ArtPrize Voter Registration Sites
For those of you interested in how ArtPrize came to decide on voter registration sites, it was driven by three motivating factors:
- Continue to support local arts institutions
- Have a variety of locations throughout the city
- Have enough people to staff registration sites
The third problem was the most difficult to navigate. A registrar will be a volunteer. Volunteers usually donate their time in 2-3 hour blocks. So, a quick look at the math:
- 1 day for 1 site with 3 stations = 9 volunteers
- 1 day for 14 sites with 3 stations = 126 volunteers
- 15 days for 14 sites with 3 stations = 1,890 volunteers
Of course, some volunteers will take more than one shift and not every site requires three stations operating every day–but you get a sense for the numbers we’re dealing with. Even half, 945 volunteers, just for registration would completely overwhelm all other volunteer coordinating efforts.
The decision for a voter registration site was made based on the site being a pre-existing, non-profit arts or civic institution committed to using their own volunteers to staff registration during their business hours. There are three exceptions to this rule:
- ArtPrize Headquarters @ Old Federal: We’ll insure this registration site is open during all ArtPrize hours, staffed with our volunteers to troubleshoot any technical issues a registrant might have
- The Amway Grand Plaza & JW Marriott: Chosen for the convenience of out-of-town guests
REGISTRATION SITES
Note: All locations have agreed to be open the evening of Wed, Sept 23–Opening Night
Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
187 Monroe Ave
M-Su: 9a-6p
ArtPrize Headquarters @ Old Federal
155 N. Division
M-Th: 5p-8p, F-Sa: noon-10p, Su: noon-6p
Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park
1000 East Beltline NE
M: 9a-5p, Tu: 9a-9p, W-Sa: 9a-5p, Su: noon-5p
Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce
111 Pearl NW
M-F: 8:30a-5p, Sa-Su: closed
Grand Rapids Art Museum
101 Monroe Center
M: closed, Tu-Th: 10a-5p, F: 10a-9p, Sa: 10a-5p, Su: noon-5p
Grand Rapids Ballet Co.
341 Ellsworth SW
M-Th: 9a-7p, F: 9a-5p, Sa: 9a-1p, Su: closed
Grand Rapids Children’s Museum
11 Sheldon NE
M: closed, Tu-W: 9:30a-5p, Th: 9:30a-8p, F-Sa: 9:30a-5p, Su: noon-5p
Grand Rapids Community College
Student Community Center off Lyon St
M-F: 8a-5p, Sa-Su: closed
Grand Rapids Symphony
300 Ottawa NW, Suite 100
M-F: 9a-5p, Sa-Su: closed
Grand Rapids Public Museum
272 Pearl NW
M: 9a-5p, Tu: 9a-9p, W-Sa: 9a-5p, Su: noon-5p
GVSU University Bookstore
401 W. Fulton
M-Th: 8a-6p, F: 8a-5p, Sa: 8a-2p, Su: closed
JW Marriott
235 Louis NW
M-Su: 9a-6p
Main Public Library
111 Library NE
M-Th: 9a-9p, F-Sa: 9a-6p, Su: 1p-5p
UICA
41 Sheldon SE
M: 9-8p, Tu-F: 9-10p, Sa: noon-10p, Su: noon-7p
Is it possible to have early registration? Many older people want to register early so they don’t have to wait in line.
Unfortunately, no. You can “pre-register” on artprize.org starting Sept 14, which means you’ll put in all of your information online. That way, you will only have to present your ID to activate your account when you come downtown. That will speed things up. I suggest visiting a registration site the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept 23 while people are still at work, before the evening ceremonies kick off.
You need consistancy in hours. This is confusing. What’s with having registration at the actual venues? If all venues can’t register voters then it is totally unbablanced and discriminatory.
[...] http://blog.artprize.org/2009/08/27/artprize-voter-registration-sites [...]
I have to agree with Anna on this, to be able to register at “chosen” participating venues and not others really slants the odds. I was under the impression that all registration will be held only at non-venue locations.
There’s not a whole lot of non-venue locations left in Grand Rapids, particularly ones with their own roster of volunteers.
why is there not a mobil registration option? and i agree that all registration sites should be not affiliated to an artprize venue.
I agree with Anna and Armin, if all registered venues are not allowed to be registration sites of course the artists in those particular venues have an extreme advantage.Why not give the venues the option to become a registration site? There could have been an Voter Registrar Orientation/Training held either town hall meeting style or given online. The venues could have had the option of providing a staff member or volunteer to be the registrar.Or what about setting up registration stations outside on street corners and sidewalks all over downtown? That would have made it totally unbiased. It will be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out and how this issue is addressed for Artprize 2010.
Just incredible.
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I should have chosen fortune telling instead of the Arts as a career path.
