TWITTER ART EXHIBIT ORLANDO

Posted by: Donna Dixon

Twitter Art Exhibit: Orlando is an international exhibition of original postcard art benefiting The Center for Contemporary Dance, Special Needs Classes, a nonprofit (501)©3 organization dedicated to dance education and outreach. The Special Needs Classes include customized exercises that expand the student’s range of motion, creativity and social skills. Class work is further designed to enhance skills in memorization, problem solving and communication. Belinda Balleras, whose son takes classes every week, says: “He has a new sense of creative fulfillment and an additional pathway to productively express emotions.”

Twitter Art Exhibit: Orlando is the fourth installment of an open international exhibition of handmade postcard art for charity, donated by hundreds of participating artists from around the globe.

While the first two exhibitions were held in Moss, Norway, the third installment held in Los Angeles marked the global launch for the concept by founder David Sandum, a Swedish-born artist who conceived Twitter Art Exhibit as a vehicle for doing good through social media and online community-building. The idea is simple: artists around the globe receive a call through Twitter social media to create original postcard-sized art, which they mail to a local curator, who then exhibits and sells them to benefit a local charity. Artists must have a Twitter account and interact with exhibition organizers to participate, and help seed the event.

In its first year, Twitter Art Exhibit received postcards from over 260 artists in 24 countries, raising funds to buy 221 new children’s books for a struggling library in Moss, Norway. The second installment received entries by 360 artists in 32 countries, raising $4,000 USD for an abused women’s shelter, also in Moss. The 3rd exhibition held in Los Angeles raised $7,000 for an organization mentoring underprivileged young adults in preparation for careers in the visual arts, attracting 502 artists from 35 countries, with a total of 726 postcard entries received.

Social media plays a major role in Twitter Art Exhibit. It is our intention to tweet, share, seed and promote our artists to thank them for their participation, and to make this event a huge success.

The event will be highly publicized and well attended by art buyers and enthusiasts, members of the press, local artists and the community, as well as by The Center for Contemporary Dance Students and Faculty.