A group of Athens organizations, including the Georgia Museum of Art, is working together to sponsor the Earth Day 2021 Art Challenge, hosted by the University of Georgia Office of Sustainability. Partnering organizations are collectively calling on the University of Georgia and Athens community to reflect, embody and create in alignment with the Goals of Envisions Athens’ 2021 Year of the Good Neighbor.
To be a good neighbor, inspiration from four core values will help bring the community together under one united vision. The four core values are unity, equity, prosperity and compassion. Through these values, a better future for the community can be ensured. The Earth Day 2021 Art Challenge asks us to apply these values to art, by reflecting on them, embodying them or creating in alignment with them.
The prompt for the challenge is straightforward: create a work of art that celebrates and inspires good neighbors — caretakers of people and the planet — to establish a more unified, equitable, prosperous and compassionate community. When thinking about unity, consider the things that bring a community together and the understanding created between individuals in order to form a collective. With equity, consider how the community helps create access and fairness. When thinking about prosperity, consider the hard work that goes into making a community successful. Finally, with compassion, think about how communities care for their members. The Earth Day 2021 Challenge will consider works of art based on three main categories: appreciation, awareness and action.
The appreciation category is concerned with conveying a sense of personal connection with and appreciation for people or other living creatures in the Athens community. Awareness looks at illuminating a current issue affecting the health and wellbeing of people or other living creatures in the Athens community. Action considers conduct or inspiring meaningful action to protect people or other living creatures, particularly the most vulnerable, within the Athens community.
All people and all art media that can be experienced online are accepted. That means that any member from any part of the University of Georgia and Athens community can submit to the contest. When making a physical work of art, consider in what ways it can be transferred into a digital format, whether through a photograph, scan or video.
The submission deadline is midnight on April 15. The online exhibition will be on display from April 22 to 30, 2021. For more information, as well as where and how to submit your art, you can visit the Office of Sustainability webpage dedicated to the Earth Day 2021 Art Challenge(opens in new tab).
By Emma Emery