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For what it’s worth, GAME ON.
Oh my god! I think I’m psychic too! It must be in the air
I am bringing my 13 year old to Grand Rapids for the show.
Can he register to vote? Is there a minimum age?
He has no ID ( At least not one that I’m aware of! )
How does one proceed with no valid ID ?
+1 on venue as registrar conflict of interest.
Why 1900 volunteers? just pay a small crew ~50 min wage and give them a t-shirt. It works for Christo and Jean-Claude. That’s roughly 43K shirts included. The entrance fees would cover that.
I agree. They have $7,500 ready for busing students, I’m sure they can somehow manage to come up with money for registration workers.
Every voter must be at least 16 years of age to register to vote. Sorry, Susana.
I’m sorry if my question has already been addressed and I missed it but, do the participating artist have to register to vote. or is that automatic for us?
Also, I realize the problem of registration locations, however, I do feel like the others that having registration locations at participating venues is an unfair advantage to those artists that have work at those locations. Has any other alternatives been addressed such as portable locations and still using the same volunteers that would work at the original registration venues?
Artists must register to vote, as well. The system is set up so that every voter must present a valid government issued idea at a registration site.
On the topic of fairness, I ask artists to think through all the various scenarios as we already have. Portable registration sites would be nice, but who pays for the structures? They have to be robust enough to protect computers from the elements. And how do we set them far enough away from all other venues in order to satisfy everyone? Then, how do we get power and Internet access to them? And who pays for that? If we had one giant “neutral” registration site, artists would cry foul that we funneled everyone to one location close to some venues, but far from their own. If we left it up to any venue to volunteer to be a registration site, we’d have this same conversation. It would just be populated by artists whose venues did not want to be registration sites. That scenario does not even consider venues are overwhelmed as is just to put on the exhibition.
Other ideas were thrown around, like Meijer stores (one of our sponsors) could be registration sites–since none are located within the boundary–but the reasons against that are obvious. Ideas even more hair-brained were tossed out, too.
If there is a more elegant–affordable–solution for 2010, we’ll be looking for it. Until then, this is the best option: Spreading multiple registration sites across the city, close to most venues, using other organizations’ volunteers and infrastructure, even if some of those organizations are also venues. It was the best option we could find from a series of undesirable scenarios.
What is unfair about having registration sites at participating venues? Who cares…….. If someone walks through one venue at artprize and votes on one work without looking at any of the other works at any of the other venues than he or she really doesn’t give a shit about artprize and the whole premise behind the event. There is no advantage or disadvantage. It’s all about the art work not the location of the art work. I am showing at the B.O.B which is not a registration location. I am also a Denver resident. So I guess I must be in the wrong place and from the wrong state???????????????????C’mon guys lighten up and have fun. P.S. Did I mention I spent my whole savings on the sculpture that I entered in to artprize. Paul, It’s not fair that I spent so much money on my entry. Can you give me a 30000 dollar refund and a key to the city.
Question: Paul Moore, could you please clarify how someone registered can vote? Is there a number on our entries that they use to text their vote in? When searching for us on line to vote, do they look for our name? or that entry number?
I was not sure if this question has been answered by you yet.
Also, once the first week is over, has it been confirmed that the votes will go back to zero?
One more thing, can I, an artist in the competition, volunteer to help with registering people?
I appreciate all your help with ArtPrize. I hope to hear from you soon on answering my questions.
Somehow, it would be nice if you could reduce it to just FOUR sites to register: one in each quadrant of the city.
OR perhaps at the regular polling places where people vote in elections (I guess we wouldn’t want the government involved, and that’d require volunteers, too.)
I personally didn’t think the Meijer idea was “hairbrained for obvious(?) reasons”. EVERYbody but the poorest could get to a Meijers. Are they supposed to be competition or something? They could afford to “volunteer” some of their customer service employees to the task. Maybe I’m missing something here.
BTW, I apologize to Jeff B from Denver — you are at a VERY popular/prestigious location at the BOB, and on behalf of GR, may I WELCOME you! (Sorry about your savings — how brave.)
Like Danae I’m hoping you can clarify better how the voting will happen for the specific works. Will it be by the artist’s name, title of the work, a yet to be assigned number? I want to produce some supporting printed material to hand out and this information is sort of critical. I need to get it printed REALLY soon so a quick reply would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.
On the topic of registration locations I do think the solution you all came up with is a good one given all the issues involved.
I can understand too why some would be concerned about the registration sites giving an advantage to artists at certain venues. I have to imagine it will offer some advantage. However, I don’t see how there could be any reasonable way to avoid this. Having the multiple sites should spread out this “advantage” so it’s not focused on just one small group of artists.
