Down the Rabbit Hole

6 - 8:30pm May 31, 2012

Please help us provide art supplies for the artists of the future! The Ramn C Cortines School Visual Arts Academy fundraising party will be Down the Rabbit Hole, an Art Auction and Surrealist Caf. We are going to have a variety of Lewis Carroll and Surrealist related art projects organized into a French street theme with several shops. Students and artists will be creating Surrealist, or what you will, artworks for our silent auction. We expect an attendance of 500 people. The main party will be serving complimentary coffee, tea, beverages and desserts with paid admission. Dinner will be available at a food truck rally adjacent to the event with food trucks donating a portion of their profits to the Visual Arts Academy. The Art Auction and Surrealist Caf will include an art auction, refreshments, live music, an opportunity drawing, and a costume contest. It will be a festive family event for our community and art collectors, which will follow the opening of our spring visual arts exhibition, Art on Cloud 9. The student exhibition will be open for viewing from 4-8pm. Last year, our students found creating the same project as professional artists and showing side by side with them one of the most rewarding part of their school year. The theme of this fundraiser encourages our students to engage with artists and art history, so in addition to earning much needed budget, it becomes a valuable learning experience. Dates to Note: April 10 SPONSORSHIP COMMITMENT NEEDED To be included in our publicity, we will need a firm commitment for our postcards, posters, websites, social media, and press releases. EVENT: Thursday, May 31 Down the Rabbit Hole Party and Art Auction from 6- 8:30 pm. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. The student exhibition Art on Cloud 9 will be held on the same day from 4-8pm adjacent to Down the Rabbit Hole. Art on Cloud 9 is free and open to the public. 100% of the proceeds from this fundraiser will directly go to the Visual Arts Academy classrooms and into the hands of young artists. Our goal is to raise $20,000. For the Visual Arts and to fund supplies and field trips for the coming school year. We are a booster organization run by parents, students and teachers.

About our students and our school:

This year our school was renamed Ramn C Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts. We have had a great year. We won 53 awards in the Scholastic Art competition, with two students earning national recognition. Currently we have an intern working at LACMA and one of our students just worked with Cai Guo-Quiang at MOCA. One of our students just won the city-wide African American Heritage poster contest. This fall we have had presentations from over 15 art schools and now we have great news from colleges with our students being accepted at Columbia University, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Otis, Maryland Institute of Art, most of the UCs and CSUs, and more great news each day. We need your help in supporting the artists of tomorrow and creating the school they deserve. The Visual Arts Academy serves 400 students from grade 9-12. We are an audition-free public school and we serve community students from downtown Los Angeles, as well as a large number of students who choose to commute to our campus from all over Los Angeles. We are a tuition free public school and we give access to students who have never had advantage or access to enrichment. Our students have the opportunity to take as many as 12 arts electives over their time in high school. We have a foundation program that encourages students to explore different ideas and media before picking their own focus in the junior and senior years. Our students are given college preparation as well as exposure to careers in the fine and commercial arts. This fundraiser seeks to raise the money needed to provide our students with enough art materials that they can thrive as young artists. Your donation of artwork will go 100% to the students at our school. None of it will go to administration or salaries. We have very little funding for art materials or field trips, and being a public school we cannot charge students for materials. Our goal is to give our students the materials they need to thrive as artists, and field trips to the surrounding museums and colleges so that they are prepared to be leading citizens of the future. Approximately 70% of our students are on free or reduced lunch programs. You will be helping us provide much needed art supplies and school supplies. This is a unique situation. Our students are already becoming the artists of tomorrow. One in seven jobs in Los Angeles Co are in arts related fields. Please encourage our students with your support. Thank you so much for supporting our young artists! Julie McManus Ramn C Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts 450 N. Grand Ave Los Angeles, CA 90012 cortines.visual.arts@gmail.com Best method of contact is email 213.217.8727 Leave a message with the Visual Arts Office and I will return your call Vision Statement Ramon C Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts offers the highest caliber of academic and arts education, while providing students the opportunity to access the rich cultural vibrancy of the Los Angeles arts community. We aim to instill the essence of community by fostering lifelong learning and appreciation of the arts. Mission Statement Ramon C Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts is committed to serving a diverse and historically underserved student population drawn from both local community and district-wide aspiring artists. Our academies, Visual Arts, Theatre Arts, Music and Dance, provide an exemplary arts education and develop the self-confidence and artistic potential of all students by engaging them in a vision of high expectations and excellence in academics and in art.