Meet Give a Brand! 2017 finalist, A Free Bird
For A Free Bird founder Godni Amir, starting a nonprofit came from an exceptionally personal place.
A multidisciplinary artist, he was shaken when his voice teacher’s husband was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. As his condition deteriorated, Godni was the only student that they continued to accept into their New York home.
“He said that he loved hearing me singing,” Godni recalls. “He said I sounded like Meat Loaf, which I took as a compliment.”
It wasn’t long before his teacher, Gail, was herself diagnosed with cancer. One day, as she was accompanying Godni on piano, she broke down in tears — something he never thought he’d see from the teacher whose skill he so admired.
“I was in my early twenties,” Godni recalls. “It hit me.”
While her husband passed away, Gail made a full recovery — spurred on, Godni believes, by her work in music and photography. “She kept moving with art.”
The impact of art on people with serious illnesses stayed on Godni’s mind, and he began thinking about how he could create an organization to help. One day he went to visit the children’s ward at Sloan-Kettering. Afterwards, he couldn’t shake the image of children in various stages of illness, having lost weight and hair, surrounded by machines in an unfamiliar place. “I came back to work and I started crying. It was so hard to deal with this mentally,” Godni says. But he adds: “It kept me moving. It made me more and more determined.”
That determination is what grew the foundation from a vision in Godni’s mind to a registered 501(c)(3) that helps connect hundreds of children with the power of the therapeutic arts, be that music, writing, visual art, dance, acting, and just about every other creative outlet under the sun. Through the nonprofit’s Dream program, kids get free tickets to performances at venues like the New York City Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera. The Fight Free program offers one-on-one tutoring with established artists, with all supplies covered by the nonprofit, as well as shows in which to display their work. Artists on their roster of tutors and supporters include celebrity chefs and Broadway stars.
“Once the arts come to their lives, they’re completely distracted from the hospital unit,” says Godni. “They wait for their tutor to come every week. It gives them something to hope for.”
The goal of the nonprofit is not just to help the sick, but to support and empower young people as artists in their own right, cancer or no cancer. “We never stop working. We are there for them even when they are in remission,” says Godni. “We believe that when they continue with the arts they will stay cancer-free.”
A Free Bird has fostered a number of success stories. One student went on to found her own pastry company; another young participant is working on her first single; still others have gone on to show their art at galleries in Chelsea.
If A Free Bird wins the Give a Brand! contest, it plans to use its new brand to raise awareness of its work and inspire many more young artists. The organization has plans to expand into states with a high concentration of pediatric cancer patients, and even abroad. Also on the agenda is a musical, “I Am a Free Bird,” that would bring together kids from all over the country to work together on a production, whether they prefer to shine in the spotlight or contribute behind the scenes.
Godni says that parents, hospital staff, and everyone who witnesses the work of A Free Bird can see and feel the impact of the arts on kids who are fighting the battle of their lives. “People are overwhelmed in a very good way.”
Give a Brand! is Thinkso’s annual pro bono branding project. The winning nonprofit, chosen by public vote, receives more than $50,000 worth of free branding, including a new logo, website, marketing materials, and more.