Of course because every venue is different and located in different areas there is no way to get around certain venues having advantages or disadvantages for their hosted artists. As an artist I considered this when deciding on the venue I chose to approach.
A thought has occurred to me today that might help even the playing field some for everyone. You may already be planning this. Can ArtPrize set something up on this website that allows voters to easily see an overview of everyone’s piece? What comes to mind for me is perhaps pages with 50 to 100 thumbnail images of the works along with the artist’s name. Interested voters could click on these thumbnails to get the full artist’s profile with large images and the location of the hosting venue. In this way voters could sort of shop around quickly to see what work interests them the most and plan trips to those venues. I realize this can sort of be done already with the “artist list”, but it’s not really easy, quick, and convenient to get an overview of the actual artwork that way.
I think David has an excellent idea of creating a more user friendly web page for perusing the artists work! As it is laid out now it would literally take hours to visit each artist with no way to narrow down to the art you individually may be interested in.
Jeff, I think you’re missing the point. There are 158 venues. It’s doubtful people will get to every one of them, however they will definitely go to the ones housing registration stations. It’s simple logistics. I think everyone is excited and happy to show their work, this is just a concern. Also, Betty is right. I’m sure the BOB will get a HUGE amount of traffic due alone to its housing over 100 artists. And wow, your whole savings? That IS brave. Good luck to you.
. (I really wish HTML worked in here)
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David, I’m under the impression they’ll be having programs with everyone’s information listed. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard for your guests to flip through that and find you by name. They can also input your name in the search box located near the artist list on this site and have immediate access to your page. My sister is printing invitations up for me and we’re not concerned about it. The people coming will already be there and have access to all the information that is needed.
I don’t know if anyone noticed but the “featured venues” section on the homepage was removed!
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(applause)
Liz, programs would be good. I wonder if there will be images of the artwork in there? I’m just hoping to get as much information as I can about the voting process so I can make it as easy as possible for people to vote for me.
Plus I find that as I’m telling various groups of people about the whole event they have questions about how it all works. I’d rather be able to give a clear answer than a shrug.
Good question. Having a photo of the artwork in the program would certainly help. When I tell people about Artprize, I generally give them a brief overview (when it’s happening, what building I’m in, where they can register to vote, etc.) and send them a link to my page or tell them to go to the website. It WOULD be nice to have some definitive answers, though.
Yeah it would be really nice if we could all register people to vote. I guess I don’t understand why that would be such a big deal if those of us that will be at our venue want to be able to register people. If we have the means and the people to do it then why can’t we be allowed.
And what was with the “featured venues” thing anyway… I never understood why any venue should be any more “featured” than another in a democratically decided competition. I’m not trying to be too negative because I really appreciate what is being done here…maybe after this year is all said and done we should have some kind of meeting or something for suggestions for upcoming years. To their credit, this is a huge thing to try to get right the first time.
By the way,
The Featured Venues box on the homepage is gone. It was a placeholder from launch for a widget we never got a chance to build.
I appreciate that there will be several sites to register, and a week to register. I see that many of the artist are from outside the Grand Rapids area, making the idea of artists having their own registration sites impossible, or recruting their own volunteers and people who will vote for them.
Would suggest a map connecting venues with a route showing the most efficient way to navigate from site to site.
I’m happy that there is online registration beginning Sept. 14th because I think many people will register this way to avoid lines. It would be nice if they could register at each venure site and the artists showing their work be required to volunteer shifts to register people. Maybe next year? I am showing at American Seating so I’m way out of the loop as far as registration sites go. The people voting for my work will do what it takes to make it happen. At the same time I want them to go downtown and enjoy ALL OF THE ART and vote for others too if they see something of interest to them. This is what ArtPrize is all about!!
Greetings Paul M, and fellow Artists!
i’d like to throw this kernal of an old not so original idea into the 2010 ideas hat, how’bout an ArtBus, garnished up real good, that shuttles folks from site to site on a regular loop on a couple of specially advertized days of each week, a suggested travel donation fee to help with the operation cost, and a non-biased official onboard registering people who want to vote?
Hey a generous patron donated a Jackson-20 so i could grab a dinner across the river! – sure beat the bk value meal by a long green country mountain mile. Spendin my all here too Jeff B. good luck one and all!
Images of the artwork in the program would be more than helpful. They would create a keepsake for all voters as well as the artists. I realize there is a seperate catalog being produced. There is no such thing as too much publicity. Thanks for the great web pages.
Quick question? I would like to take photo’s of various art entries,would that be allowed and second would you have to pay to get into any place where pieces are on display, such as the Bob? Am looking forward to seeing all of the exhibits and see who wins this awesome art prize, good luck to all the artist who entered and put their soul into their entry, I saw afew of the entries on your artist list, awesome, awesome, each and everyone of them.
