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Top 8 Reasons to Attend RAMP's 11th Annual Art Raffle

The 11th Annual Art Raffle hosted by the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP) will be held on Sunday, April 21, 2013 starting at 3:00 p.m. at Windham Antique Center in downtown Bellows Falls. A $25.00 ticket can lead to winning one of the artworks. Food and wine will be available.

TOP 8 Reasons to Attend:

1. Chance to win original artwork from Steven Procter, Charlie Hunter, Deborah Lazar, Phyllis Rosser, Natalie Blake or 50 other artists work for a ticket price of only $25
2. Meet artists, and fellow art lovers
3. Enjoy great food and drink
4. Be entertained with local musicians
5. Chance to win a one of a kind gift
6. Get inspired by original artwork
7. Meet and talk to artists up close and personal
8. It's worth it -- Support RAMP and local artists

Background: RAMP was founded in 1995 to convey an important message: artists and the arts are essential to the revitalization and sustainability of rural communities. To this end, RAMP focuses on the importance of developing affordable live/work spaces, hosting quarterly regional Artist Town Meetings that bring artists, artisans and local food growers together as a constituency, supporting public art initiatives and participating on a variety of boards of directors in order to ensure that the arts are represented and involved in policy making.

RAMP's founding director is Robert McBride who moved to Bellows Falls from San Francisco, through New York City where he lived for twenty-five years, and was a founding member of PS122 an alternate art space on the Lower East Side. He feels strongly that rural life and small communities offer a unique opportunity for residents to directly participate in shaping their own community.

McBride says: "The 11h Annual Art Raffle is a great opportunity for the community to come together. It is exciting for both the artists and the people who purchase raffle tickets. "The quality of the art is very high, and the possibility of winning a piece of art is exciting to the people who purchase tickets. And at the end we feed you!"

The art raffle is an important part of RAMP's mission to develop an awareness of the arts, create vitality in the community through art, and demonstrate that art can favorably impact a community both financially and culturally. The raffle is an opportunity to meet the artists and become part of the creative arts community.

Tickets are $25 each or 5 for $100 and can be purchased online. You need not be present to win. For more information and accessibility inquiries call 802-463-3252 or email: ramp@sover.net.

The Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts support RAMP.

Over the past decades RAMP has focused on the arts as a cultural and economic tool in revitalizing Bellows Falls and the region. Our successes include:

• The Exner Block providing 10 affordable live/work spaces for artists


• Public Art: Murals, Bread and Puppet Theater Residency, The Millennium Project, Public Art Moving Site, Music for Trains, Bellows Falls: Action Conversations


• Developing Creative Economy Initiatives emphasizing downtown development where artists play a vital role


• Project Space 9 providing a venue for artists to exhibit


• Artists Town Meetings bringing artists together in the region

We are asking you, as artists, to participate in our 10th Annual Art Raffle. This is RAMP's big, annual fundraiser that allows us to continue and develop new programming and partnerships which all adds up to insuring that Art Makes a Difference in our community.

How our art raffle works: Each artist who donates one piece of work (painting, drawing, weaving, ceramics, weaving, cds, etc.) gets one raffle ticket in return, which means one chance to win! Artist work will be promoted on the RAMP website. An opening for the artwork will be held 2 weeks before the Art Raffle event RAMP sells tickets to the public for $25 each or 5 for $100. At the raffle, tickets are drawn. If your ticket is called, you select a piece of artwork to keep. Tickets continue to be drawn until all the art work has been given away. In order to win, you or a designee must be present.

Pieces should be no larger than 30"x 42 " and ready for hanging. Please call us with any questions: 802.463.3252. Help us sustain the arts with your contribution!

Download the PDF submission form and support the cause.

RAMP was awarded a $7,000 challenge grant from the Vermont Arts Council to promote the arts through creative partnerships. The funds generated by this challenge specifically support RAMP's programming initiatives which allow RAMP to actively keep the arts involved in community development and share its model with other rural communities throughout Vermont and across the country.

As we embark upon our 17th year, RAMP continues to stay mission focused involving the Exner Block, Project Space 9 Gallery in creative collaborations with other arts organizations and businesses, participating on boards of directors and annually making trips to Washington, DC and Montpelier to speak with legislators about how artists and the arts contribute to making vital, sustainable communities. Recently RAMP was recently recognized with the Bernice Murray Award from the Vermont Community Development Association.

For music coming to town:
www.stonechurcharts.org/Concerts.html
www.vermontfestivalsllc.com
www.rootsontherail.com
www.popolomeanspeople.com

Join the RAMP Google group list serv at www.ramp-vt.org. Click on Google group, once subscribed, you will receive art announcements. You can also post art info to share with the group. Join the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project facebook page and share you art events.

I thank you in advance for helping us make our Vermont Arts Council challenge and believing that Art Makes a Difference! I apologize if you have received this appeal in duplicate or have already responded. To make a donation online please use the Donate button in the left column.

Sincerely,
Robert McBride, Founding Director
December 2012