We love hearing about all the wonderful, uplifting things our incredible Zephyr alumni do to make the world a better place – and we never stop being amazed and inspired by you!
One such inspiring alumna is Lindsey Matheson, whom Zephyr has the pleasure of partnering with to support a fantastic cause that is close to both of our hearts – saving endangered and threatened species.
Lindsey is the Founder and Curator of the ENDANGERED: Fine Art & Photography Contest, a project that supports the Center for Great Apes – a remarkable sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees (both of which are endangered species) who have been rescued from the entertainment industry, from research labs and from domestic situations where they can no longer be cared for.
The following is an invitation from Lindsey to learn more about this exciting contest and how to get involved:
Zephyr Adventures takes you to amazing places where you appreciate the environment in an eco-sensitive way. Vacations with Zephyr in Bhutan, the Amazon, the Galapagos Islands and even Ohio have inspired and introduced me to beautiful, precious habitats and species I have never seen before.
On these trips, I have met people who have captured these wonderful places and their wildlife in photographs and some have been inspired to paint and draw what they have seen. So I thought some of Zephyr’s adventurers might enjoy using their experience and talents to benefit wildlife in another way, by entering the annual ENDANGERED Fine Art & Photography Contest.
The ENDANGERED Fine Art & Photography Contest is an online, juried contest that offers $7,000 in prize money and places in an exhibition in Miami during Art Week, December 6-9th, 2017. Your images will be published on our website and on social media over the coming year (with appropriate attribution to protect your copyright). The contest benefits the Center for Great Apes, an amazing Florida-based sanctuary offering lifelong care to orangutans and chimpanzees.
The challenge is to interpret or reflect ENDANGERED through either:
-
- Celebration of the beauty of endangered or threatened species/habitats or
- Illustration of the threats facing endangered species/habitats.
Species do not have to be formally listed as endangered in order to be eligible for this contest as long as an element of threat exists.
We encourage interpretations of “ENDANGERED” in art, sculpture, jewelry, wearable art and photography, whatever form your inspiration takes. We have a special category for Young Artists with birthdays on or after October 1st, 1998.
The deadline this year is October 8th, 2017.
Please see full details below and visit www.art4apes.com. to enter the contest.
Email lindsey@art4apes.com with any questions.
You may submit as many entries as you want. Each entry is up to two (2)
images for consideration by the jury accompanied by a donation of $35 ($5
per image for Young Artists). One Hundred percent (100%) of the donation
goes directly to the Center for Great Apes.
All proceeds from the contest and exhibition support the Center for Great Apes, a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit organization. The Center for Great Apes provides a permanent sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees who have been rescued or retired from the entertainment industry, from research, or who are no longer wanted as pets. The Center provides care with dignity in a safe, healthy, and enriching environment for great apes in need of lifetime care.
The Center cares for 47 orangutans and chimpanzees and is the only accredited sanctuary for orangutans in North America. Bubbles, the chimpanzee formerly owned by Michael Jackson, was the inspiration for this contest. Bubbles paints beautiful canvases as part of his enrichment program. Some of the apes use specially adapted iPads to produce unique and interesting artwork.
The sanctuary receives no government funding and we have to raise all the money we need ourselves. It costs approximately $20,000 to care for each ape for a year. So we need all the help we can get.
Please visit the Center’s website to learn more about these fascinating and highly intelligent apes.
ALL donations, including contest entry fees, go directly to support the Center. We fund our events through commercial sponsorships, board members’ private donations and volunteers’ generous, in-kind support.
Please enter the ENDANGERED Fine Art & Photography Contest with your images from Zephyr Adventures tours and help care for the remarkable orangutans and chimpanzees at the Center for Great Apes.
Enter at www.Art4Apes.com. Questions? Lindsey@Art4Apes.com
Deadline for entry: 8th October 2017
Join us on social media:
Twitter: @Art4Apes
Facebook: facebook.com/Art4Apes
Google+: plus.google.com/+Art4Apes
Instagram: instagram.com/Art4Apes