Become an INTO LIGHT PROJECT Ambassador

Help bring a Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories Exhibition to your state!

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Why become an Ambassador?

INTO LIGHT Project Ambassadors are part of a national network of volunteer representatives from each state in the U.S. who are interested in helping us to change the conversation about drug addiction and reduce stigma by bringing an INTO LIGHT Project Exhibit to their state.

  • Who can become an Ambassador?

    Anyone with an interest in promoting the work of INTO LIGHT Project and who has a passion for educating the public about substance use disorder and reducing the stigma that families and the individual with SUD experiences.

  • What role do Ambassadors play in promoting INTO LIGHT Project?

    INTO LIGHT Project gets many requests from people across the U.S. to bring an exhibit to their state. It is necessary to enlist the help of people on the ground in each state to help us promote the project and suggest viable locations in which to hold the exhibit and brainstorm where we might find funds to cover the cost of the exhibition. We also depend on Ambassadors to help with recruitment of submissions and promote the exhibition. If you have an interest in becoming an ambassador for your state, contact us at https://intolightproject.org/contact/. We will arrange a call and send you more detailed information on how we can collaborate. Thanks for your interest.

5 Steps to fulfill your Ambassador Role

There are several components to bringing an INTO LIGHT Project exhibit to your state, but don’t worry, we will work together! We can’t be everywhere, so having an ambassador ease the way for us is key to getting an exhibit in place. We are in partnership with you.

  • Step 1: Create your team

    Putting a group of people together to help share the work of bringing INTO LIGHT to your state is recommended. We have found that a group of 3-4 people with different skills is a good number. Identify people who are committed to the cause, are willing to spend the time over a year, or so, to make this happen, and who you enjoy working with. Generally, a mixture of people with organizational skills, fund-raising experience, social media interests, and public speaking experience would be ideal.

  • Step 2: Research Locations for the Exhibition

    The venue for each exhibition is fundamental to its success. We choose one public or academic museum or gallery in each state based on their ability to engage the community with educational programming around the exhibit that address issues about the disease of addiction. We also need to know that the location has the space requirements, and other considerations (parking, accessibility, public access, etc.). To help you research potential locations see the prospectus which has information on the specifications and requirements needed for the exhibition. Once the Ambassador and their team have narrowed down a few places for consideration, INTO LIGHT Project representatives will consult with you to hear about them. The INTO LIGHT Executive Director will set up calls with each suggested venue and make final decisions. Ambassadors must make no commitment to any location. Conversations with potential venues and approval of the location must come from INTO LIGHT Project. After the gallery or museum is chosen by INTO LIGHT Project, we will oversee the creation of the exhibition and the associated educational programming together with the museum or gallery curators. Ambassadors will act as consultants in developing educational events. Of course, we will keep you in the loop about how it is going. During the time of the exhibit, we will need the help of Ambassadors to set up the reception for the opening of the exhibition and at the closing, which is a private Gifting Gathering for the families of those who have submitted to the project.

  • Step 3: Identify Potential Funders

    The second step after getting your team together is to identify potential funders in your state. You don’t need to contact them, we will do that, but providing us with entities (or private donors) in your state is helpful. These can include state government offices such as Mental Health and Addiction Services, Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, County Health Departments etc. The names of offices that work to address substance use and addiction have varying names in each state. Other potential funders are Hospital Systems, the Attorney Generals office, AdventHealth, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield to name a few. Finding where the Opioid settlement money has landed in your state is also a potential source of funding. While you are researching state funding, we are writing grants and seeking national sponsorships and donors. We can brainstorm together to figure out who to approach and how to do it. Each exhibit cost $50,000 to produce. Finding one entity to fund the entire exhibit is ideal, but funding goals can also be accomplished through other means, such as local sponsorships. (See the sponsorship levels document). We will keep you posted on our fundraising progress and once we secure at least $25,000, we can commit to bringing the INTO LIGHT Project Exhibit to your state and proceed to the next step.

