World Vision recognizes the power of visual art as a way to communicate, which knows no boundaries across cultures, languages, and worldviews.  It can communicate the need to respond to child sponsorship, real-life issues of extreme poverty and social injustice, the global sex trade, or the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  Visual art can inspire – and yes, even cast a vision of hope.

That’s why The Art of Helping Others has joined World Vision’s artist affiliate program, to invite visual artists, photographers and others in the visual arts to join this creative collective – to participate in group thematic exhibits and other events that advocate child sponsorship and ultimately, practice the art of helping others.  It will be a brilliant way for artists to show and sell their work, and help those that lack the ability or opportunity to help themselves in communities worldwide.

Perhaps you are or know of a visual artist or photographer that would be interested in learning more about what we plan to do and would want to get involved.  If so, invite them to connect with me at douglas@theartofhelpingothers.com for more information.

Follow The Art of Helping Others on Twitter or join our Facebook fan page.  Art.  Awareness.  Activism.

What’s the largest U.S. based international relief and development organization?  Save the Children, CARE?  While both are great mainstream humanitarian organizations, it’s World Vision, a Seattle-based Christian organization, which has 40,000 staff members in almost 100 countries – more staff than Save the Children, CARE and the United States Agency for International Development – combined.

The article also includes quotes from the head of World Vision, Richard Stearns book, “The Hole in Our Gospel” and other insights from columnist Nichols Kristof.  I want to encourage you to read the article and post your comments here. The Art of Helping Others: Art. Awareness. Activism.

Earlier this month, The Art of Helping Others website was voted #46 of the top 100 sites

Nonetheless, we thought we’d share links to some of our more conversational topics for your perusal and comments.

Painting by Faith not Sight

Silence is the Real Crime Against Humanity

Defining Your Art

All Art is an Apprenticeship

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No doubt the world has changed since then and sometimes it feels as if it’s leaning from its axis making the gravitational pull on my heart enormous.

The world is more global and our lives more interconnected than ever before, but have our lives and what we choose to do and choose not to do really changed that much?  Perhaps – or maybe we’re content with simply being content.

But what if you really wanted to change the world or at least the world around you?  Stop this very moment, breathe deeply, exhale and take an intentional 360-degree view of your world.  What do you see that needs to change?

What difference can you make in your life or in others?  If only you’d take the first step of faith and see that nothing really is impossible.  This doesn’t involve writing a business plan or being clever, but it does involve your heart and passion – unless you only want to live a passionless life.

Changing the world could simply mean being there for someone who needs you not to give advice and just listen with your ears – and your heart.  Or gathering a group of like-minded people to work together on a project, something that could have a ripple effect in your community carrying itself to the other side of your country – or even around the world impacting others lives.

Feel the gravitational pull on your heart?  Then, I dare you to step forward and change the world.

Order The Art of Helping Others new T-shirt or other cool items like our embroidered ball cap, 2010 calendar or visit our online merchandise store for other products.  You can also purchase our new hardcover book as a holiday gift for someone or order a fine art print.

Remember; up to 25% of the net proceed from sales benefit International Justice Mission and World Vision, which positively impact communities worldwide.

Maybe it’s been a bad year for you, for me; but it’s been worse for those far less fortunate because they never had jobs to lose or enough food to feed their families.

While the poor will always be with us, let’s not let that become a mantra of acceptance or excuse to do little or next to nothing.  To ignore the poor and their great need only exposes the depth of our own inner poverty.

Be an advocate of influence and an agent of change.  Consider making a donation to The Art of Helping Others, or purchase an art print, T-shirt, other available merchandise or our new book to increase the funding we can contribute to charitable humanitarian organizations.  Thanks for joining with us to practice the art of helping others.

Days later, an email arrives in my inbox from him saying that obviously we see things from different perspectives and approaches, and that he will not share with his audience about what we do.  That was it – done and dusted, no other explanation.  Initially, I was a bit disappointed, but really – mostly perplexed.

I’m okay not getting a mention on his blog, but idealist that I am, what troubled me most is I had hoped that in the arts, culture, faith, current events – you know, wherever or whatever direction your political, economic, geographic, religious, cause-related compass points, that ultimately, there would be room enough for diversity and discussion.  Yes, feel free to pity idealists like me…

What do I take from this as I walk away and glance over my shoulder?  For some people, there may be room enough for diversity in the matter of opinion – as long as it aligns with their own, but unfortunately dialogue doesn’t always seem to be a part of the process, and that is indeed a shame.  Why?  Because if we choose not to dialogue, how will we ever begin to understand one another and where we’re coming from.

If you’re inclined, let me know if there’s something I’ve missed.  Idealistically Yours.

It was once said, “Artists are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.”

Given all the talk of change in the States, what’s your opinion of this quote?  Do artists really fill the role ‘real architects of change’ and if so, what are you seeing to make you believe this?

One interesting topic of discussion at the conference that resonated with many of us was the thought of art as a hammer to shape culture.  This comes from the quote, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”  So what does that mean?  That’s a good question, which I may not have a watertight answer for – but I do have an opinion.

While I believe we should hold a mirror up to everyday life and reveal the reality – even the frailty of the human condition, we should pick up the hammer, be forward thinking, innovative and imaginative enough to be creatively dangerous, and shape our “circles of influence” in our communities, which will eventually affect culture itself.

So, what is the hammer?  I like to think in part it’s the words you write from the depths of your heart that inspire others, the lyric and melody of a song longing to be heard, a painter’s brush wielded with emotion and faith across a canvas, a moment in time captured through the photographer’s camera lens that needs no words yet leaves us in awe.  The dancer that dances first, then thinks later.  It’s the power of the arts to uncover truth.

Disregard what others expect of you or may think and employ the hammer passionately – use it differently than ever before.