S: Is for Striking Back at AIDS

One of my favorite places to go rummaging is a thrift store and what better than a thrift store with a cause. When I moved to NY I got my couch at this great store that was trying to stop the spread of a little known disease called AIDS. I know it seems that a lot of my columns are pertaining to this subject, maybe it is because it has touched my life so personally. Maybe it is because of Rudy Giuliani running for president. In 1998 members of Housing Works, a nonprofit group that had challenged Mr. Giuliani's AIDS policies, marched near City Hall. The police placed snipers atop City Hall during the march and monitored it by helicopter. Giuliani literally and figuratively took aim at Housing Works and poor New Yorkers struggling with AIDS and homelessness. Why the show of force? Giuliani was retaliating because Housing Works had dared to criticize his administration's backwards AIDS policies.Ironically, Giuliani's brutal tactics helped Housing Works grow. They forced the non profit to focus on entrepreneurship. Opening new Thrift Shops, they expanded their client services. They have helped over 10,000 poor people living with AIDS in the decade since. They have won numerous groundbreaking lawsuits protecting the rights of people living with AIDS. Today their earned income accounts for 84 percent of their annual budget, while government contracts only account for 12 percent. Whether you shop at their numerous Thrift Shops, go to concerts at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, hire their catering company The Works to cater an event, volunteer, advocate or write a check, you are one of the reasons Housing Works remains independent and strong.

Housing Works strives to ensure that homeless and low-income people living with HIV/AIDS and their families have adequate housing, food, social support, drug treatment, health care, and employment. Housing Works is especially committed to serving those who have difficulty obtaining services elsewhere because they struggle with mental illness or chemical dependency.
"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control." Aggressive advocacy in opposition to policies and institutions harmful to people living with HIV/AIDS and aggressive advocacy in support of policies and institutions aimed at improving the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS.

This is an epidemic and we have turned our eyes away if we are not effected. Like H&M and other organizations, it is not hard to give when it also provides a needed item. AIDS is a F.A.C.T. and it is not going away.

T: Is for the Thespis Theatre Guide

To navigate into the acting world of New York City you need some powerful tools. Most new actors who come to the city are not prepared for the bombardment of what lies ahead. A new company called Thespis launched the best pocket resource guide I have seen to date at the EIE convention on January 27th. It is called the 2008 Actor's Ultimate Resource Guide for New York City . This guide offers over 60 categories of listings with 100s of resources so you don’t have to do the searching. Under "The Business of Acting" you will find: Accompanists, Accountants, Agents, Business Gifts, Career Coaches, Casting Directors, Costume Rentals, Demo Recordings, Demo Reels, Digital Accompaniment, Industry Websites and that is just up to the I's. This is a complete A-Z index of what you will need. Did you ever think there were so many things to think of? Then there's training. Acting Schools/Studios, Coaches/Classes, Dance Training/Studios, Dialect Coaches, Stage Combat Training, Vocal Coaches, Vocal Teachers and Voice Over Classes.

Wait there's more! Performance Venues, Related Entertainment, Living in New York City and Union Information. Need to get around? Tracking/Contact sheets, City Maps (with addresses), Subway/Bus Maps, LIRR and Metro North.

So you get the audition and you have appointments A 7 Day Planner allows you to keep track and there are discounts that save you a bundle.

The purchase price is $28 though if you buy it now there is a savings. Call 203-595-0392 or log onto www.thespis-nyc.com and you too can be in the know and that is a F.A.C.T.

C: Is for the giving of Children

Fashion week is about to start and before it does I'd like to focus on a A 10-year-old entrepreneur who is making a difference. We all have to wear clothes, so why not fashion that gives back. Dasia Dawson has no training, she's only 10 and has a book of sketches filled with designs for jeans, jewelry and other clothing. A few years ago she had an idea to take her nickname "Tutu" and turn it into something her peers can learn from. Recently she launched a jewelry line called TUTU Luv Me, which she hopes to expand into a full clothing line later this year. Tutu stands for teach you, teach us, teaching young girls how to love themselves. "You're teaching people how to love themselves. Like I won't have sex because I love me. I will eat right because I love me and it goes on and on". "The larger influence is not just about the apparel it's about the meaning behind it, it's about the upliftment of young girls and even boys," Marcus Dawson, Dasia's father. In just a short eight months of producing the "apparel with meaning" as they call it, they've sold hundreds of Tutu jewels and have even given a portion of the profit to Dawson's elementary school. Starting February 22 Dasia and her family plan to hold monthly workshops at the Kennedy Center that will feature positive role models for girls. The family plans to produce T-shirts this summer that will bear the brand name on the front and TUTU Luv Me slogans — “Do good in school because I Luv Me” or “No drugs because I Luv Me,” for instance — on the back. It's kind of a way of teaching them, without teaching them”. Dasia said she got the design bug from her father, who founded Motoco Inc., a clothing line for men and women. She has designed three pieces of jewelry so far: a bracelet with a heart charm, a necklace with a heart charm and a dog-tag style necklace, also with a charm. The charms are filled with lip gloss. The TUTU campaign is explained on the jewelry boxes. The items sell for $22 each. Dasia's father is currently in negotiations to have the items sold at area Target stores. The items will soon be available online. A Web site, www.tutuluvme.com, and hope to have blogs where young girls can discuss various topics. It doesn't matter what your age is. Anyone can make a difference and that is a F.A.C.T.

