Join Us This Year For “Plant The Seed.”
What a year it’s been. The video and sound studios are ready for filming Mat Bevel: Junk Evangelist. We’ve delivered a fourth unit of The Universe Within called Making Music at Patagonia Elementary School. Unit one of The Universe Within was taught as part of a new Makerspace at the Patagonia Public Library. And we’ve expanded communications for the Morley Arts District as part of advancing a creative economy in Santa Cruz County, Arizona.
This year we ask you to plant a seed to help us achieve our programmatic goals for the 2024-2025 year:
- Launch ongoing video shorts of Mat Bevel: Junk Evangelist’s theatrical content from the Surrealistic Pop Science Theater and Museum Of Kinetic Art
- Enhance all four units of The Universe Within STEAM world-building curriculum by integrating more technology, electronics and advanced materials into activities to make the program more Bevel-esque
- Establish Santa Cruz County’s first Makerspace in partnership with the Patagonia Public Library through The Universe Within program
- Continue to provide strategic planning and communications to the Morley Arts District in Nogales, Arizona
Plant a seed today. If you enjoy what you see, share it with your friends and family. Consider making a gift, too.
Make a donation in any amount to support all of the programs listed below on this page.
Matching Gift Challenge: June 9-20, 2024
We have great news to share with you today! Thanks to the generosity of Jack Zittere, art and science nonprofit Mat Bevel Company currently has a matching gift challenge underway during our annual June fundraiser, called Plant The Seed. Every donation made between today and June 20, will grow dollar for dollar, doubling your impact!
We asked Jack why he decided to step up and make the matching gift challenge for a second year in a row. Here’s what he told us:
“In a society where we get caught behind paywalls and subscriptions, I like that Mat Bevel Company offers its creativity programs for free. Heck, I can’t even watch professional sports on TV anymore for free! But really, more than that, it’s inspiring to see people, especially kids, being ultra creative, resourceful, smart, and inspirational. I love seeing kids who participate in The Universe Within and Mat Bevel Company Founder Ned Schaper’s grandkids, who he co-creates with, come up with original ideas and brilliant solutions. As a sustainability professional, I’m thrilled to see all the resourcefulness and out-of-the-box thinking being taught to young people, because they are our future. When kids work with materials and their hands, they become connected to the physical world, to art, science and nature. That’s why I support the work that Mat Bevel Company is doing.”
SOW A SEED:
Mat Bevel, The Junk Evangelist
SOW A SEED:
The Universe Within STEAM curriculum
SOW A SEED:
The Morley Arts District Marketing Effort
Mat Bevel: Junk Evangelist.
What’s Next for 2024-2025?
With all sets installed at our new home, we’ll be launching 1-minute videos each week from the world of Beveldom featuring Ned Schaper’s Surrealistic Science Theater!
The Universe Within.
What’s Next for 2024-2025?
We’ll be adding electronics, software and more advanced materials to all four units of The Universe Within and helping to establish a new Makerspace at the Patagonia Public Library.
Morley Arts District.
Building on three years of collaborative work with key stakeholders in the Morley Arts District, Mat Bevel Company will engage with the community through creative placemaking, to enhance the economic and social vitality of the area. Feedback from community members and stakeholders is a cornerstone of the organization’s engagement strategy, ensuring that all efforts remain responsive and relevant. As part of this process, we will convene and lead all stakeholders in creative capacity building so that we can determine an operating structure, secure funding, engage more of the community (artists, government, community, etc.) and expand art products.
What’s Next for 2023-2024?
More communications and marketing for the Morley Arts District including artist blogs, social media presence, newsletters and a downtown mural walking tour!
Invest In Art & Science That Inspires The Imagination!
Our programs spark the creative genius in people through found-object kinetic art, surrealistic pop theater, hands-on discovery learning, and multimedia art productions to dispel the common myth that creative genius is a talent only a few possess. To fulfill this mission, we produce and present original fine art, teach the next generation of youth how to invent and create, and serve artists and arts organizations who are revitalizing communities through the creative economy.
Our work dispels a common myth that creative genius is a talent only a few possess. In fact, Dr. George Land’s work proved that 98% of people are born with abundant creative genius potential, but by young adulthood, that genius has plummeted to 2% because we stop using the imagination. Through our programs, people discover new ways to use their imaginations to solve problems, generate original ideas and invent things that improve lives, communities and the world.
As an all-volunteer organization, we rely on in-kind services to develop and implement programming. But we need to hire artists, educators and technologists to help our volunteer team produce our creativity programs.
” Hello – I’m Daniella. This spring, we did Making Music from The Universe Within program with Miss Paula, Mr. CW and Mr. Connuck. We had so much fun and we got to make our own instruments from stuff that we find! We use our imagination to create cool and awesome instruments. Everyone thought that Making Music was really cool and fun. We all wrote in The Daily Doodle, our own journal about what we learned. At the end of the program all performed at the Opera House in Patagonia.”
“I’m Celia Bavier, Executive Director of Border Community Alliance. During the one-year Santa Cruz County ARPA grant in 2022 and continuing today, Mat Bevel Company serves in a strategic marketing role, convening stakeholders around our unified identity and goals. Our partnership with Mat Bevel Company helped our organization advance towards its financial goals by developing a new communications platform between partnering organizations and by increasing our visibility in Nogales through the new arts district website. The communication tools that MBC has built are going a long way to change the border narrative through a website, artist blogs, digital stories, social media and email marketing programs to broaden audiences and program participation.”
Gifts of all sizes are welcome. Every gift will be acknowledged on our website. If you’d like to send a donation by mail, please send your check to Mat Bevel Company to PO Box 1163, Patagonia, AZ 85624. Our Charitable Tax Number is: 13-4012463. Thank you for your support!
There are many ways you can support Plant The Seed:
INFRASTRUCTURE: Mortgage payments ($2,250/month) and one-time purchase and installation of a heating/cooling two-ton mini-splits so we can film this summer ($3,000/unit)
TEACHERS & STUDENTS: Teacher stipends ($1,500/teacher), materials and supplies for STEAM Kits ($1,000) and student scholarships for The Universe Within ($100/student)
ARTISTS & ARTS ORGANIZATIONS: Preparing one newsletter ($1,000), writing an artist blog post ($400) and Search Engine Optimization preparation on one page of the MorleyArts.org website ($250)