Swim for Life in Mexico!

There were no borders between Provincetown USA and La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico this winter. Summer resident Arthur Richter recently brought the Swim for Life to this Pacific coastal town and it embraced the event with over one hundred participants, raising ,700 USD for the town’s elderly.“The whole town came out! We doubled our expectations,” Richter exclaimed.Richter is a board member of the Provincetown Community Compact, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and a longtime swimmer. For years he swam with his grandson Max as well as annually soliciting $10,000 in prizes from businesses for the top swimmer fundraisers. He lives in Barrington, Rhode Island.His contagious enthusiasm for the Swim for Life while vacationing in this seaside town inspired local residents Leti Hernandez and Conrado Martinez Serrano to organize the event, “Nadando por Ellos”. Along with the fifty-five swimmers, there were sixty walkers who also helped raise pledges. The community is already planning another event in 2019.The 31st Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, which has raised over $4.5M for AIDS, women’s health and the community, will be held September 8, 2018.www.swim4life.org

Swim for Life Celebrates 30th anniversary September 9, 2017

Year one: September 9, 1988. There was an offshore breeze, the water was unusually cold, but eighteen swimmers showed up with just ten days notice. $6,000 was raised for the Provincetown Positive People with AIDS Coalition. The swimmers sang, “Row, row, row your boat” and took the plunge to the sound of bagpipes. When they reached Long Point there was no plan to bring them back to the Boatslip beach. Rides were hitched from passing boats.Thirty years later the event attracts 400 swimmers, 150 kayakers, boaters and volunteers. Sponsored by the Provincetown Community Compact, this year’s Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla is set for September 9, 2017 at the Boatslip Beach Club and in magnificent Provincetown Harbor.The public is invited to greet the swimmers beginning at 11:00am. The Celebration of Life Concert, produced by John Thomas, will be held the evening before the Swim, and the Mermaid Brunch will follow the Swim on the Boatslip deck, open to the public and catered by Far Land Provisions. Zoe Lewis will provide the entertainment."This is a very special year for this Provincetown tradition - three decades of celebrating and supporting this spiral spit of sand we call home," states artist and director, Jay Critchley.The fundraiser builds community and provides year round funding and support for social services, youth and educational organizations that include: AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, Helping Our Women, Outer Cape Health Services, Soup Kitchen of Provincetown, Provincetown Rescue Squad, Lower Cape Ambulance, Accessible Provincetown, The Compact Community Fund, Provincetown Schools, West End Racing Club and Cape Cod Children’s Place.This post-Labor-Day, 1.4-mile swim has raised over $4M for AIDS, women's health and the community since 1988. This year's Swim poster and t-shirt image features the dory of the late Eddie Ritter, the last historic dory in Provincetown. The photo is by Allan MacKinnon, with the design by Andrea Pluhar. T-shirts will be available at Seamen’s Bank downtown next week.For swimmers and kayakers, personal funding pages may be set up through the Swim website: www.swim4life.org. For those unable to attend the Swim this year, they might consider a Satellite Swim in a pool or another location.Business sponsors include: Provincetown Banner (media sponsor), Seamen’s Bank (lead sponsor), and the Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Beach Club, Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Crown & Anchor, Boatslip Beach Club, Harbor Hotel, Berta Walker Gallery, Mussel Beach Health Club, Cape Air, Bay State Cruise, Art’s Dune Tours, and Seashore Point.Swimmers, kayakers, boaters, volunteers and friends of the Swim for Life may contact www.swim4life.org for registration, pledge sheets and volunteer opportunities.

