ARTISTS AND WRITERS WANTED FOR CELEBRATION OF DIVERSITY

Organizers of the annual life-size outdoor art exhibit on Sarasota Bay, Embracing Our Differences, are seeking new artwork and quotation submissions that celebrate and embrace diversity for the 2012 exhibition.

By Grace Carlson

September 1, 2011– Sarasota, FL – Organizers of the annual life-size outdoor art exhibit on Sarasota Bay, Embracing Our Differences, are seeking new artwork and quotation submissions that celebrate and embrace diversity for the 2012 exhibition. Everyone is eligible to participate, including artists, writers, photographers, professionals, amateurs, teachers, and students – all ages, from all parts of the world are encouraged to submit art and quotes.

The mission of Embracing Our Differences is to use art as a catalyst for creating awareness and promoting the value of diversity, the benefits of inclusion and the significance of the active rejection of hatred and prejudice.

A team of judges will select the 39 featured billboards based on artistic excellence in reflection to the theme, “Embracing Our Differences.” The art is enlarged an imprinted on fabric billboards 16 feet wide and 12.5 feet tall. The judges will also select 39 diversity quotes to accompany each billboard.

Art must be uploaded to a CD and postmarked no later than January 9, 2012. Quotes must be no longer than 20 words, and can be submitted through the mail, fax, or online at www.embracingourdifferences.org. The deadline for online submissions is January 12, 2012.

Embracing Our Differences is entering its 9^th consecutive year at Sarasota’s Bayfront Island Park in April 2012. More than one million people have viewed the exhibit over the past eight years, including more than 250,000 students from Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte County schools. Riverview High International Baccalaureate students act as docents and guide the participating schools through the exhibit, explaining the artwork, and facilitating discussion on embracing diversity.

For more information on Embracing Our Differences, visit www.embracingourdifferences.org.

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