. There are some incredible opportunities for artists in this new world, and it’s our job to make sure they have access to the knowledge and skills to continue to run sustainable businesses. In response to the technological acceleration, The Clark Hulings will be hosting the State of the Art Industry Conference (Oct 17-21, 2021). The conference will power creative professionals with an understanding of the latest technologies revolutionizing the art industry and expanding artists’ lexicon. We are currently seeking sponsors, speakers, and donations to continue to make artists’ dreams of becoming self-sufficient, technologically savvy entrepreneurs a reality.    

At the height of last year’s SWAIA Market, Santa Fe Reporter published How ‘Fortnite’ and ‘Second Life’ Shaped the Future of Indian Market. The article, written by Culture Editor Alex De Vore, merged his love of gaming and of emerging Native American arts into the first-place feature in the Arts and Entertainment and Food category in the recent “Top of the Rockies” Journalism Contest. The article highlights how NDN World was inspired by SWAIA Executive Director Kim Peone, and realized at the hands of Steve Pruneau, chair of the Clark Hulings Fund Board—in collaboration with Indigenous artists and designers. Not only does it have a deep connection through Steve, but it was also deeply supported and rooted in the efforts of the Clark Hulings Fund. Elizabeth Hulings and the Clark Hulings Fund team in its entirety co-produced the market and navigated the communications and PR developments through their shared PR Agent, Audrey Rubinstein. This deep synchronicity, passion for innovation, and championing underrepresented communities is what underlined the entire initiative. You can hear about it in-depth in The Thriving Artist^TM podcast episode, Selling Art in The New Normal: Marketplace, Native Communities, and Virtual Reality. Host Daniel DiGriz is joined by SWAIA ED Kim Peone, The Clark Hulings Fund’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Hulings, Artpsan Founder & Director Eric Sparre, and Steve Pruneau, in his role as the leader of the Vircadia Implementation Project. All four organizations actualized possibilities for collaboration and community in the digital world. “If it doesn’t start with vision and innovation—if you don’t know why the heck you’re doing something, or you’re doing something because you’re going to make bunch of money quick…maybe you will make a bunch of money quick, but you’re going to end up with something that doesn’t serve anybody else in the long term. Right now we’re in a moment. You mentioned Tesla, Steve—we’re in a moment where we have got to change the way we do a lot of things: in order to not just make sure SWAIA is here for another hundred years, but make sure that any of us is here for another hundred years. And the way to do that is by involving the artists, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and innovators at the beginning of the process.” —Elizabeth Hulings Read more insightful quotes and listen to the podcast here. The Clark Hulings Fund for Visual Artists equips working visual artists to be self-sustaining entrepreneurs. At CHF, we believe that art is a business and artists should run it. We activate this belief through innovative projects like NDN World, Art-Business Accelerator Fellowships, the Digital Campus, Brown Bag Lunch^TM Series, Thriving Tuesdays^TM Series, Thriving Art Exchange, The Thriving Artist^TM podcast and Virtual & In-Person Conferences, such as the upcoming State of the Art Industry Conference (Oct 17-21, 2021). This hybrid conference will provide a sustained, comprehensive examination across all CHF program formats of logistical, infrastructure, and technological developments that are fundamentally changing the way we do business. The Conference explores their impact on the art industry, challenges, and opportunities.