My Story

My name is Hilary J. England, and I'm a Contemporary American artist, based in the Northeast of the U.S.A.  I am a visual artist, a.k.a. a painter, but also work in mixed media, sculpture, etc.  I consider my self a contemporary social realist, with a technique that is sort of a hybrid between impressionism and realism.  I have been painting for my entire life, and like all of the rest of the realm, struggle to get my work out there and "seen."  This morning, I received a large envelope in the mail from the Scientific Committee of the Florence Biennale inviting me to participate in the 2011 event. Wow!!  What an honor!!  Very exciting indeed!!!!

Initial inquiries led me to understand that I had been selected from my website. There is a committee of some 30 members world wide who look for artists to invite. These members have credentials that allow them to choose artists with a degree of ability and attainment in their chosen field of the arts.

After the initial listing of your name for consideration by the worldwide committee member, your work is submitted to the Internal Scientific Committee before final acceptance. This is done before you receive the invitation. So should you receive an invitation, then it is important to remember that you have already passed this process...pretty cool
Also, once you are invited, you are always included for life......again, pretty cool.

The Florence Biennale is the largest democratic artist supported Biennale in the world with over 840 artists from 180 countries. It hangs 2500 artworks for a period of 7 days mainly in the one center. It is part of the United Nations initiative "Dialogue between Nations" and is expressly for the bringing together of artists to unite in peace and share with each other. It is not an Art Fair as the work is not for sale; It is not a commercial venture for artists, but a juried art competition with awards. It is an excellent opportunity to promote your work, meet other artists and learn from them. This Biennale is more about providing a venue for artists to learn what is happening word wide in the arts from each other and gain an understanding of each other and build networks in a democratic way.

Many really great artists have participated in this event, including internationally acclaimed artists like Christo, Marina Ambramovic, Shu Yong, Gilbert & George and David Hockney, to mention a few.
Another plus about Florence is it is the seat of the Renaissance, the home of Leonardo and Michelangelo, the Uffizi and the visual arts, while Venice is the home of theater, festivals, masked balls and performance art-- as a visual artist, Florence is truly the place to be!

So, after initially being bowled over by this great honor, then the wheels of logic began to spin--and the mechanics of participating in this great event, but, one step at a time...

The Impact

This trip has the potential to make some real nice ripples in the pond, so to speak.  My quest to get to Florence could really help more local artists realize their dreams to bring their art, which is important at a local level, to an international level of awareness, and for these artists to know that their work really is important.  I hope to meet with many international artists, collectors, museum curators, and other dignitaries of the international art scene and exchange ideas and raise awareness as to our similarities rather than differences.

What I Need & What You Get

Since the Florence Biennale Committee does not allocate any funding to sponsor or help the artist participate in the event, nor does the U.S. government offer any kind of grants or other programs to individual artists, the artist is left to either incur all expenses or find other means of funding. That is where indiegogo.com  comes in!

Below is a detailed list of what your support will provide:

1)  2,700.00 Euro registration fee
2) 100.00 Euro for booking an extra place at the gala dinner for someone other than the artist
3) 100.00 Euro for the reservation of a 2011 catalogue
4) 2,160.00 Euro for participating with three works of art
5) 700.00 Euro for insurance of artwork
6) $1000.00 $ for the cost of shipment from NY to Florence, Italy.

7) $3,374.00 Flight, hotel, travel expenses to Italy for a week.

This all equals to 5,760.00 Euro=7,626.00US$ + 1,000US$ of shipping= 8,626.00US$, + $3,374.00, = $12,000.00  to participate in this event.

Indiegogo has provided me with a new way of bringing people closer to my work, and to reach my goal to fund my participation in this event. This pledge campaign will end on June 8th, 2011.

The rewards are structured so that participants at each funding level will receive a meaningful piece of original artwork plus my deepest and sincere appreciation. All notecards, prints and, of course, paintings,  are exclusive, uniquely hand-made, original and beautiful. Over the course of the funding timeline Ill update backers on my progress and any upcoming news.

Other Ways You Can Help

Thanks so much for your consideration and participation. Please share this site message with your contacts and family, and you can use the "Share" buttons for the social media to get out the word!  Also, if you would like to contact me to set up a gift privately or on behalf of an organization, please feel free to do that as well.

Take a look at the right sidebar on this page, with the different level tiers you can choose to support this project with, and just click on the corresponding link--it's that easy!!  You get a beautiful piece of artwork and can have the satisfaction of knowing you helped to facilitate global dialogue, and promote artistic interests on behalf of the U.S.A.!

Thanks for your help,

Hilary

Support an Artist??          Florence Biennale 2011