The Arete Fund is a non-profit, charitable organization based in California that supports education locally and acts globally to encourage greater cultural understanding by means of artistic, educational, environmental and humanitarian projects. Arete began its work two decades ago by founding an annual entry-level college scholarship award to be applied towards the first year of college or trade school on behalf of deserving high school seniors at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, CA in the SF Bay Area. The award-winning scholarship recipients were all chosen as they excelled in high school sports and were exemplars of Arete – an ancient word for virtue and excellence. In all its endeavors, The Arete Fund seeks to rekindle the ancient meaning of Arete for the modern day as a means of fostering mutual respect and good will. Proceeds from Arete Fund Director Dianne Tittle de Laet's literary sports memoir "Giants & Heroes: A Daughter's Memories of Y.A. Tittle" helped to launch the fund in the mid 1990s. Since then, The Arete Fund, co-directed by Dianne's husband Steve de Laet, has sought to act as a catalyst for donations for collaborative projects in the fields of cross-cultural philanthropy and cultural diplomacy. Greece has always been of particular interest for the de Laets as they are restoring an ancient olive farm and have a home called ElaGaia in a lovingly restored farmhouse near Argos on the Pelopponese. On this beautiful site in the Artemesian mountains near the Greek Village of Houni, they have started a cultural and humanitarian center called the Arete Institute for the Arts (AIA). The Center will be launched in September of 2022 with a Symposium featuring many collaborative partners in Greece and the US including the Mycenaen Foundation, a nonprofit that the Arete Fund helps to support. Olympia Trees (www.olympia-trees.com/plant-a-tree) is The Arete Fund's most recent project to help raise funds to restore 80,000 olive trees that were burned in the fall of 2021 on the slopes of Ancient Olympia, a World Heritage site. The project will help to restore the livelihood of the farmers who live near Olympia in the Western Region of Greece. To date, Arete has done humanitarian work in Darfur, Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco, Bethlehem, Mongolia and Amdo, Tibet. The Fund greatly appreciates the help of the Amistad Foundation and the Rita Zneiber Foundation in facilitating two of these projects. Thanks also for the support and dedication of Alice Kleeman at Menlo-Atherton High School for the past several decades for the scholarship award that launched the Fund. With special thanks to Jeannie Kokes and Sandra Pursell, Arete supports 10-14 students who attend La Escuela de los Sordos (The School for the Deaf) in Quetalzenango, Guatemala. Arete also provided scholarships at Hopi High School in Polacca, Arizona, for seven years. In 2008, Arete restored the mountain-side threshing circle called the Aloni at ElaGaia, and offered this spectacular outdoor theatre for cultural exchange. To date, Arete has been privileged to host performances by many organizations. Greek school children have provided storytelling and hospitality for visiting students from Louisiana State University. A conference on culture was held on-site for Greece's Green Political Party. Numerous performances by international artists have included Yuriko Doi of the Theatre of Yugen, the Acoustic Vortex, Red Desert Dance, American jazz great Howard Paul, and his Greek counterpart Christofis Lefteris. In 2013, Arete hosted a talented 15-year-old jazz vocalist from the Music School in Prosymni, Greece, to come to the United States and attend The Stanford Jazz Workshop. In support of educational projects, donations have also been made to The Society for the Recreation of the Nemean Games, the Accountability Counsel and Women for Afghan Women. Since the Arete Fund's founding, it has been its priority to support education locally and to defend our shared humanity in a time of religious strife with humanitarian projects and cultural outreach abroad. A future goal in the long road ahead is to move more forcefully on behalf of the education of women with emphasis on Native American women in the Americas and women in developing nations. ~ To bring added funds to projects that serve this expanded mission, all proceeds will be donated from two performance pieces: "The Trail of Tears: A Praise Song for an American Hero" and "Memorare: A Lament" by Dianne de Laet. The Arete Fund will continue its cultural outreach through programs offered at ElaGaia through the Arete Institute for the Arts (AIA) and with other non-profit organizations in Greece and the U.S. Beginning in late 2021, the site at ElaGaia will be available for workshops and seminars in exchange for a donation to The Arete Fund. All proceeds from these efforts will benefit the expanded mission of The Arete Fund with priority given to projects that are currently underway. For more info, visit aretefund.net and olympia-trees.com. For recent updates, follow the Arete Fund on Facebook.
