Funding, Flowers, and Future Generations

On Valentine's Day, Brian and I went out for a great dinner at Tapas. Amongst many other things, we talked about the fact that we will need to find sustainable funding in order to continue these art-based cultural exchanges. It is amazing to think that, since 2001, the war in Iraq has cost $1,302,953,143,821 and it is growing by the second. The number exceeds my imagination. In contrast, it is nearly impossible for artists to find any funding at all (thank you to Nazareth College and to the University of Rochester for making this cultural exchange possible). I have started a folder of grant applications organized by deadline. Thus far, after a significant amount of research, the total is six. We will apply for every one, along with thousands of other artists. I often ask myself what would happen if we transferred .001% of the funds from the war budget to artists who were interested in promoting international peace. Like the number I mentioned above (which has increased by over $1,000,000 since I started writing this paragraph), I cannot conceive of what would happen if we split the budget half and half. If anyone has questions about whether or not international art collaborations are affective, read the following message that Brian and I received from Rasheed upon coming back to the house after our Valentine's Day dinner:


HAPPY VALANTINE DAY
Dear Sisters and Brothers Good Wishes.

Today, the valentine day  is celebrated throughout the world where the well wishers share the aspirations of love, affection and paternity to each other. 

Though we are living in a region where on daily bases the human beings are tortured and persecuted but in spite of all this, I on behalf of all the tribal people living in FATA present the sweet gifts of love, affection and brotherhood. Our people are presented through media, as the most barbarians and warring ones but in fact our people do not believe and discriminate on the bases of religion, race color and caste. We are more loving and respect humanity.

I suggest to all of you to show these loving gifts to all of your family members particularly to your children and tell them that we the tribal people show respect and brotherhood. We have taught our children and other fellow citizens that extend full respect, honor and love to those peace loving people who have nothing to do with wars, genocide, terrorisms and other hateful things. We and you all should come closer to each other to promote peace, love and affection and make this world a better place of living to love each other.

Rasheed Mohmand Advocate


Thank you to EVERYONE who has sent us a letter to a future generation. By doing so, you are making a significant contribution to the success of this exchange. The installation does not function without these letters, so we greatly appreciate your participation!  
For those of you who are still interested in becoming involved, all you need to do is write a letter that starts "Dear Future Generation" and ends with your name, city, and country. Email the letter to hlayton@mail.rochester.edu. Thank you again and stay tuned for images of the installation as it progresses!