Thirty Swims. Thirty Weeks. Swim for Life countdown to Sept 9

Since 1988 Provincetown Harbor has been activated by hundreds of swimmers, kayakers and safety boaters at the annual Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, raising over M. Thirty years later the event continues the mission of the Provincetown Community Compact* to nurture the well-being of Provincetown by supporting numerous community organizations, including AIDS and women’s health.Presidents’ weekend marks the thirty-week countdown to the event on September 9. From now until then, The Compact will highlight images and stories of swimmers and volunteers and organize special events with beneficiaries and other community organizations.“Provincetown is an American story. Its response to HIV/AIDS is a model of how local communities can overcome crisis when government turns its back.  As much as anything else, the Swim for Life is an event reminding us all of the power of love and compassion, and after 30 years, it's as strong as ever,” states Executive Director Jay Critchley.Swim for Life beneficiaries this year include: AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, Helping Our Women, Provincetown Schools, Lower Cape Ambulance, Soup Kitchen of Provincetown, Outer Cape Health Services, The Compact Community Fund, Provincetown Rescue Squad, Accessible Provincetown, Cape Cod Children’s Place and the West End Racing Club.In 1993 the Swim quietly began to ask people to write names and messages on colored ribbons to honor loved ones, both living and deceased. To date there are 2800 Prayer Ribbons that are displayed at the Swim. Last fall The Compact was invited to show them at a ceremony in the Cannon Caucus Room at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. on World AIDS Day, December 1.The Compact also honored the 49 victims of the Orlando nightclub shootings at a special ceremony at Town Hall Prayer Ribbons with a distinct strand of Prayer Ribbons Orlando. Each person’s name, which was inscribed in gold on a black ribbon, was read aloud. A 50th ribbon was inscribed for those injured. This strand traveled to Orlando and was shared with the families of the victims and them installed for a week in front of Orlando City Hall.For more information go to: www.swim4life.org and thecompact@comcast.net.* The Compact, sponsor of the 30th Swim for Life this year, will be celebrating its 25^th anniversary in 2018. Its mission is to nurture the well being of the community, connecting people, place and enhancing the arts, the environment and the economy. Initiatives include the Think-ubator, which shepards grass roots projects and organizations through fiscal sponsorship and management, and the overseeing of two historic dune shack residencies in the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Swim for Life brings Eugene O'Neill back to town

PROVINCETOWN BANNER.  Have you noticed the number of local Centennials recently? Not surprising, we’re in the Centennial Decade, 1910-1920. That decade brought us the Pilgrim Monument, the Art Association & Museum (PAAM), the Provincetown Players, the Beachcombers and to cap it off, the 400^th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims arrives in 2020. It was also the Progressive Era in the US, so clearly articulated in Provincetown resident Adelle Heller’s book, co-written by Louis Rudnick, “1915, The Cultural Moment”, featuring the artists, writers, Communists and activists who descended upon our little spiral spit of sand.Provincetown has inspired two of America’s premier, Pulitzer Prize winning playwrights, Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams. This year is the Centennial of O’Neill’s debut as a playwright, right here on an east end wharf. The community has responded with numerous events, and the Swim for Life joins them. For this year’s design, we chose a simple, elegant line drawing by local artist, Bill Evaul, who also designed the 1999 Swim artwork of a white-line block print of the Rose Dorothea. His work is presently featured in a major exhibition at PAAM, and he also has block prints at the Pilgrim Monument of O-Neill, George Cram Cook and Pulitzer Prize winner Susan Glaspell, major figures in Provincetown’s radical theater experiment.Swim for Life t-shirts - 100% organic cotton - with Bill’s design are available at Seamen’s Bank, downtown.O’Neill was friends with the Jack Reed, a Communist/journalist, whose book on the Russian Revolution, “Ten Days That Shook the World”, inspired The Compact’s pre-demolition happening at Herring Cove Bathhouse in 2012. O’Neill was a consummate swimmer and famously lived out in the dunes for many summers, entertaining a stream of Greenwich Village visitors. The Compact presently manages two of the 18 dune shacks, with funded weeks for artists and writers.The Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, a 1.4-mile swim across Provincetown Harbor, is sponsored by the Provincetown Community Compact and has raised $4M for AIDS, women’s health and the community since 1988. The event supports: the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod and Helping Our Women (primary beneficiaries); and, Provincetown Schools, Lower Cape Ambulance, Soup Kitchen of Provincetown, Outer Cape Heath Services, The Compact Community Fund, Accessible Provincetown, Provincetown Rescue Squad, West End Racing Club and Cape Cod Children’s Place.Lead business sponsor is Seamen’s Bank; media sponsor is the Provincetown Banner. Business sponsors include: Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Beach Club, Harbor Hotel, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club and Berta Walker Gallery.For information for swimmers, kayakers, boaters and volunteers, contact: thecompact@comcast.net, and www.swim4life.org Take the Plunge!

