World’s Largest Art Competition

Sponsorship in the Arts is projected to total $938 million in North America alone in 2015. As dollars shift to sponsorship from other channels, a focus on clever, experiential activations puts the participant at the heart of the experience.

The seventh iteration of ArtPrize, the radically open international art competition decided by public vote and expert jury, will return in September 2015 to Grand Rapids, Mich. Visitors to the 2014 event exceeded 400,000 — filling the city with thousands of conversations about the importance of art and creativity within our social landscapes. This year, international brands including Honda and Pantone will harness the unique ArtPrize platform by integrating experiential, crowdsourced activations for increased consumer engagement and return on investment.

For decades, Grand Rapids-based X-Rite and its subsidiary Pantone have led the world in helping artists, designers and manufacturers define and manage color from inspiration to final product. The color experts at X-Rite Pantone will use the city streets of Grand Rapids as their canvas, wielding their color palette to emphasize and differentiate between the seven areas of ArtPrize and encouraging visitors to explore off the beaten path. Whimsical sidewalk and street applications throughout each Pathway, including a Pantone Hop Scotch and a Pantone Crosswalk, will encourage visitors to interact and post photos on social media.

Additionally, Pantone will host an edition of Critical Discourse — a series of talks and lively panel discussions that often walk the line between critical debate and irreverence. Color psychologist, author and Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute™, Leatrice Eiseman will lend her perspective to the October 1st installment. Pantone is no stranger to creative crowd-sourced activation — their Instagram content is derived almost entirely from follower submissions, achieving cult status amongst design enthusiasts.

“As a global leader in color trends, science and technology, we are excited to be a Leadership Sponsor of ArtPrize to help attendees experience and interact with color in new ways through the Pantone Pathways and Crosswalk,” says Ron Voigt, President, X-Rite.

Honda, as the Official Vehicle of ArtPrize, is activating at ArtPrize Seven through West Michigan Honda Dealers. By aligning their approach to the competitive elements of ArtPrize, Honda is creating their own call-to-action in the form of the ‘Design & Drive Art Contest,’ culminating in a showcase of six striking artist created vinyl-wrapped Honda vehicles at Rosa Parks Circle, in the heart of the ArtPrize district. Modeled after the ArtPrize voting structure, the Design & Drive Art Contest’s open call to artists and public vote selection of the winning entry will provide a catalyst for audience discussion and deliberation, ensuring Honda’s products and local dealerships will serve as a permanent feature of the ArtPrize Seven landscape and conversation.

Marcos Frommer, Manager of Honda North America Corporate Communications, reflected on the organization’s enthusiasm to participate in ArtPrize Seven this fall: “We’re excited to be a part of the energy and passion that leading edge artists are able to express through ArtPrize.”

“We like to think of Honda as one of the most innovative automobile companies in the world. So when the West Michigan Honda Dealers sought out the opportunity to partner with ArtPrize Seven, all agreed it was a perfect match,” commented Brad Siegers, President of West Michigan Honda Dealers. “Whether you’re a car enthusiast, an art lover or both, we hope our contribution via the Design & Drive Honda vehicles on display will be a nice addition in a whole new medium.”

Returning sponsors continue to activate through dynamic and meaningful touch points that leverage the ArtPrize platform. For the ArtPrize Seven event, Meijer — long-standing presenting sponsor of the ArtPrize Public Vote — will activate around their mPerks customer rewards program, rewarding event visitors for each vote cast through the ArtPrize mobile app platform. PNC Bank, the presenting sponsor of Education Days, will be collaborating with ArtPrize to engage over 10,000 K-12 students in interactive activities like hand printing a giant PNC piggy bank that will serve as a visual billboard and representation of the thousands of children that are inspired by ArtPrize over the course of 19 days.

Additional major sponsors of ArtPrize include:

ABOUT ARTPRIZE
ArtPrize is an international art competition, open to any artist and decided by public vote. It invites artists to try out new ideas on a large and diverse population of people. It seeks to broaden the critical dialogue around contemporary art by awarding the world’s largest art prize. Two $200,000 awards are decided by public vote and expert jury, and an additional $100,000 in prizes is awarded to the top entries in each category. Registered artists and venues connect online at artprize.org and agree to present the artwork for public display during the 19-day event. The public votes using mobile devices and the web to distribute their awards, while a group of international art experts determines the winners of the juried awards. ArtPrize Seven will include 1,551 entries representing 48 countries and 42 U.S. states and territories. ArtPrize 2014 attracted more than 400,000 active participants. Since its inception, individuals of all backgrounds have cast more than 2.4 million votes for public art.

DATES:
September 23 – October 11, 2015

LOCATION:
ArtPrize occupies three square-miles of public and private venues across downtown Grand Rapids, MI. For further venue information, visit www.artprize.org/venues.

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