ArtPrize today announced its registration timeline for our 2012 event, which will run from Sept. 19 through Oct. 7.
The ArtPrize platform creates a system that values creativity, experimentation and above all, collaboration. Artists are encouraged to build a relationship and partner with a venue as early as possible to create a memorable and successful installation. Registration dates include:
Venue Registration
Open: Monday, March 12 (Noon EDT)
Close: Thursday April 12 (5:00 p.m. EDT)
Artist Registration/Connections Open
Monday, April 23 (Noon EDT)
Artist Registration Close
Thursday, May 24 (5:00 p.m. EDT)
Connections Period Close
Thursday, June 14 (5:00 p.m. EDT)
There are few differences between the 2011 and 2012 registration process, key changes include simultaneous Artist Registration and Connections Period, allowing artists to immediately coordinate with a venue upon registration. Connections will remain open beyond Artist Registration until June 14.
Any art proposed for installation in the Grand River, which runs through the center of the ArtPrize district, must be submitted to the city of Grand Rapids and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) according to the following schedule:
Pre-application filed with the City of Grand Rapids
Monday, March 5
Application filed with the DEQ
Friday, March 16
The DNRE will process the application using the following steps:
Public notice period begins: Friday, March 30
Public notice period ends: Friday, April 20
Public hearing, if requested: Friday, May 18
Required time for comments: Tuesday, May 29
Permit Decision
Thursday, June 7
This process allows the State of Michigan and City of Grand Rapids to review proposed work and ensure that the installation meets specific criteria relevant to the environmental, structural and navigability impact on the river.
In ArtPrize 2011, Mia Tavonatti, of Orange Co. Calif., captured the top prize of $250,000 for her work, Crucifixion. Chris LaPorte of Grand Rapids, Mich. won the top prize in 2010 with Cavalry, American Officers, 1921, and Ran Ortner of Brooklyn, N.Y. won in 2009 for his work Open Water No. 24.
A new economic impact study was released this morning by Experience Grand Rapids, the region’s convention and visitors bureau. The study, conducted by the Anderson Economic Group, reveals that the 2011 ArtPrize event added $15.4 million to the Grand Rapids/Kent County economy, attracted more than 320,000 visitors and created more than 200 new jobs during its 19 days.
From Scott Watkins, with AEG:
“The study provides a comprehensive assessment of event attendance, visitor spending, local spending by the ArtPrize organization, and the economic impacts that accrue beyond the initial expenditures of visitors and the host organization. It also accounts for economic substitution. The analysis illustrates the new economic activity attributable to ArtPrize and does not double count spending in the area that would have otherwise occurred if the event was not held.”
The full report can be found here. Read the whole thing.
ArtPrize is supportive of this research study. From our perspective, communities thrive when people are given the flexibility and encouragement to be creative and a population is provided with the freedom to voice their opinions, and to just plain have fun. The Anderson study shows that small experiments like ArtPrize can grow to have significant impact, and we are pleased that our region is thriving as a result.
We hope 2012 will be an even bigger year for ArtPrize, with the tweaks we announced earlier this month:
self-sustainability
enabling the “credible mass” within the “critical mass”
empowered professional voices
ArtPrize thanks everyone for a successful 2011, and we look forward to seeing you in the new year!
ArtPrize, the radically open international art competition and social experiment in Grand Rapids, Mich., is pleased to announce a new award: the ArtPrize Juried Grand Prize.
The $100,000 award will be added to a revised list of public and juried prizes that will be distributed at the end of the 19-day event.
ArtPrize 2012 will take place Sept. 19 – Oct. 7, 2012.
With its public vote and juried awards, ArtPrize explores the tension between professional and populist in an epic conversation. In 2011, nearly 400,000 people visited Grand Rapids to engage with the work and ideas of nearly 1,600 artists. The new award changes the dynamic of the competition, and increases the total awards the event distributes to $550,000, making it the largest total prize purse for art in the world.
In addition to the Juried Grand Prize, ArtPrize will also increase its other juried awards to $20,000 each. The organization selected five categories to recognize:
Two-Dimensional
Three-Dimensional
Time and Performance
Urban Space
Venue
The increased commitment to juried awards will change the dynamic of the event and sets up a purposeful dialog between the opinions of arts professionals and the public, focusing on the artists’ work. Jurors for all of the professional awards will be announced in the spring, prior to artist registration.
“For the past three years, ArtPrize has set itself apart by empowering the public and giving them a critical voice, but the success of the event is based on the exchange of artists’ ideas,” said DeVos. “We want ArtPrize to be accessible for everyone, so we hope the new awards will help artists understand our goals and encourage them bring new ideas to the event.”