Provincetown Community Compact presents the Swim for Life

Begun in 1988, the Swim for Life immediately took on a life of its own. The enthusiasm of our community and the urgent need to confront AIDS forged a bond that has continued to strengthen over 30 years. By 1992, 128 swimmers raised $35,000 for the Provincetown AIDS Support Group and People with AIDS Coalition. An official non-profit entity was needed and in 1993 the Provincetown Community Compact was born to anchor this growing event and provide a much-needed resource for nascent community projects.The mission of The Compact was expansive: to advance the health and cultural well being of the year round Provincetown community and the Lower Cape – its people, the natural environment and the economy. This would come to include the management of two dune shacks in the Cape Cod National Seashore for the general public, with designated weeks for visual artists and writers, one with a 0 fellowship. The Swim for Life began funding annual week stays for clients of the AIDS Support Group and Helping Our Women.The Compact also has initiated special projects in the community, notably, the pre-demolition Meadows Motel installations, which transformed an affordable destination into artist installations that spoke to loss, transformation and community identity. The Herring Cove Bathhouse project in 2012, Ten Days That Shook the World, co-sponsored by Ewa Nogiec’s Ten Day of Art, brought 50 creatives and 30 events and performances to this crumbling symbol of a changing environment and community. There was overwhelming public response.The Compact’s Think-ubator program, which provides a non-profit umbrella and consultation to individuals and groups, has nurtured several significant organizations that became independent non-profits: Provincetown International Film Festival, Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, Cape Cod Modern House Trust and Bark Park.The Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, a 1.4-mile swim across Provincetown Harbor, is sponsored by the Provincetown Community Compact and has raised M for AIDS, women’s health and the community since 1988.Lead business sponsor is Seamen’s Bank; media sponsor is the Provincetown Banner. Business sponsors include: Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Beach Club, Harbor Hotel, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club and Berta Walker Gallery.For information for swimmers, kayakers, boaters and volunteers, contact: thecompact@comcast.net, and www.swim4life.org Take the Plunge! 

Swim for Life to honor Orlando victims

Provincetown Banner, June 30, 2016.  Organized to fight HIV/AIDS, rampant homophobia and an unresponsive government and medical system, the Swim for Life will honor the victims of the Orlando massacre at its September 10 fundraiser. The name of each victim, and those injured, will be inscribed on a colored ribbon and added to the 2,800 ribbons that honor both those who have died and those whom we love. Families, friends and allies around the world will also be remembered. The fight against AIDS gave birth to Prayer Ribbona and they speak to the whole community.

It was mostly gay men who were devastated in the early decade of the AIDS pandemic. But activist men and women fought and demanded action. We changed the way healthcare is delivered in the country. And Provincetown was at the forefront of this battle: caring for the sick and fighting for humane and non-discriminatory treatments.

At its inception, the Swim for Life chose to support the activist Provincetown People with AIDS (PWA) Coalition, which espoused self-empowerment and challenged the unresponsiveness of traditional healthcare. The AIDS Support Group was added as a beneficiary and then Helping Our Women. We presently support a holistic model of community health: the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod and Helping Our Women (primary beneficiaries); and, Provincetown Schools, Lower Cape Ambulance, Soup Kitchen of Provincetown, Outer Cape Heath Services, The Compact Community Fund, Accessible Provincetown, Provincetown Rescue Squad, West End Racing Club and Cape Cod Children’s Place.

The Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, a 1.4-mile swim across Provincetown Harbor, is sponsored by the Provincetown Community Compact and has raised $4M for AIDS, women’s health and the community since 1988.Lead business sponsor is Seamen’s Bank; media sponsor is the Provincetown Banner. Business sponsors include: Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Beach Club, Harbor Hotel, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club and Berta Walker Gallery.For information for swimmers, kayakers, boaters and volunteers, contact: thecompact@comcast.net, and www.swim4life.org Take the Plunge!

Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla Sept 10, 2016

Greetings

Swimmers, Kayakers, Boaters, Volunteers and Friends,

First, in this time of horrendous violence, I'd like to thank you for being part of the Swim for Life community. We are hope!

Summer weather is slowly moving in and the harbor and town are coming to life.  Hope you all had a splendid winter and spring and are gearing up to be outside and in or on the water. We look forward to your presence at the 29th Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla on September 10. Yes # 29!This community tradition and fundraiser is for AIDS, women's health & the community - sponsored by the Provincetown Community Compact.

