While we want each school, classroom, and community to create their own unique butterfly experience, we do have specific standards and expectations that you will be expected to abide by in order for your community’s butterflies to be included in our official collective worldwide count towards 1.5 million ceramic butterflies painted and displayed, one for every child killed in the Holocaust.
The items outlined below are in our licensing agreement. To join The Butterfly Project community, we respectfully ask that you agree to the following guidelines.
BUTTERFLY PAINTING
Butterfly events should include the butterfly painting activity and biography cards. Each butterfly kit includes 36 ceramic butterflies, 36 biography cards, and glazes and paintbrushes for 36 participants. We also sell bulk butterflies in quantities of 100. Bulk orders also include bio cards, paint brushes, and glazes for 100 butterflies. If you prefer, you can also create your own ceramic butterflies to paint and coordinate with us to access our biography cards.
Each participant should paint at least one butterfly in the name of a child killed during the Holocaust. Students will receive an individual child’s biography card and paint a butterfly in memory of the child.
This may be the most significant part of the entire lesson as students begin the process of giving a voice to the voiceless. Allow ample time for students to read, reflect and connect with the child’s biographical information. Prior to painting butterflies, we recommend students say aloud (in rotation one by one) the name of the child they are painting a butterfly for.
EDUCATION
All butterfly events must include an educational component. Our biography cards and lesson plans can be used as stand-alone educational materials or they can be integrated into other lesson plans that focus on additional resource materials. If you are interested in our age-appropriate lesson plans (including lessons paired with our documentary film NOT The last Butterfly and accompanying film chapters) or desire additional educational materials from our collaborative partners, please let us know when you order your kit(s).
Direct testimony is a powerful and engaging educational experience. We encourage all participants to invite a Holocaust Survivor or family descendant of Survivors to speak at the school or classroom whenever possible, or use a video to show a Survivor’s testimony.
It is important to ensure that all educational components are age-appropriate. It is our practice that Holocaust education not begin until 5th grade. For children younger than that age, we use other materials to teach tolerance and acceptance without referencing the Holocaust specifically.
DISPLAY
All butterflies painted should be included in an installation on your campus. Permanent displays align with our vision, however displays may be temporary if would not be possible otherwise. Our hope is that a permanent installation would later be possible with year over year participation with the community. The purpose of your installation is to share The Butterfly Project’s message with the larger school or community, create a safe space for dialogue and reflection, and display the butterflies that honor the memory of the children killed in the Holocaust.
The butterflies should be displayed in a meaningful way that will show them in a respectful manner. Each display or installation, whether permanent or temporary, should include verbiage attributing the butterflies to the larger program, in the form of a plaque with our logo or painted lettering to convey that these butterflies are part of the larger TBP community and include our foundational message of remembrance and hope. Please contact us for a template of this plaque.
TBP COMMUNITY
All participants are encouraged to become active members The Butterfly Project Community, which includes:
- Sending pictures of your butterfly event and the final display to us
- Allowing us to use those images for our website
- Joining us on social media and spreading the word by sharing The Butterfly Project through your own social media:
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Sharing your success stories with us on Facebook and other sites
- Helping us grow our community by inviting as much of your own community as possible to participate in your butterfly event
- Making your butterfly participation ongoing by repeating it every year and making it a tradition for your community
LICENSING AGREEMENT
All participants will be asked to sign a licensing agreement stating they agree to follow our expectations and guidelines, and pay our nominal licensing fee of $75. This is a one-time licensing fee and will apply to all future butterfly programming.
Thanks to the generous support of our donors, all public schools and public school educators are exempt from this fee when they purchase butterfly kits or bulk orders of butterflies and will be required to sign a no-fee licensing agreement. All other participants will be required to pay our nominal licensing fee if they choose to make their own butterflies.
PRESS & MEDIA
Any press or media coverage that is related to participation or activities for The Butterfly Project must include the following:
- How we began: The Butterfly Project was founded in San Diego in 2006 by artist Cheryl Rattner Price and educator Jan Landau.
- Attribution: Acknowledgement that your work is part of a larger, worldwide project called The Butterfly Project
- Our mission: The Butterfly Project is a call to action through education, the arts and memorial making. We teach social justice through lessons of the Holocaust, educating participants about the dangers of hatred and bigotry to cultivate empathy and social responsibility. By painting ceramic butterflies, which are displayed as symbols of resilience and hope, participants remember the 1.5 million children killed during the Holocaust. In this work, The Butterfly Project honors our commitment to the Survivors to Never Forget.
- Current number of butterflies counted: As of March 2022, it is estimated that over 295,000 butterflies have been painted as part of The Butterfly Project worldwide.
- Contact information: Link to The Butterfly Project’s website (www.thebutterflyprojectnow.org), email address (info@thebutterflyprojectnow.org), and documentary film website (www.notthelastbutterfly.com).
You may also direct any press or media to our Director of Programming for additional information about our project.