Question, would I be able to take photo’s of the art entries and would anyone have to pay to enter a venue such as the Bob? Am looking foreward to seeing them, wow what an awesome contest, great idea.
All venues agreed not to charge for visitors to view art.
I notice a couple of registration sites are closed on Saturday and Sunday. As a person who lives out of town, the only time I can visit Grand Rapids is on the weekend and I would imagine this applies to many others. I would like to see more registration sites available on the weekend. Maybe a few set up specifically on Saturday and Sunday at downtown locations in parks, etc. This would also make it more convenient as I am not familiar with downtown Grand Rapids and will need to hunt for the registration sites available – taking time away from visiting the artist entries.
I want to register to vote for the art prize for outside the B.O.B. I am a resident of Michigan but my husband is working in Colorado and we will not be back until mid-November. Is there anyway to vote from outside the state?
Wish we had a registration site in Holland….
Wish we had a registration site in Muskegon…..
Since voters only have to register ONCE and presumably most people will want to see more than one venue I think some of you are putting a little too much thought into the number of registration sites.
If I only wanted to go to a site that offered registration I probably A) wouldn’t care about the competition B) wouldn’t care about art, and C) wouldn’t actually bother to vote for more than one or two works (which I would probably vote “thumbs down” for because I don’t “get it”.)
Get over it.
Join in the conversation. See the art. Talk about what fascinates you. ArtPrize is only here for a few short weeks, stop talking about what you think is unfair and start talking about ART.
In the pre-registration we have to give a valid id number. This would seem sufficient enough for registration. This seems like a real good method to prevent multiple bot-hacker votes online.
I am not sure why somebody would have to be there in person to register.
It seems like the on site registration is only allowing the people from the immediate area to vote and the artists and anybody who came with them. Is the in person registration set up to discourage out of town family and friends from voting?
It appears that artists from this area have a huge advantage. Nevermind the location of the registration sites. It will be interesting to see the results of this competition. It is a wonderful idea and I am looking forward to viewing ALL of the artwork.
It is my understanding that registering in person helps to guarantee that the works of art are actually viewed. If you are not going to attend the event and compare works, it is pointless for you to vote. It doesn’t mean anything to have people vote who don’t actually view the art that is competing; this is about viewing and experiencing art after all…Of course this basically means that we will be getting an idea of what appeals to the tastes of mostly midwesterners, but I think the hope is that in the future, it will be more national/international.
The wife and I plan to spend the day walking tomorrow. We will be registering at whatever site is closest to the bus stop we get off at. (Luckily there are many to choose from)
Unfortunately for the art pieces displayed inside that particular registration site, the first pieces we see will not be receiving their just accolades until later, when more pieces are seen. (I’m not going to just throw a thumbs-up to every piece I see, I plan on giving half of the pieces thumbs up and half nothing)
By the time the week is over the pieces viewed at the registration venue will be hardly considerable, unless they make an incredible impact.
I am a big boy. I can split the entries into 3 or 4 days and 3 or 4 planned routes, logistically sound.
Good Luck to all!
I am only here to say that it wasn’t easy to navigate to this blog page to find places to register. I totally missed the link on the left when learning how to register/vote and clicked through several pages to find the list on the blog.
I recommend having “Register” as a link from any page, as that’s your big Call to Action. Also you may wish to have a sentence explaining that the pre-register option (covered on every news outlet and your site) is no longer available as the event has already started. Unless I’m wrong and it is still available – in which case, it’s not easy to find on your site. I love the idea and execution of ArtPrize for GR – I’m just critical of websites’ User Interface and User Experience. My donation to ArtPrize: UI/UX consulting.
I agree with Bugsley Monroe.
Can anyone tell us if it is still possible to pre-register for the voting? And if so, please tell this idiot how? I have looked all over this website and don’t see the link to do it. Either I’m really stupid or now that the show has started you can only register at one of the sites. Please help!
Make sure to check out all venues!
There are some great pieces of artwork to see at American Seating Park – 801 Broadway.
Good luck with your entry Jeff Basinkewitz! Not all people in and around GR are so negative. I suspect that some of those same thinkers will be the first to scream “fix, fix!” when this great contest is over. If they were handed the sky, they’d complain it was too cloudy.
I found the website home page very easy to navigate; it’s usually helpful if one is relaxed and takes time to read everything before reacting. I found the voting instructions simple and, with information in hand, I can now browse the venues and concentrate on the entries.
This event has evoked a lot of spirit in a lot of people, residents, visitors, artists and non-artists. Thanks to the creator and sponsors for giving us all an opportunity to participate.
Please create a voter registration for me. I will be downtown to check in and finalize my voting privilidge.
Artprize is the best thing to happen to this town in years!!!!!