Pride Art Contest
Overview
The (first ever!) Garrett County Pride Celebration will be held on June 15th at the Mountain Lake Park Leo Martin Park area. This celebration is held by Garrett County Pride inc. Being the first ever pride celebration in the area, it is important to focus on maintaining a joyous event.
To emphasize joy and happiness, we will hold a GC Pride Art Contest in tandem with the pride event. Displaying art centering LGBTQIA2+ culture and identity plays an important role in advocating for visibility.
The Garrett County Pride Art Contest is aimed at uniting the community by raising awareness and creating a supportive space to allow for expansive self expression through art. By bringing awareness to the culture and history of the LGBTQIA2+ community, we work towards normalizing conversations based in acceptance and understanding.
The contest will be separated into three categories: K-5th grade, 6-12th grade, and Adults. You do not need to be part of the LGBTQIA2+ community to participate.
Theme
The theme for this year’s GCP Art Contest is, “What Pride Means to Me”. Art submissions should reflect the artist’s understanding of pride and the meaning behind the need for an annual, month long celebration. We are looking for submissions focused on self expression, acceptance, and the continual fight for LGBTQIA2+ rights.
Timeline
To register, please fill out and submit this form ASAP. The deadline for submitting art is June 1st, two weeks before the pride festival. Drop off locations and time for art include Mon – Fri 8:30-3 at Jitterbug, Tues – Fri 3pm-10 and Sat 11am-10 drop off at the Alley. Please do not put your name on your art piece, it can be written on a sticky note or piece of tape on the back. For any questions, feel free to send an email at the address mentioned above.
The art will be showcased at the Garrett County Pride Celebration on June 15th. Judging will take place the morning of the event. Winners will be chosen by five individuals who will act as unbiased judges. All artwork is valuable and will be judged based on creativity, originality, and adherence to the theme using a sliding scale.
An awards ceremony will be held towards the end of the event. Winners will be asked to prepare to present their art. If participants prefer to remain anonymous and not present their work, that is alright. We will announce the winners who wish to present and give them their prizes. We will then ask them to present their art and describe their thought process and inspiration behind the work.
We plan to have pictures of winners and their artwork to be showcased in the newspaper, unless they wish to stay anonymous. We will also take photos of all artwork to be posted on social media.
Garrett County Arts Council has offered a space to display the winners’ art until the second week of July in the $MART ART Space at The Gallery Shop on South 2nd street. Once the event has ended, if you wish to have your art displayed at the Gallery Shop you may leave your art to be transported. Otherwise you can pick up your art at the conclusion of the event or from a volunteer at a later date.
Requirements
• We ask that you keep anonymity in order to allow judges unbiased votes. Therefore, please do not sign your artwork.
• Acceptable visual art mediums consist of: Paint, Watercolors, Pastels, Charcoal, Digital, Photography, Drawing, and Mixed media. We ask that you please submit art on a canvas. Though this is limiting, art forms accepted will be expanded in future events.
• Artwork will be judged based on creativity, originality, and adherence to the theme.