The Skopelos Foundation for the Arts (SkopArt)

The Skopelos Foundation for the Arts is a 501(c)(3) with a Board of Directors located in the United States with the studio located in Skopelos, Greece. We offer residencies, university programs and workshops for ceramists, printmakers and painters. During the artist's stay we ask that they interact with or educate the local community; especially the youth of Skopelos. The island is deprived of basic education which is why we are dedicated to making a difference. We have organized many initiatives such as murals that have been painted on the elementary, middle schools and fire station, ceramist have help the children create tiles that we mounted on the elementary school, held workshops in ceramics, painting and printmaking but our biggest project is the Skopelos International Film Festival for Youth (SIFFY).  Each year we invite professional filmmakers to work with the children of Skopelos to create short films. The films are based on a yearly theme and we allow children from ages 6 - 18 participate. In 2019 one hundred twenty five children from Skopelos participated with 16 professional filmmakers from America, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, England, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, Spain and Turkey to make 15 short films.  2021 will mark our tenth year organizing the festival with the theme "Memories" which will include talking about our memories organizing SIFFY, people's memories of living in Skopelos, senses, what it is like not to have a memory such as having Alzheimer's and much more. Take a look at our video and see how some of these kids have grown.  There are many causes you can give to where there is an overwhelming amount of overhead due to salaries, etc. and very little of your donation goes to the actual cause. If you donate to SkopArt and SIFFY, it goes directly to artists and a community in need.