WHEN: On Friday, November 4, 2016, Alaskans will once again be able to embrace our 100Stone family on the gorgeous grounds of Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage. Join us on this day to celebrate the surviving "stones" of last winter's installation. Explore them in their new setting, and in a more personal way—as Your Own. 

WHAT: We of 100Stone Project and the Alaska Humanities Forum are so proud to announce that we have joined forces to build a fund that will amplify another Alaskan artist's creative voice as the 100Stone family's voice has been. Through your purchase and sponsorship of the surviving 100Stone family of "stones" you will be directly contributing the elevation of another artist's storytelling. 

HOW: As a purchaser, you will be able to take your "stone" to a forever-home in your personal gardens. As a sponsor, you will contribute to a collection that will become a permanent part of our community, for all of us to visit. Or, by buying a 100Stone gift—handmade hoodies, amulets, or prints—you will be able to contribute to a pool of sponsorship dollars. All contributions will be made online. **The web launch for all contributions will be 11/21/16 at 12:00PM ADST, the 1st anniversary of the completion of the installation. 

This installation of the 100Stone Survivors will be on view at APU until the end of the year. 

BACKGROUND: 100Stone is a statewide creative civic engagement and social art project enabling hundreds of Alaskan individuals, families and communities to capture personal stories of struggles with wellness management in sculptural form. At its completion, this project installed a population of 85 human figures into winter ice shelf of Point Woronzof, Anchorage. Each figure was sculpted from and by people who have been directly affected by persistent emotional pressures, working in burlap, plaster, cement and straw. They are the physical encapsulation of hundreds of unique experiences of emotional conditions such as trauma, grief, chronic illness, mental illness, substance abuse, and other difficult life circumstances, and our powerful stories of resilience in the face of the marathon that is self-care and management. 

On December 5, 2015 and the 5 following months, hundreds involved in the making of these figures, and thousands in our surrounding communities, joined as witnesses to our collective stories. As we looked out on the creations of our Alaskan brothers and sisters we saw a landscape of fearlessness and truth, made by hundreds. We recognized its terrific power and beauty as something that has emerged from within each one of us. It was there in that moment in space and time, where we felt the effects of what we made—an authentic transformation of how we see ourselves and each other—and embedded in our visceral memory what it is like to be fully seen as we are and celebrated by our fellows. It was a divine moment of liberation from the stigma, shame and isolation associated with the marathon that is mental health management. It was about life, not death. 

We are all connected, not through tragedy and darkness, but through the beauty and light of our choral expression of truth. 

Let the shift in attitude and approach toward those of us who suffer continue with Us as we amplify another great Alaskan voice of our community.

For more information on what we're doing visit www.100stoneproject.com/thefund

Remember, without you this cannot work. Please send invitations to everyone you know.

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