Nigeria 2026 · Sponsorship & donations
Time-sensitive · Traveler names due to our hosts within about two weeksA full-circle journey.
Founder Leila Steinberg has been invited to Nigeria to be honored with a chieftaincy title, and she isn't going empty-handed. She's bringing a team, our programming, and a camera to capture a story decades in the making.
A rare honor
A recognition reserved for those who leave a lasting cultural mark.
Nigerian community leaders are conferring a chieftaincy title on Leila, recognizing a lifetime spent using the arts to transform culture. She'll travel with an AIM 4 The Heart team, cameras included, to accept it.
The story comes full circle. Leila's path began on stage, as a singer and dancer performing with a Nigerian band. That early creative exchange seeded a lifetime of work: 35 years of arts-based HeArt Education reaching young people in schools, prisons, and communities worldwide, and mentoring a generation of artists along the way. Now she returns to where her artistry began — honored, and recommitting to the work.
Leila Steinberg, Founder
AIM programming in the U.S. — the same work travels to Nigeria
More than a ceremony
The bridge of creative exchange — live and in practice.
While in Nigeria, our facilitators will deliver HeArt Education programming alongside Nigerian youth. This isn't a trip to collect an award; it's a trip to do the work in a new room.
Every moment is filmed as the opening chapter of a documentary on the history of AIM 4 The Heart and the creative dialogue between Nigeria and the States.
Why the ask is bounded
Our hosts cover everything on arrival.
This is the part donors tend to appreciate most: the ask is capped and concrete. You know exactly what your money does.
Our Nigerian hosts cover
- Lodging for the full trip
- All meals
- Ground transportation
- Every ceremony logistic and security
We're raising funds for
- Round-trip international airfare
- Video & audio equipment
- Visas & entry processing
- Baggage for gear, insurance, contingency
The funding ladder
However far we get, we go.
There's no all-or-nothing here. Every gift moves us up a rung.
A team of 3, self-filmed
Three travelers go, deliver a focused HeArt Education session alongside Nigerian youth, and capture the whole experience on handheld, vlog-style gear. No production crew — just an honest, first-person record of a milestone moment. Covers flights ×3, visas, a simple vlog kit, insurance and contingency.
A team of 5, with a videographer
Adds a dedicated videographer and a basic professional gear kit, for a fuller shoot and a stronger film.
A team of 10 and a video team
The whole team travels with a dedicated video crew and full documentary production — facilitators delivering programming, and the story captured properly from the ground up.
Make it tangible
$1,650 sends one traveler.
That's one round-trip flight, fully covered. It's the most concrete gift on this page and a nameable one: a specific person gets on a specific plane because of you.
Gifts of any size stack toward the same thing. Four people giving $400 sends a traveler just as surely as one person giving $1,650.
Why now
Traveler names are due to our hosts within about two weeks, and early commitments lock in fares before they climb. If you're considering a gift, sooner genuinely helps more than later.
These figures are working estimates and will be adjusted once routes and dates are set.
Support the journey
Help us bring this story home.
Every gift is tax-deductible. AIM 4 The Heart is a California 501(c)(3), and every dollar raised goes to travel and content.
Questions
Want to hear more before you give?
Happy to walk you through the trip, the film, or the budget on a quick call.