The changes in Juried Prizes will result in a revision of the ArtPrize Public Vote Awards:
Public Vote Award Revisions
Top Prize 2011: $250,000 2012: $200,000
2nd 2011: $100,000 2012: $75,000
3rd 2011: $50,000 2012: $50,000
4th-10th 2011: $7,000 2012: $5,000
The prize total for the public awards in 2012 will be $350,000, vastly outweighing the juried awards at $200,000, and keeping the organization’s focus on the community.
“The engagement of the community continues to be at the forefront of ArtPrize’s success,” added Catherine Creamer, executive director of ArtPrize. “Nearly 400,000 people participated in ArtPrize in 2011, not because we told them art mattered, but because we create a system where THEY matter to art.”
ArtPrize 2011 had more than 38,000 registered voters who submitted 383,000 total votes. With the increase of smartphones, mobile voting via the ArtPrize iPhone and new Android apps increased 62 percent.
ArtPrize 2011 began Sept. 21 with 1,582 artists from 39 countries and 43 U.S. states installing their work at 164 venues in a three-square-mile district in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Artist and venue registration for ArtPrize 2012 will be announced after the beginning of the year. For more information, visit www.artprize.org.
It’s getting to be that time of the year. A season of giving that everyone loves.
People in West Michigan love to shop local. ArtPrize has listened to the requests from our friends, and so for the first time ever, we will re-open The HUB Store at 41 Sheldon Blvd. for holiday shopping starting at Noon on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011.
And to make things even more magical, most of the store’s iconic ArtPrize merchandise has been marked down 40 percent.
According to the 3/50 Project, a small-business advocacy group, for every $100 spent in locally owned, independent stores, $68 returns to the community. Imagine the potential impact, since every purchase in the ArtPrize store will help support art in our community and help keep the ArtPrize event free for everyone.
The ArtPrize Store will open Tuesday, Nov. 15 through Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. The store will be generously staffed by volunteers and therefore closed Thanksgiving Day and Friday, Nov. 25.
ArtPrize celebrates the diversity of ideas, voices and the work of hundreds of artists. Now, as we conclude our third year, few things have changed toward that mission. During the past 19 days, an estimated 500,000 people came to Grand Rapids, Mich., not entirely known as an ‘art mecca’ (we’re working on it) and participated in an epic dialog about contemporary art.
The level of engagement was record-setting. At a time when many are drawn to professional or college sports, or other events, hundreds of thousands of people of all ages and from all backgrounds sought out their favorite works and voted. Jurors, experts in their field, came from across the country, to select the works they felt best represented a particular category. Together we explored the tension between public and professional in an open dialog.
In all, 18 winners were awarded nearly $500,000, with the top prize of $250,000 going to Mia Tavonatti of Santa Ana, Calif., for her mosaic, Crucifixion.
The conversation was epically epic. Made possible by the voters, our partners, the artists and the venues. Thank you for your commitment. Together we are creating a place where engaging with art and engaging with each other is valued. Because of you, no other event is like this in the world.
Together, let’s congratulate all of our 1,582 artist participants, including our winners:
Popular Vote
Mia Tavonatti, Santa Ana, Calif. Crucifixion
Tracy Van Duinen, Chicago, Ill., Metaphorest
Lynda Cole, Ann Arbor, Mich. Rain
Laura Alexander, Columbus, Ohio, The Tempest II
Paul Baliker, Palm Coast, Fla., Ocean Exodus
Ritch Branstrom, Rapid River, Mich., “Rusty” A sense of direction/self portrait
Sunti Pichetchaiyakul, Big Fork, Mont., President Gerald Ford Visits ArtPrize
Robert Shangle, Sparta, Mich., Under Construction
Bill Secunda, Butler, Pa., Mantis Dreaming
Llew (Doc) Tilma, Wayland, Mich., Grizzlies on the Ford
Juried Awards
Two-Dimensional — Mimi Kato, St. Louis, Mo., One Ordinary Day of an Ordinary Town
Three-Dimensional — Michelle Brody, New York, N.Y., Nature Preserve
International — Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, Cincinnati, Ohio, DISAPPEARANCES – an eternal journey
There’s a lot of you who have spoken your mind on this blog. And for that, we are grateful. ArtPrize is about the dialog that surrounds contemporary art, and among the starting points of that dialog is voting.
Your vote is critical. You have until 11:59 p.m. on Wed., Oct. 5, 2011 to vote on which Top 10 artist will win ArtPrize 2011.
You can also cast your Top 10 vote by texting the artist up vote number to 808080 or using the ArtPrize app on either the iPhone or Android platforms.
If you have not activated your voting status in person at the event, head to a registration site ASAP. They’ll set you (and your mobile device) up fast.
At approximately 8:30AM EDT, ArtPrize.org, the website for the ArtPrize organization began experiencing higher-than-expected hits to its website.