  • Step 4: Recruit families to submit for the exhibition

    Now that some funding is in place and we are in contact with the venue where we will hold the exhibit, we move on to finding submissions to the Project. Unfortunately, finding people to submit their loved ones to the project is not difficult, as each state has too many people who have died from an overdose and drug poisoning. Still, we need to get the word out, so people know an INTO LIGHT Exhibit is coming to their state. This is where we can really use local help. We have found an effective means for finding submissions is through local media, support groups, faith communities and others. In the playbook, there are sample press releases to send to media and sample emails for Ambassadors to send to support group leaders around the state. You can also share the information on your own social media, to online social media support groups and anywhere else you know of where it might be seen by those who would like to submit their loved one. Having friends circulate it is also helpful. The submissions come directly to INTO LIGHT Project though our submission process on our website. We will keep you informed of how many submissions we have along the way so you can see your efforts paying off. We will let you know when we reach our maximum limit of 41 participants so you can stop actively recruiting. It is always exciting to see the submissions coming in from all over the state and know that you made it happen.

  • Step 5: Promote INTO LIGHT Project exhibition

    The next step in the process is the promotion of the exhibition. INTO LIGHT Project can do much of the promotion of an event through our social media and our extensive mailing list. However, Ambassadors can do much more on the ground to bring attention to the exhibition, through their in-state connections. The exhibit can be promoted to counseling offices, hospitals, media outlets, universities and many other places. See the sample press release to send to news outlets. Theresa Clower, Founder/Executive Director, of INTO LIGHT Project, and Dr. Barbara Francois, Assistant Director, will be available remotely for media interviews to help promote the exhibition.

    Ambassadors are important because they know the local businesses, venues, and contacts that are necessary to our funding and success. They can also use their own in-state networks and ask others to do the same. Theresa Clower, Founder/Executive Director and Dr. Barbara Francois, Assistant Director/Narrative Writer, arrive prior to the opening of each exhibit for media interviews, to meet with gallery representatives and to attend the opening. They come back again for the Gifting Gathering, where those who submitted their loved one will receive their original, framed portrait and catalog of narratives. Of course, Ambassadors and their team are invited to all the events held during the exhibition.

We’re here to help!

Be assured that we are here to provide the resources, advice, direction and support that you need. We are available to speak with you on the phone, meet with you and your team on Zoom and help with every aspect of your Ambassadorship. We hope you find your work with INTO LIGHT Project important and personally meaningful. To fulfill our goal of reaching all 50 states with an INTO LIGHT Project exhibit, it will take all of us, in all states, working together to get it done!

Continuing the Conversation

We also want to make you aware of another program we have called “Continuing the Conversation.” This is available for purchase in any state where an original ILP exhibition has been held. In short, we take the entire original exhibition and replicate it (original portraits have been gifted so are no longer available). We sell this to county health departments, and other entities that are interested in using it in full, or part, for educational purposes throughout the state. This provides an opportunity for many more people to benefit from interacting with the INTO LIGHT Project. There is an information sheet on CTC on our website intolightproject.org on the resource tab.

Thank you so much for your interest in being an INTO LIGHT Project Ambassador. We look forward to working with you to change the conversation about drug addiction and erase the shame and stigma that so many families and those who have this terrible disease experience every day.

Questions? Contact Theresa Clower at tclower@intolightproject.org or Dr. Barbara Francois at bfrancois@intolightproject.org.

Download the Ambassador Guide

Support The INTO LIGHT Project

"Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity."

- Prem Chodon

Donations support the work of The INTO LIGHT Project to produce our exhibit, Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories. We bring awareness to substance use disorder (SUD) as a brain disease, help to change the conversation about drug addiction, and work to erase the stigma and shame associated with it.

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Bring an Exhibit to Your State

Interested in bringing The INTO LIGHT Project to your State? Find out how you can make this happen. If you have questions about becoming an ambassador, or how to bring an exhibit to your state, please contact us.
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