Canvas Pontiac Launches Annual Art Competition with New Leadership and Vision
(Canvas Pontiac, June 22, 2022)
Pontiac, MI – Canvas Pontiac will launch its regional art competition for the ninth year on July 1. This year, the program is energized by refreshed look, featuring a new logo, new website, new award categories, and a scholarship honoring its founder. However, even more powerful is Canvas Pontiac’s renewed sense of mission. Under new leadership, the program is determined to establish PONTIAC AS A REGIONAL ARTS LEADER by cultivating local artists, fostering local appreciation, and raising the visibility and profile of emerging local artists. As an initiative of Main Street Pontiac, a local downtown community development organization, Canvas Pontiac serves a critical role in the strategy to promote and revitalize downtown through community engagement. Importantly, the program is sending a loud and clear message that the arts are alive in downtown Pontiac.
Canvas Pontiac is ambitiously building on the momentum that it has accumulated over the years. In prior years, Canvas Pontiac has drawn attention throughout the region, with the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) as a major sponsor, over 200 artworks displayed, over 1800 cumulative submissions, and over $50,000 awarded in prize money. Previously, artwork was prominently installed on 8’x10’ vinyl canvasses the exteriors of downtown buildings. A change in direction this year is to make the program more focused on getting people out of their cars and walking in the downtown. As Main Street Pontiac anticipates the abolition of the Woodward loop, beginning in 2025, the program is making a dash to become more pedestrian oriented.
“We plan to install the winning artworks in public spaces and at eye level. Additional features of the program include youth art, scholarship awards, outdoor strolling exhibits, and galleries,” said Steven Childs, Vice President of Main Street Pontiac, and chair of the organization’s Promotions Committee. Childs has led the charge to reinvent Canvas Pontiac, breathing new life into not just the program, but the downtown itself. “Our new programs will demonstrate that the arts are alive and will thrive in Pontiac for decades,” Childs added.
Artwork can be submitted for Canvas Pontiac 2022 beginning July 1. Artists can submit drawings, paintings, photographs, and digital art into any of four categories: photography, handcrafted, which includes digital art and NFTs, automotive themed, and mural proposals. The early entry fee (submitted between July 1 and July 15) for the general public is $35. The standard submission fee after that date for artwork entries is $50. All of the proceeds are dedicated to Canvas Pontiac’s mission of fostering the arts in Pontiac, including a student-focused program currently in development that will award winners with the Robert Karazim Scholarship for Art, named in honor of the program’s founder, who passed away in 2021. Karazim was a Pontiac resident, business owner, former chair of the Arts Commission, and downtown Pontiac building owner. “Robert had a tremendous vision for the role of the arts in Pontiac. The student competition seeks to continue that vision by supporting Pontiac students in the arts,” said Childs
Main Street Pontiac also welcomes the support of the DIA and other sponsors, which are listed on the program’s website, canvaspontiac.org. Pontiac has previously welcomed the DIA Inside|Out program showing the masters of the DIA to Pontiac thanks to funding from the Kauffman Foundation.
The 2021 Canvas Pontiac awardees will be prominently displayed on 8’x10’ canvasses throughout downtown by July 15, planned for display during the Pontiac Arts Crawl, scheduled for July 22, which is an event organized by the Pontiac Arts Commission.
More information about Canvas Pontiac can be found at canvaspontiac.org.
Featured Images: Black Girl Magic by Trinity Atkins, 1st place 2021 in handcrafted category and Fariy’s View by Karen Bloodworth, 1st place 2021 photography
