Amplify Austin 2022

Early Giving is open now! Help Texas Folklife receive a bonus prize of $2,500 for most unique individual donors by making a donation of $5 or more between now and when Amplify Day launches at 6:00 PM Central Time. Share with a friend to Amplify Health & Folk Arts even further! Donate at https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/texas-folklife

What is Amplify Austin?

Amplify Austin Day is the biggest day of giving in Central Texas, raising $82 million dollars for the local community with the help of half a million gifts. During a single 24-hour period, from 6 pm on March 2nd to 6 PM on March 3rd, residents across a 7-county region will come together to support more than 700 nonprofits by making a difference through the platform AmplifyATX.org

Health & Folk Arts

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas Folklife has explored the intersection of folk arts programming and health inequities in our communities. Spearheading new conversations and considerations around the healing power of art and the value of shared community connections, we identified gaps between public health systems and community connection which contributed to misinformation and distrust.

Following the facilitation of an in-depth community needs assessment, our team established programs that responded to the lessons learned through these conversations, focusing on facilitating culturally and linguistically relevant COVID-19 Vaccine Public Service Announcements, and partnering with vaccine providers to fuse folk arts programming and outreach methods with vaccine and health clinics.

In addition to these efforts, we continued to build on two years of history enhancing creative arts therapies for military and veteran populations and their families. This work improves health, well-being, and quality of life through creative storytelling, audio production, and other folk-art focused workshops.

To continue this important work and expand this programming statewide, we need YOUR help! 

Our Work: 
Hechos, No Miedo | Facts, Not Fear: Hechos, No Miedo | Facts, Not Fear is our newest program seeking to engage community members in conversations that respect community knowledge, embrace lived experience, and help overcome the complex barriers affecting equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine. View the PSAs here.

 

Stories for Creative Forces: Since 2019, Texas Folklife’s Stories for Creative Forces produces workshops specifically designed to help current and prior service members and their families express themselves through story crafting and audio production training. Operating in both virtual and physical environments when safe, Stories for Creative Forces continues to offer creative arts therapy workshops to service members and their families in central texas and beyond.

Listen to stories created by 2021 Stories for Creative Forces workshop participants on SoundCloud.

 

Explore our previous work in this area:

2020 Virtual Stories Summer Institute: Folklore & Pandemics

Folk and Traditional Arts Roundtable: Discussion #2 Radical Care and Folk Traditions

Central Texas Folk and Traditional Artist Relief Grant

Stories from Deep in the Heart: Youth-Produced Story on Traditional Healing Practices

Your donations during Amplify Austin will help support the expansion of our health & folk arts program strategy and outreach. We thank you for helping us amplify a cultural and health-conscious Texas!

 

Ways to Support Texas Folklife For Amplify Austin

Here are different ways you can help to amplify cultural and health-conscious communities this Amplify Day!

1. Donate During Early Giving: Early Giving is open NOW! You can choose to donate now until March 2nd at 5:59 PM Central Time to help us start our campaign off with momentum on March 2nd at 6 PM. We can also qualify for an early giving prize by receiving the most early giving donors! 

2. Start a Fundraiser Page: You can help us reach our goal of raising $4,000 to expand our health & folk arts programming initiatives by creating a personal fundraising page as a supporter of Texas Folklife. Click the "Fundraise" on our Amplify profile to get started! Access our 2022 Amplify Austin Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Kit here!

3. Donate on Amplify Day: Donate between 6 PM on March 2nd and 6 PM on March 3rd to support our community work and take advantage of exclusive matching opportunities thanks to ILiveHereIGiveHere and Tito's Vodka!

4. #LoveTitos Arts & Culture Match: When you donate during Early Giving or Amplify, make sure to add "#LoveTitos" in your public comment box, and Tito's Handmade Vodka will add $25 to your gift! (Note: Tito's is only matching up to $25,000 or the first 1,000 donations to use the hashtag)

Support Health & Folk Arts Initiatives After Amplify Day

Thank you to everyone who came together to help us surpass our fundraising goal, raising $5,550 for Amplify Austin 2022! Thank you for amplifying cultural & health-conscious communities across Texas! We look forward to sharing initiative updates with you!
 

You can make a tax-deductible gift to support Texas Folklife's Health & Folk Arts Initiatives by donating here or writing a check to Texas Folklife.

 

Your gift will help to:

- Support the expansion of virtual and in-person Veteran Creative Arts Therapy and Storytelling Workshops across the state
- Assemble a Health & Traditional Arts Advisory Group to assess our current health & folk arts program materials and, provide direction on how Texas Folklife can best serve Texas Communities, and support Health care systems to provide equitable and culturally accessible health education and resources
- Support Continued Collaborations Between Folk and Traditional Arts Communities and Public Health Outreach Events