The website traffic reached a critical moment at 8:37AM, which resulted in a crash of the artprize.org online database.
The ArtPrize staff has been working diligently throughout the day to bring the website back online and add capacity, but traffic continued and our servers have been unable to keep pace.
This has resulted in closure of basic functions such as artist and venue search, as well as essential functions including voting, registration and activation.
Essentially, ArtPrize 2011 is more popular than we ever expected.
We will reopen the website with full functionality at 8:00 p.m. eastern daylight time to ensure that our database is online and healthy.
Until then, registration and activation can be completed at the HUB or one of our eight Exhibition Centers.
With regards to voting, we have heard your requests, and we will keep voting for all artists open until 4:00PM on Thursday, Sept. 29.
This will not change the timeline for the Top 10 Announcement or the start of Round 2 voting.
The Top 10 Announcement will take place at 6:00PM on Thursday, Sept. 29, Round 2 voting will take place immediately after.
Round 1 voting in ArtPrize ends tonight at 11:59 p.m.
If you like something, vote up. If you really want it to win, tell your friends to vote for it too.
After Midnight, we will close voting, which means on Thursday, Sept. 29, when you’re eating your morning cereal and decide to finally vote, you won’t be able to vote!
On Thursday, ArtPrize will audit the results of your vote. We will ensure that all of the “i’s” were dotted and “t”s were crossed and papers signed in preparation of the announcement of our Top 10 finalists.
Join us at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 29 in Rosa Parks Circle to kick off the fun. At 6:00 p.m., Rick DeVos will announce the Top 10.
After the Top 10 are announced, voting will resume. Every voter has ONE VOTE LEFT to use on one of the top 10. (You can change your vote among the top 10 until voting closes for Round 2 at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, October 5.
Are you activated?
You have until 8:00 p.m. tonight to present your government issued ID at a voter registration site and get activated to vote in Round 1. Voter registration sites will close at 8:00 p.m.
Anyone can still get activated to vote for Round 2 until close of venues next Wednesday, October 6, but those who wait until tomorrow can only vote among the Top 10.
Presented by Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University
The ArtPrize Speaker Series returns in 2011 with seven days of distinguished art experts, artists, designers, urban planners and more. The Speaker Series will be held at The HUB at 41 Sheldon Blvd.
ArtPrize Speaker Series
September 28, 2011
Cocktails: 6:00 p.m.
Presentation: 7:00 p.m
The Speaker Series Express keeps on rolling, and on Sept. 28 ArtPrize hosts Anne Ellegood, senior curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
Before joining the Hammer, Ellegood served as curator of contemporary art at the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in D.C. and as the associate curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.
As senior curator, Ellegood organizes large-scale exhibitions and oversees Hammer Projects, a series of installations and exhibitions by emerging artists from Los Angeles, the United States and abroad.
The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center, or the Hammer Museum as it is more commonly known, is an art museum in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California. It is operated by UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture.
Presented by Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University
The ArtPrize Speaker Series returns in 2011 with seven days of distinguished art experts, artists, designers, urban planners and more. The Speaker Series will be held at The HUB at 41 Sheldon Blvd.
ArtPrize Speaker Series
September 27, 2011
Cocktails: 6:00 p.m.
Presentation: 7:00 p.m.
On Sept. 27 we hear from internationally acclaimed American painter, sculptor and printmaker, Eric Fischl. His artwork is represented in many distinguished museums throughout the world and has been featured in more than one thousand publications. His extraordinary achievements throughout his career have made him one of the most influential figurative painters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Fischl’s latest project is America: Now and Here, a traveling, multi-disciplinary exhibition of 150 of some of America’s most celebrated visual artists, musicians, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers, designed to spark a national conversation about American identity through the arts. The project includes 18 trucks custom-designed to serve as mobile galleries which travel cross-country, and at each location, they will unfold to reveal 3,300 square feet of exhibition space. Together, the whole caravan contains more than 60 works of visual art, 16 music listening stations, and at least two theater spaces where actors can perform scenes and monologues live.
The project launched on May 5th, 2011 in Kansas City before traveling to Detroit and Chicago. The cross-country journey is currently traveling to communities from coast to coast.
ArtPrize today announced its registration timeline for our 2012 event, which will run from Sept. 19 through Oct. 7.
If you like something, vote up. If you really want it to win, tell your friends to vote for it too. 
The ArtPrize Speaker Series returns in 2011 with seven days of distinguished art experts, artists, designers, urban planners and more. The Speaker Series will be held at The HUB at 41 Sheldon Blvd.
The ArtPrize Speaker Series returns in 2011 with seven days of distinguished art experts, artists, designers, urban planners and more. The Speaker Series will be held at