For this year's event we invited artist Bill Evaul to help us celebrate the Centennial of the Provincetown Players and playwright Eugene O'Neill's debut play, Bound East for Cardiff,  produced  on a wharf in Provincetown in 1916. And O'Neill was an avid swimmer too!**

We are initiating a voluntary pre-registration process this year to assist us with accurate and legible data collection. Swimmers will still need to register on September 10 to confirm your pledges and receive your cap, number and t-shirt. Volunteers, please sign up by mid August if possible.Thank you all for keeping a special place in your heart for Provincetown.Watch for periodic updates before the big event.

Have a fun summer.

Peace,

Jay Critchley

PS. The short film, Ribbons, by Brandon Cordeiro, inspired by the Swim for Life, is featured at this week's Provincetown Film Fest!

** The Provincetown Players are credited with revolutionizing American theater. O'Neill  went on to win three Pulitzer Prizes and was also named Nobel Laureate. He lived in an old Coast Guard Station in the dunes for many years and his legacy was influential in preserving the historic dune shacks in the Cape Cod National Seashore. And O'Neill was an avid swimmer too!

The Provincetown Community Compact, which sponsors the Swim, manages two dune shacks primarily devoted to perpetuating arts and community in this unique, pristine environment: C-Scape and Fowler. It also supports community projects through its "Think-ubator" program.

Swim celebrates the town's art & culture

Provincetown is a crossroads, luring people from across the planet to this spiral spit of sand. From the Portuguese in the 1800s to the artists who flocked to New York and here after WWI, it is a fertile place. During a decade a century ago, 1910-1920 - the “Centennial Decade” - Provincetown became the national epicenter of cultural transformation.Framed by the dedication of the Pilgrim Monument in 1910 and the 300^th anniversary of the First Landing of the Pilgrims in Provincetown Harbor in 1920, was the founding of the Provincetown Art Association & Museum (PAAM) in 1914 and the birth of modern American Theater in 1915. The Provincetown Players included Eugene O’Neill, Neith Boyce, Susan Glaspell and John Reed, a communist journalist who wrote the famous account of the Russian Revolution, “Ten Days That Shook the World”. This was the Progressive Era sweeping the country.One of the artists who lived here during this dynamic time included painter and printmaker Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt, a Swede whose family moved to the US in 1892, and also a founder of the Provincetown Players. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and lived in Paris, London and Taos, New Mexico. During his three years here - 1914-17 - he discovered a new way to print color woodblocks from a single block of wood, introducing the innovative white-line block printing method now called the Provincetown Print.BJO Nordfeldt’s delicate etching from PAAM’s collection for the Swim, “Boats on Shore”, 1916, shows a family on the shoreline with two of the many wharves in Provincetown Harbor, and the sand dunes in the distance. The boats are being repaired, the children are at play. One hundred years later the Swim for Life connects this legacy of art, environment, industry and community. The waterfront is our identity.Join us for the 27^th annual Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla on September 6, 2014, a benefit for AIDS, women’s health & the community. Please contact: www.swim4life.org.Business Sponsors this year include: Lead sponsor, Seamen’s Bank, Media sponsor, Provincetown Banner, Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Resort, Marc Jacobs, Harbor Hotel, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club, Berta Walker Gallery, Shawn Nightingale Productions and Scott A. Allegretti, D.D.S., with support from the Provincetown Tourism Fund.