A: Is for Art on Trial

Todays column takes art to a new level. I have always stated that with the outrageous prices that the medium commands, there had to be tax evasion nearby. On Thursday Federal agents raided the Mingei International Museum in Balboa, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana and the UC Berkeley Art Museum confiscating more than 70 items illegally obtained. This federal investigation involves stolen ancient Thai artifacts and you guessed it, tax fraud. A five-year probe culminated yesterday when agents searched four of the five museums and two Los Angeles-area art galleries. All suspected to some degree of fraud. Sidner and Terri Bryson, the Mingei’s registrar, are named in the affidavit, which links the scams to a single smuggling suspect, Bob Olson of Los Angeles, and Los Angeles art dealer Jon Markell, who owns the Silk Roads gallery with his wife. The affidavit states: Olson and Markell sold stolen Thai artifacts to an undercover agent with the National Park Service who posed as an artifacts dealer, arranging for the agent to donate the items to the Mingei in exchange for a tax deduction.

The items were routinely overvalued by appraisers.

A 10,000-year-old stone ax head, for example, is worth $150 but could be donated to certain museums at an appraised value of $1,000 or more.

But some donations were routinely valued at less than $5,000 so that an appraisal to support the tax deduction weren’t required.

The court records list several examples of donations valued at just under $5,000, including at least three from the undercover agent to the Mingei: $4,985 in June 2006, $4,900 in March 2007 and $4,915 later that month.

No estimates were given for the other museums. Martha Longenecker, the Mingei’s founder, who led the museum until late 2005, was taken aback by the developments. Authorities made more specific allegations in the cases involving the Bowers Museum and the Pacific Asia Museum. Bowers chief curator Armand Labbe is now deceased. The funneled loot suspected of landing at the Mingei comes from the Ban Chiang culture, which existed from 1000 B.C. to about 200 A.D. in northeastern Thailand. The original location of the Ban Chiang culture was named a World Heritage Site in 1992 and is considered the most important prehistoric settlement in Southeast Asia. The first Ban Chiang object had come into the collection courtesy of Labbe, who was a supporter of the Mingei. Labbe introduced Longenecker and Sidner to the Markells, who facilitated other donations of Ban Chiang works. The Mingei is an unusual folk-art museum founded 30 years ago by Longenecker, a San Diego ceramic artist. The word “mingei” comes from the Japanese words for people, min, and art, gei. The museum displays “arts of daily use,” which might be an ornate Mexican plate made by a long-dead craftsman or Japanese origami by a contemporary designer. The museum started collecting Thai objects in 1998. It has amassed dozens of artifacts, including pottery, bronze bangles and bracelets, and shell and stone pieces. The Museum had expected to mount an exhibit, to be called “Ban Chiang, Art of Ancient Thailand,” on March 1. Now, with many of those pieces under investigation, the exhibit is on hold and these are the F.A.C.T.S.

F: Is for Fashion Giving Back

Just when I thought H&M couldn't get much cooler they have stepped up to support the fight against AIDS. Thy have joined forces with Designers Against AIDS - a project by the non-profit organization 'Beauty without Irony' to raise awareness about the disease. This Swedish based company has commissioned artists to contribute designs in hopes that their celebrity will add a heightened awareness. The artists taking part in “Fashion Against AIDS” are Rihanna, Chicks on Speed, Good Charlotte, Henrik Vibskov, Jade Jagger, Justice, Katharine Hamnett, My Chemical Romance, Rufus Wainwright, Scissor Sisters, The Cardigans, Tiga, Timbaland and Ziggy Marley. Supporting the Fashion Against AIDS campaign was a great way to encourage my fans to join me in the fight against HIV/AIDS. I love that H&M is providing a fashionable and easy way for young people all over the world to get involved in this worthy cause, “says Rihanna. Twenty-five per cent of the line's proceeds will go toward HIV/AIDS-prevention programs around the world. “Every fifteen seconds someone in the 15-24 age group contracts HIV/AIDS. Shopping has never been more important. Every garment sold makes a difference”, says Kate Roberts, the founder of YouthAIDS. The initiative for this collaborative venture was taken by Designers Against AIDS (DAA), a non-profit organisation that seeks to mould public opinion through collaboration with fashion designers, musicians and other artists. The tees, tanks and hoodies are all made of 100-per-cent organic cotton and feature designs that vary from understated to brash. Affordably ranging from $7.99-$19.99. Some of the prints are subtle and “whisper” the message such as Good Charlotte’s design which includes a young couple under a red umbrella. Other prints raise their voices, including Katharine Hamnett’s “Use a Condom!” and “Stop and Think” messaging in big, black, block lettering. Tiga’s checkered print calls for quiet reflection, highlighting multiple squares in a different color to represent those that are living with HIV/AIDS. The message behind the campaign is summed up by Henrik Vibskov’s print design which states, “Be aware – it is still happening.”The collection will be available at selected locations starting Jan. 31 and I for one will be wearing at least one of these and that is a F.A.C.T.