About Earthbound Productions: 2010

Making cultural connections between communities and the natural world

Vision: To inspire a behavior of reverence, respect, and celebration among humankind by cultivating a cultural identity of our place and responsibility as active participants in the miracle of the natural world.

Mission: To empower communities to engage in cultural relationships with the natural world as a means of sustaining efforts of environmental appreciation, protection and restoration.

Commitment: To remain dedicated to the wisdom that the futures of healthy families and healthy communities are directly tied to a sustainable kinship with the natural world.

Goals: To elevate the dignity of the human spirit by embracing the languages of art, music and dance as a means to inspiring a collective engagement of imagination, creation, and sharing.

Objectives: To advance and support effective environmental action and education through creative community cultural programs, civic partnerships, and public forums.

Activities: To envision, develop, and deliver the following community cultural development programs:

• Procession of the Species Celebration
• Procession Community Art Studio
• Element of Spirit Luminary Procession
• Illuminated Ball
• Mother’s Day Mandala Tribute
• Day of the Dead Celebration
• Winter Solstice Celebration
• Wild Stone Day

Outcomes - Awards and Recognitions:

• 2010 Central Cascades Geo-Tourism Designation from the National Geographic Society
• 2009 The Best of America Award: Best Procession from the Reader’s Digest National Magazine
• 2007 Sylvester’s Window Historical Project Recognition from the Washington State Historical Society
• 2005 Certificate of Commendation Award from the Thurston County Council on Cultural Diversity and Human Rights
• 2005 Salute to the Arts Award from the South Puget Sound Masterworks Choral Ensemble
• 2003 Founder of a New Northwest Award from The Pacific Northwest Regional Council of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development.
• 2002 Best of the Northwest Awards of Excellence in public access television from the Alliance for Community Media
• 2001 E-Town E-achievement Award from National Public Radio - 1999 Jack Davis Conservationist of the Year Award from the Black Hills Audubon Society
• 1999 Distinguished Community Service Award from the Kiwanis Club
• 1998 - 1999 Community Catalyst Award from the Environmental Education Association of Washington
• 1998 Endangered Species Act Partnership Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• 1996 Educator of the Year Award, from the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
• 1992-1995 recipient of nine Best of the Northwest Awards of Excellence in public access television from the Alliance for Community Media:
  • 1992 Category Talk Show
  • 1993 Category: Talk Show
  • 1993 Category: Empowerment
  • 1994 Category: Talk Show
  • 1994 Category: Empowerment
  • 1994 National Category: Talk Show
  • 1995 Category PSA
  • 1995 Category Music Video
  • 1995 Category Empowerment

Organizational History:

• 1991: Earthbound Productions is founded as a grassroots, community activist, media-based non-profit organization.
• 1995: Earthbound Productions is chartered as a non-profit corporation in Washington State as a community-based, environmental organization.
• 2001: Earthbound Productions is granted federal 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation status as an community-based, environmental education organization. Tax Deductible EID #91-1692144
• 2002: Earthbound Productions is admitted as a member of the State of Washington Combined Fund Drive, Catalog No. 476.000 under Art/ Earthbound.

Non-discrimination Statement: Earthbound Productions does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, disability, or artistic, music, or movement ability.

Strategic Plan 2010–2012

Identified Challenges: The local, regional, and national success of the Procession of the Species Celebration as a cultural community development program has vastly expanded Earthbound Productions’ parameters of production responsibilities.

As a consequence, it is necessary for Earthbound Productions to engage a process of reviewing, designing and realigning its organizational infrastructure as a means to sustaining its capacity to actively maintain and advance its mission.

Identified Barriers: The following barriers to sustained capacity were identified:

• Lack of adequate and consistent long term funding to sustain monetary compensation for executive director and administrative staff who are needed year-round.
• Lack of adequate and consistent long-term funding to sustain office overhead and maintenance.
• Marked reduction in volunteers base with expertise to perform key functions of fundraising, publicity, office administration, art studio maintenance.
• Increased difficulty in procuring annual empty warehouse space that is inexpensive and appropriate for housing the Procession Community Art Studio.
• Municipal political climate that presents questionable funding support.
• Repressed economic climate that presents questionable funding support.
• Consumer oriented social climate that presents questionable incentives for community participation.

Identified Response: The most immediate and attainable activity that supports access to address barriers to sustained capacity is to secure a stable, year-round Procession Community Art studio.

To this end, Earthbound Productions must position itself to design, develop, administer and maintain the first community-run community art studio in Thurston County.

Response Activities:

• Secure a two-year lease (2010,2011) on the present Procession Community Art Studio location as a means to stabilizing and facilitating a predictable presence in the community. (Completed March 1, 2010)
• Identify Goals/Objectives/Deliverables for the Procession Community Art Studio in advance of the 2010 Procession of the Species Celebration for post Procession evaluation.
• Formulate and adopt a Business Plan for funding and maintenance of the Procession Community Art Studio by September 2010

Community Art Studio Goals, Objectives, Deliverables:

• To design a community cultural event using art, music, dance, and environmental education to give the natural world a greater presence in our urban corridor.
• To foster a personal and cultural connection of people between the 'wild places' they experience in recreational pursuits and the biodiversity of the urban environment in which they live.
• To offer activities which support the emergence of a sense of place among community members, emphasizing the need for environmental protection of that place as well as global preservation.
• To provide workshops in which people can be involved in the exciting creative process involving art, music, and dance.
• To involve area-wide schools to participate as an extension of their science, art, and music programs.
• To provide a public place in which all community members are welcomed and encouraged to participate.
• To promote an open invitation which ensures inclusion of diverse populations and social service organizations who would not otherwise take part in a community or environmental event.
• To enhance civic partnerships among various groups within the community and to give those groups not normally involved in wildlife protection a reason to invest in such an action.
• To emphasize the use of recycled and eco-friendly materials in to studio to foster visible acts of reducing negative impacts upon the environment.
• To be a powerful, cultural community development model that is consciously designed with respect to being replicated on a regional and national level.