Millennium Arts Salon at the United Nations

We at Millennium Arts Salon (MAS) delight in our invitation by the United Nations to present programming on the topic: "The Role of the Arts in Nuclear Weapons Abolition: Towards A New Literacy for Peace Education ." This event will occur on August 17th, 2022, for the United Nations Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference. Mel Hardy is credentialed to the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs as a civil society advocate for The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We ask for your help to support the live stream and recording technology for this presentation. Please help.

Our presentation at the UN anticipates the opening on August 23rd of the exhibition at The Phillips Collection entitled "Jacob Lawrence and the Children of Hiroshima." Mel and his wife Juanita have roles in the exhibition's development. In addition, Mel serves on the curatorial team for the body of work entitled "The Hiroshima Children's Drawings," from which selections are drawn for the exhibition. The exhibition will run from August 23rd through November 27th at The Phillips Collection. We are honored that Maryland Public Television will provide a link to the award-winning documentary film about the Hiroshima Children's Drawings, "Pictures From A Hiroshima Schoolyard," available for your viewing at any time.

Therefore, this letter seeks your financial support for the August 17th presentation at the United Nations. This opportunity to lift the role of the arts in domestic, geopolitical and humanitarian issues on the global stage is an excellent opportunity.

As many of you know, Mel, who will lead this initiative for Millennium Arts, owes his gratitude to many for catalyzing his involvement in the Nuclear Weapons Abolition movement for over 20 years. Theologically hailing from All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington, DC, which is heralded for its social justice-seeking activism, he has been engaged with disarmament groups from around the world, from Australia to Austria, from Hiroshima to Helsinki, and from Pelindaba to Philadelphia. His effort is to provide intellectually and emotionally accessible linkages between the threat and reality of nuclear weapons to the vast array of existential issues confronting humanity in our present moment: poverty, deficits in human aspiration, insecurity, climate challenges, insufficient governance structures, state-sponsored oppression, amongst others. In his world view honed through the lens of the arts, culture, and the humanities, the United Nations is a great platform to discuss such issues. In addition, we seek to extend this work within our nation's museum and library communities.

Accordingly, we seek your financial support, in short order, through this GoFundMe page.

Why we are doing this, and why we think this is important:

Purpose - UN Presentation on August 17th: "The Role of the Arts in Nuclear Weapons Abolition: Towards A New Literacy for Peace Education."

This panel presentation is designed to widen the audience for the cause of Nuclear Weapons Abolition. Our collective work is to engage participants in the community of practice in the Arts, Culture, and Humanities creative class as audience and activists. In the work of the United Nations, we consider the four-legged stool of citizen education and activism, and their vast implications, on which we rest:

• Human Rights

• Peace Education as a New Literacy

• The UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Nuclear Weapons Abolition

These issues are touchpoints in the program/panel presentation to be delivered on August 17th on our domestic and international affairs. Implicated are the problems of weapons of mass destruction and light arms, forced migration and internally displaced persons, and spending and resource allocation at the expense of human needs. In addition, we call upon our communities of faith, ethics, morals, and kindness, speak to the roles of women and youth, and mine the humanitarian impulses for action articulated by the United Nations and our activist communities. We believe these are best catalyzed by our arts, culture, and humanities practitioners and those in sympathy with us.

Monies raised through this short-term, dedicated GoFundMe effort will be used for the following to the extent that such funds are available:

Excess funds, if any, will be used to support continuing arts education programs conducted by Millennium Arts Salon (a 22-year-old Goldstar 501(c)(3) organization domiciled in Washington, DC).

Many small donors to this particular purpose GoFundMe campaign are especially welcomed as an index of community support for activism on the issue of nuclear weapons abolition. No contribution is too small. Please know that under the terms and conditions of our using the GoFundMe service, no raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or returns on investment are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe campaign. Additionally, if you do not want your name displayed as a donor on the campaign, indicate by checking "Don't Display my name" after donating. Your help is needed. In advance, please accept my and our thanks.

I am available to answer any questions you might have.

Greatly looking forward to our continued work together. And again, thank you.

Melvin Hardy