Swim survey response highlights community

Over the cold, snowy winter we poured over the results of the questionnaire we sent to swimmers and kayakers from the 2013 event and found some great suggestions and heartwarming responses like the one above. The long passionate 26-year history of the Swim for Life has created a unique tradition that supports our year round community. Past surveys have focused on the quality of the experience and water safety, this one also included questions about fundraising and the Swim’s economic impact on the town.“I don't need to decide to do the swim. I already have. I will do the swim every year. It is a very important day for our family. I swim in memory of my oldest friend who I spent many happy vacations with in town. I Love, love, love that this is a fundraiser. I feel so happy to hit my friends up for money to aid people in this most beloved place.”From swimmers we received an admirable 15% return rate (156 of 1,000), from kayakers, 27% return (27 of 102). The most surprising result was the response to the question: Is the Swim primarily a fundraiser or a community/memorial/athletic/other event? Of course, some would see it as all of the above, but when asked to choose, 73% of swimmers saw it primarily as a community event, while 52% of kayakers saw it as a fundraiser.1997 Swim, Donna Flax. While swimmers raise the majority of pledges, it is significant that they see the event in the broader context of the community, which reflects the mission of the Swim’s sponsor, the Provincetown Community Compact (The Compact), whose mission is to support the health and well being of the community. Kayakers recognize the importance of their role on the water in support of swimmers. Most significant in terms of economic impact, the average off-Cape swimmer and kayaker (75% of participants) stays 3.4 nights in a hotel or B+B and brings along 4 people with them; a large number stay 1-2 weeks, and some bring dozens of friends with them. This, along with the $200,000 in pledges collected by swimmers and kayakers (75% from off-Cape) creates a huge economic impact in the town."It is a great fund raiser for several important causes, the whole community is involved...they know what I'm talking about when I bring it up, and have pride in it."Join us for the 27^th annual Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla on September 6, 2014, a benefit for AIDS, women’s health & the community. Please contact: www.swim4life.org. Swim t-shirts are available at Seamen’s Bank, downtown, Venture Athletics and the Art Association & Museum.Business Sponsors this year include: Lead sponsor, Seamen’s Bank, Media sponsor, Provincetown Banner, Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Resort, Marc Jacobs, Harbor Hotel, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club, Berta Walker Gallery, Shawn Nightingale Productions and Scott A. Allegretti, D.D.S., and support from the Provincetown Tourism Fund.

2014 Swim poster by BJO Nordfeldt (1916)

Swim for Life celebrates the town’s art and culture.Download + print poster.Provincetown is a crossroads, luring people from across the planet to this spiral spit of sand. From the Portuguese in the 1800s to the artists who flocked to New York and here after WWI, it is a fertile place. During a decade a century ago, 1910-1920 - the “Centennial Decade” - Provincetown became the national epicenter of cultural transformation.Framed by the dedication of the Pilgrim Monument in 1910 and the 300^th anniversary of the First Landing of the Pilgrims in Provincetown Harbor in 1920, was the founding of the Provincetown Art Association & Museum (PAAM) in 1914 and the birth of modern American Theater in 1915. The Provincetown Players included Eugene O’Neill, Neith Boyce, Susan Glaspell and John Reed, a communist journalist who wrote the famous account of the Russian Revolution, “Ten Days That Shook the World”. This was the Progressive Era sweeping the country.One of the artists who lived here during this dynamic time included painter and printmaker Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt, a Swede whose family moved to the US in 1892, and also a founder of the Provincetown Players. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and lived in Paris, London and Taos, New Mexico. During his three years here - 1914-17 - he discovered a new way to print color woodblocks from a single block of wood, introducing the innovative white-line block printing method now called the Provincetown Print.BJO Nordfeldt’s delicate etching from PAAM’s collection for the Swim, “Boats on Shore”, 1916, shows a family on the shoreline with two of the many wharves in Provincetown Harbor, and the sand dunes in the distance. The boats are being repaired, the children are at play. One hundred years later the Swim for Life connects this legacy of art, environment, industry and community. The waterfront is our identity.Join us for the 27^th annual Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla on September 6, 2014, a benefit for AIDS, women’s health & the community. Please contact: www.swim4life.org.Business Sponsors this year include: Lead sponsor, Seamen’s Bank, Media sponsor, Provincetown Banner, Fanizzi’s Restaurant, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Far Land Provisions, Boatslip Resort, Marc Jacobs, Harbor Hotel, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club, Berta Walker Gallery, Shawn Nightingale Productions and Scott A. Allegretti, D.D.S.

27th Swim for Life set for Sept 6, 2014

Please join the hundreds of swimmers, friends and paddlers from across the United States who consider Provincetown, Massachusetts their spiritual home, and return to participate in the annual Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, Sept 6, 2014.This fundraiser of the Provincetown Community Compact supports vital year round services for AIDS, women's health and the community. Come share with us the special relationships we have established and the community we have created through the healing waters of Provincetown Harbor.Thanks to those who are challenging themselves and joining us for the first time, and those who return year after year, bringing along family and friends.The community is grateful2014 Swim design: BJO Nordfelt, etching, 1916, in commemoration of the Centennial of the Provincetown Art Assn & Museum