merj.org

The project has been in development since May 2009, and has finally begun to gain momentum this past fall. I have three wonderful advisors who assist me in any way that they can. I also have a great partner who is the web developer for merj.org. For the past year, I have attended countless art events to create connections with prominent artists, created promotional material, engaged Arizona State University in the project, organized our first event, organized and promoted our Student Contest, contacted prominent artists to submit work for our first issue, and conducted research on the creation of artist communities within cities. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I know we have already begun to make a positive impact. Our first event had great attendance, and students were excited to learn about collaborative projects from the three artists who spoke and were very enthusiastic in becoming involved in merj once the site launches in January 2011. We also received about 30 submissions for our Student Contest, all of which are wonderful. We've also had amazing involvement and encouragement from the Phoenix artist community. A prominent writer volunteered to be the guest judge of our contest, and a writer for the State Press, the ASU newspaper, wrote an article about merj. merj.org has a lot of wonderful forward momentum, and I only want to keep the project moving forward even more. Already, we have prompted students, who are not majoring in anything arts related, to compose fantastic musical compositions or to write poetry in response to our Student Contest. There is also a great deal of enthusiasm about collaborative art, and we are extremely excited to keep moving forward.