The Oklahoma Eagle Newswire
The Greenwood Art Project has issued a citywide open call for submissions for the Call & Response Poster Project to complement 34 commissioned public art projects. The Poster Project exhibit is scheduled for unveiling on May 31, 2021. The purpose of the Poster Project, according to Greenwood Art Project Manager Jerica Wortham, is “to allow every resident to engage and to be a part of the community effort that is the Greenwood Art Project.”
The Poster Project is seeking hundreds of original posters from Tulsa residents to be part of the exhibit during the Centennial Commemoration of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. All poster submissions will be considered for the following prizes: first place – $1,000, second place – $500, and third place – $250.
The Poster Project is an opportunity for Tulsans to express their thoughts and feelings about the centennial. This public platform welcomes everyone to share in a collective experience.
All Tulsans are invited to participate, including children, students, parents, veterans, senior citizens and detainees. The project is seeking posters responding to the following themes: “The Legacy of Greenwood,” “Black Wall Street,” “Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921,” and “the future for Tulsa.” All submissions will be accepted and will receive credit as part of the Call & Response exhibition.
“Call-and-response is a widespread pattern of democratic participation – in public gatherings, in the discussion of civic affairs, in religious rituals, as well as in vocal and instrumental musical expression” – Harold Courlander (A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore)
Poster requirements are as follows:
Dimensions of 11 inches by 17 inches
Submitted digitally (300 dpi – dots per inch) by email to J.Wortham@GreenwoodArtProject.org; or
Uploaded online at www.greenwoodartproject.org
Posters also may be mailed or hand delivered to the Greenwood Cultural Center, 322 N. Greenwood Ave., Tulsa, OK 74120, Attention: Greenwood Art Project: Call & Response.
Mailed and delivered poster submissions can be picked up July 1, 2021, at the Greenwood Cultural Center. Further inquiries should be emailed to J.Wortham@GreenwoodArtProject.org
Deadline for submissions is 10 p.m. Sept. 18, 2020, which coincides with the annual 918 Day in Tulsa. In the 918 Day spirit, this project aims to bring Tulsa together as a community.
The Greenwood Art Project seeks to raise awareness of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and destruction of its thriving Black community in the historic Greenwood District that included Black Wall Street, one of the most prominent Black-owned business districts in the United States during the early 1900s. +
The Greenwood Art Project (G.A.P.) also celebrates the resilience, healing and recovery of the community, with new resonance in today’s challenging times.
G.A.P. is an initiative of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre Centennial Commission. It is funded by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. In 2019, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced an award of $1million to the City of Tulsa and the Greenwood Cultural Center through its Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge.
Artists chosen to participate in the Greenwood Art Project were announced in June 2020. For updates and information about the project, see www.greenwoodartproject.org
