Check out the full article on RAN’s youth blog, RYSE, here.

Call for Artists

Deadline: Wednesday, April 28, 2010

RAN • ART – Take Action Against Destructive Agribusiness

Tarnish&Gold Gallery – NE Minneapolis

To submit, please send an e-mail to ranart@livewithsubstance.org

with the following information:

Name of Artist
E-mail
Title (if any)
Dimensions (inches x inches)
Medium(s)
Phone number (optional)

Once we receive your e-mail, we will coordinate uploading the file and transportation of the piece.

More information on the contest and exhibition below:

___________________________________

For a quarter century, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has aggressively confronted multinational corporations over their destructive practices, exposing their disregard for human rights and the natural systems that sustain life.  Today, RAN takes on big agribusiness corporations to address their responsibility for the vast tropical deforestation undertaken to maximize the production of palm oil, used in 50% of all consumer goods.  New plantations decimate over 2.5 million acres of Indonesian rainforests every year, threatening hundreds of indigenous cultures and releasing a tremendous amount of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

As part of RAN Rainforest Agribusiness campaign action in Minnesota, RAN is sponsoring an art contest and exhibition culminating in the selection of one image to be used in a billboard or public installation that increases public awareness of General Mills‘ use of socially and environmentally unsustainable palm oil sources.

Artists, illustrators, and designers are encouraged to explore the question, “What is the problem with palm oil?” as it pertains to the negative effects of big agribusiness, especially from Twin Cities giants Cargill Incorporated and General Mills.  All submissions are welcome, keeping in mind RAN’s past campaigns have embraced powerful images, satire, and spoofs of all sorts. The winning concept will put a clever spin on General Mills’ marketing and well-known brand images (such as Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Pillbury, and Hamburger Helper) to make the point.

Other winners will receive awards in the form of cinema tickets and gift certificates to local businesses.

Exhibited work will be for sale at the artists’ discretion, with a modest commission benefitting the gallery and Rainforest Action Network.

The deadline for submission of artwork is April 28.  This contest is open to all artists.  All static, two dimensional art is acceptable, including photography.  Digitally produced work must be vector or created at minimum 600dpi if it to be considered for reproduction on a large scale.

Submit digital images of your work here at http://livewithsubstance.org/ranart

Tarnish&Gold Gallery in northeast Minneapolis hosts the exhibition reception May 1.  Accepted work, originals or prints, must be ready to hang upon drop off.  Through popular vote and an ultimate decision by jury, one piece in the exhibition will be featured by RAN in coordination with campaign action.  This promises to generate considerable exposure for the artist and contribute to a vital campaign against destructive agribusiness.

Direct any questions to ranart@livewithsubstance.org or call Nolan Morice at 763-913-2192.

Rainforest Action Network:  http://ran.org/

The Problem with Palm Oil:  http://theproblemwithpalmoil.org

TARNISH&GOLD:  http://www.tarnishandgold.org

Connect on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=326541619076

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Update! Details on the May 1st Exhibition!

Saturday, May 1st

Tarnish&Gold Gallery
1511 Marshall St. NE
Minneapolis, MN

Featuring live music from:

Kill The Vultures
Bouncer Fighter
Phantom Tails

Doors/Voting Begins @ 7:00 PM
Music begins @ 9:00 PM

$7 cover, $5 if you bike!

For directions, please click here.

Many of our friends and allies – including a group of youth delegates through the Will Steger Foundation, The Uptake, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Rainforest Action Network – are on the ground participating in actions as well as formal meetings to influence the creation of a strong, binding and equitable climate treaty. So far, a lot of hope and energy have been mixed with warning signs of rich countries abusing their elite positioning. Denmark got a head start by drafting speculative agreements and letting the secrets slip through their fingers.

Follow along with Will Steger Foundation’s “Expedition Copenhagen” and other Midwestern coverage of COP15, and check out 350.org’s upcoming weekend of action.

Good luck out there,
Erick

Recent actions include a call-in to Cargill’s CEO asking to halt Palm Oil expansion that generated over 4,000 calls and an action outside of Cargill’s downtown office.

For the 350.org international day of climate action on October 24, Substance and RAN teamed up to promote the campaign and recruit at the POS show at 1st Avenue, downtown Minneapolis.

To get involved with RAN-TC, join the Facebook group and/or MeetUp page.
For information on the national campaign, click here.
Also check out theproblemwithpalmoil.org

Erick with RAN activists Hillary Lehr (left) and Ashley Shaeffer (right) at 1st Avenue

We’d also like to give a special thanks to Tom Reed from Honor the Earth for partnering locally and for his informative speech.

Keep checking back for reviews, pictures, and video interviews with Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere, and fans from various shows.

For all you internet socialites out there, help spread this like wildfire!

Click banner to check out the official campaign page!

Check back for our soon to be released video series from the tour, and/or click here to sign-up for updates so you don’t miss a thing (less than monthly updates)!

“The most destructive project on Earth…” - Rainforest Action Network

On June 16, Substance is hitting the road with Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere and Rainforest Action Network for 10 days of education, outreach and action against oil sands mining and pipeline development. The “Freedom From Oil – Tar Sands Resistance Tour” will begin in Minneapolis, MN and wind all the way to Toronto, ON.

The tour will bring this regionally significant issue to the forefront of the punk rock community, which has a history of standing up for the interests of the people and against corporate influence in politics.

Substance will be working to educate Propagandhi and Strike Anywhere fans about the impacts of tar sand mining on the environment and indiginous communities, bring energy to the great campaigns of RAN and other organizations, as well as creating a You Tube series from the tour, demonstrating the power of music to affect change.  Come back in July to see the videos from the Tar Sands Resistance Tour!

To fully execute this campaign, Substance and Rainforest Action Network need to raise $2,000 by June 26.

Please support this effort by helping us reach our goal.

For more information on oil sand mining – visit Rainforest Action Network’s tar sands page

Tar Sands Resistance Tour Dates:

6/16/09 Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere, Banner Pilot in Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock – 5pm (all ages)

6/17/09 Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere in Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall

6/18/09 Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere in Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge

6/19/09 Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere in Detroit, MI – Magic Stick

6/20/09 Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere in London, ON CA

6/22/09 Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere in Montreal, QC – Club Soda

6/23/09 Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere in Quebec City, QC – L’Anti

6/24/09 Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere in Ottawa, ON – Ritual

6/25/09 and 6/26/09 Propagandhi, Strike Anywhere in Toronto, ON  – The Phoenix (two nights!)

More info about the tour at: 

www.propagandhi.com

Presented by Substance and Rainforest Action Network.  Special thanks to Global Exchange, Honor the Earth, Indigenous Environmental Network, and all the bands for their support.

To join us on the road – follow this campaign page, and Substance on Twitter

Thank you from all of us at Substance and Rainforest Action Network!

photo credit – Edward Burtynsky