World-Renowned Artist Vik Muniz Joins Movement to Bring Clean Water to Tanzania

Visual Artist Will Create Art Piece from Thousands of Students' Handmade Paper Beads

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Mar 10, 2014, 05:31 ET

SEATTLE, March 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Celebrated artist Vik Muniz will join the Students Rebuild Water Challenge by creating a one-of-a-kind art piece in spring 2014. The Students Rebuild Water Challenge, in partnership with charity: water and Global Nomads Group, will bring clean, safe drinking water to more than 16,000 Tanzanians.

World renowned artist Vik Muniz is supporting the Students Rebuild Water Challenge by creating a poster made from thousands of paper beads submitted from hundreds of students around the world. The Students Rebuild Water Challenge is working to bring clean water and additional water facilities to Tanzania. (PRNewsFoto/Students Rebuild, Lucas Blalock) (PRNewsFoto/STUDENTS REBUILD)

The Students Rebuild Water Challenge asks students worldwide to make and mail in paper beads. Every 20 handmade beads will provide access to clean water for one person because the Bezos Family Foundation—through its Students Rebuild program—will match beads with up to $500,000 in funding for 41 charity: water projects for Tanzanian schools and communities. Water projects include rainwater harvesting, new wells, repair and updating of non-functioning wells and maintenance.

To date, more than 300 teams from 43 states in the United States and 19 countries have joined the Students Rebuild Water Challenge. Countries signing up include Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, China, the Dominican Republic, India, Iran, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, the United States and Uruguay.

Muniz will create and donate unique artwork using beads mailed in by March 31, 2014. The Water Challenge uses the symbol of a bead because they have been used as adornment, communication and currency in Africa for thousands of years. Details of how to participate in the Students Rebuild Water Challenge—including how to make paper beads—are available at http://studentsrebuild.org.

Muniz also contributed his time, vision and talent to a previous Students Rebuild project. Following the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the Students Rebuild Paper Cranes for Japan Challenge called on young people to make origami cranes, which the foundation matched with reconstruction funding. An overwhelming response of two million paper cranes from 38+ countries and all 50 United States inspired Muniz to create a large-scale art piece from thousands of paper cranes which was photographed for a beautiful benefit poster. All proceeds from the poster continue to support Japanese reconstruction.

About the Partners:

Vik Muniz	Vik Muniz was born in São Paulo, Brazil but currently works in both New York City and Rio de Janeiro. Initially a sculptor, Muniz grew interested with the photographic representations of his work, eventually focusing completely on photography. Learn more at http://vikmuniz.net/

Students Rebuild	Students Rebuild is a collaborative program of the Bezos Family Foundation. The Students Rebuild mission is to inspire young people to connect, learn and take collective action on critical global issues. Learn more at http://studentsrebuild.org #SRWaterChallenge

charity: water	charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. We use 100% of public donations to directly fund sustainable water solutions in areas of greatest need. Almost 800 million people in the world live without clean water. That's one in nine of us. Our goal is to end the water crisis in our lifetime by ensuring that every person on the planet has access to life's most basic need. In our first six years, charity: water has funded 8,661 water projects in 20 countries to serve more than 3.3 million people with clean, safe drinking water. Learn more: http://www.charitywater.org/

Global Nomads Group	Global Nomads Group (GNG) is an international NGO whose mission is to foster intercultural dialogue and understanding among the world's youth. GNG engages and empowers young people worldwide using media, including: live-interactive videoconferencing, webcasts, social networking, gaming, and participatory filmmaking. Founded in 1998, the organization has conducted virtual exchange programs in more than 50 countries on all seven continents, reaching more than one million young people. Learn more: http://gng.org.