The Cradle Project is a local event to help raise awareness and funds for the children of Africa. From their website:

In Spring of 2008 one thousand cradles and cribs made by artisans from around the world will fill an abandoned warehouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We call this vision The Cradle Project. 

The Cradle Project is a fundraising art installation designed to represent the plight of the estimated 48 million children who have been orphaned by disease and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our Mission is to promote awareness and raise financial support to help feed, shelter, and educate these children.

The Cradle Project’s vision is to utilize the symbolism of empty cradles and falling sand to represent the lost potential of these orphaned children.  Our goal is to amass a minimum of 1,000 cradles, all made out of scrap material.  We believe that if we can see enough potential in a piece of scrap to make a structure which cradles a child, why can we not see that much potential in our world’s forgotten children.  Empty cradles speak for themselves.  Juxtaposed to these cradles will be a wall of slowly falling sand, symbolizing how these lives, these cradles, this potential, will all be buried and never realized.

In an effort to raise funds, The Cradle Project is seeking sponsors for each of the cradles represented in this installation. Additionally, we will host an on-line auction where each of the cradles can be purchased.  Each cradle and artisan will be featured in our on-line gallery and auction. 

All proceeds from the sponsorship and purchase of the cradles will be donated to our partner organizations who work directly with orphans throughout sub-Saharan Africa to help alleviate the suffering caused by this dire situation.

People of all ages and from all around the world are invited to participate in this project.  If you are interested in making or sponsoring a cradle please refer to HOW TO HELP.

If you would like to propose or sponsor an exhibit please CONTACT US.

So the auction has started (on June 7th actually) and will run until June 17th. Unfortunatly, from what I can tell there aren’t a huge amount of bids on many of the cradles. Please take a look at the auction and bid if you can. There are some very interesting and beautiful pieces. And please pass the information on. Thank you!