Ready for a new look in downtown Phoenix? Amateur and professional artists are taking it into their own hands by entering a contest to decorate the downtown area with light-pole banners.
The Downtown Phoenix Banner Design Contest, sponsored by the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, will feature the winning image on about 100 banners attached to light poles in the downtown area. The contest began Aug. 14 and will continue until Oct. 1.
Anna Consie, the DPP’s online community and publications editor, said the contest is open to all types of participants.
“You don’t have to be a professional artist — we are looking for anyone and everyone who has a vision,” Consie said. “If I have a 6-year-old submit a crayon design — I love it.”
Contestants must submit two detailed sketches, but not necessarily completed designs. Applicants must also include two to four previous completed works of art to show that, if chosen, they will be able to complete the design.
If selected, the winner will then have the month of November to complete three to five designs, which will alternate between different light poles.
Applicants can mail or email designs. If applicants want to draw out their designs by hand they can submit a picture or scanned version of them.
The DPP wants vibrant, lively designs, said Jovanna Perez, the DPP’s special programs manager. Contestants should also be prepared to incorporate the partnership’s logo, which applicants can download on the DPP’s website.
“It sounds like a lot of requirements,” Consie said. “But when it really comes down to it, it’s only four images and an email, so we hope to see a lot of submission.”
Five finalists will be selected by a panel shortly after the Oct. 1 submission deadline. The panel members have yet to be chosen.
After the panel has narrowed down the submissions to the top five, the winner will be chosen by online voting slated to start Oct. 15.
“They already look fine to me,” said Linda Singleton, 61, who works downtown. “But it would dress the area up, and it’s great that they aren’t just hiring an artist.”
The contest’s winner will receive a set of their completed banners, $500, a solo display in the Downtown Ambassadors Information Center’s gallery and press coverage by the DPP.
The winner’s designs will be put up along the downtown streets of Adams and Monroe in time for the New Year, Consie said. They will stay up until December 2013 when the partnership plans to have another banner design contest.
“There’s a lot of great artists here, and I’m excited to see what people come up with and what their ideas are,” Consie said.
The previous banners will be recycled into tote bags, Perez said. The new banners will also be recycled in the same manner at the end of 2013.
Contact the reporter at danielle.sargent@asu.edu
Editor’s note: Anna Consie was a blogger for the Downtown Devil in 2011. She is no longer involved with the publication.
