Fundred Dollar Bill Project

The Fundred Dollar Bill Project is an art project implemented by the American artist Mel Chin. Its aim is to connect and represent the voices of children across the United States, with the end goal to propose a funding solution for the lead contamination in the soil of New Orleans, Louisiana.[1][2]

Description

People in the United States and around the globe are invited to draw their own 100 dollar bills on a template, and send them to regional collection centers or schools, for safekeeping.[3][4] During a nationwide road-trip in an armored truck, the Fundred Dollar Bills will be collected.[5] The Fundred Dollar Bills will be presented to Congress for an even exchange of U.S. dollars to help the remediation of lead in the soil of New Orleans. This funding supports Operation Paydirt, which is the program that, once implemented, will remediate the lead content in the soil, making it safe for inhabitants of New Orleans and cities affected by lead poisoning-across the United States.[6][7]

So far nearly half a million people have created and sent in their unique Fundred bills. The intention is to collect three million Fundred bills.[3]

Armored Truck Tour

Throughout 2010, students at hundreds of schools across the country created Fundred Dollar Bills that were picked up in a specially designed armored truck that runs on vegetable oil.[8] As students and educators handed their Fundreds over to truck guards for safekeeping, schools held events that raised awareness of the gravity and persistence of the lead in our environment. These events gave local elected officials and community organizations a chance to show their support for lead cleanup while giving local press brought the issue to larger audiences. At every stop the armored truck tour connected the national campaign for lead awareness. Each event around the country not only provided public and impassioned demonstrations against lead poisoning, but brought people together to make connections around this public health issue.[6]

Grand Rapids

In the fall of 2014, the ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan featuring the Fundred Dollar Bill Project, offered an opportunity to raise visibility of local lead issues and invite participation from the tends of thousands of expected visitors. Visitors to the exhibit sat at bank teller tables and drew their unique Fundreds. Once drawn, their Fundreds were added to hundreds of others on a wall in the exhibit, making their artful demonstrations part of the exhibit for its duration. In addition to creating a public display of action-oriented art, the Grand Rapids initiative brought together local public health specialists, educators, and scientists to talk about the challenges and solutions to lead poisoning in Grand Rapids.[6]

Art Academy in Cincinnati

In 2015, the Art Academy of Cincinnati partnered with the Fundred Dollar Bill Project and the Cincinnati Health Department Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program to create a course that used art and design to address and impact issues of lead contamination in Cincinnati. With the Fundred Dollar Bill Project as a common starting point and inspiration, students launched group projects to increase awareness of childhood lead poisoning and our ability to put an end to it. Students exhibited their projects at a publicly accessible end of semester block party. Students explored lead poisoning through dance performance and graphic design and created a learning-through-play area. The Health Department shared information about lead, and a public Fundred drawing table provided opportunity for attendees to sit together for conversation and to creatively put their values in action.[9]

Open Lab initiatives

Fundred Reserve Open Lab at H-Space, located in DC, is a space to expand the Fundred program by continuing to amplify personal stories, having fact based dialogue about problems in DC, and engaging more people to take purposeful action.

Open Lab continues the presence after the 2017 Fundred Reserve exhibition at The Corcoran. Open Lab programming runs from October through April 2018, with space provided by Hamiltonian Artists, and support from The Kresge Foundation through our partnership with MIT CoLab.

Exhibition

As an extension of Mel Chin's multi-venue exhibition, All Over the Place (April 8 - September 5, 2018), the Fundred Project is on view at the Queens Museum as part of the exhibition.[10]

References
  1. Abrams, Eve. "Fundred Dollar Bill Project Aims to Fix New Orleans' Lead-Contaminated Soil". WWNO/New Orleans Public Radio. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  2. "Mel Chin Named a New MacArthur Fellow". MIT Urban planning. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  3. Nahmad, Valerie. "MEL CHIN Brings the Fundred Project to Charlotte". McKnight Foundation. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  4. "Fundred Dollar Bill Project holds residence at Torpedo Factory Art Center". Fairfax Times. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  5. "The Fundred Dollar Bill Project (photo essay)". Press Democrat. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  6. Gordon, Melissa Saenz (23 October 2019). "Mel Chin's Fundred Project Takes the Next Step". Art21 Magazine. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  7. "Operation Pay Dirt, Fundred Dollar Bill Project". Art & Democracy. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  8. Mizota, Sharon (11 June 2010). "Artist's unique bill proposal for New Orleans restoration". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  9. "Our History". Fundred. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  10. "Fundreds All Over New York: Queens Museum and Locations Across the City". Queens Museum. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
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