Host an Anti-Violence Art Show

It can be tough to discuss school violence with parents or teachers, even with friends. A great way to get classmates talking is to get them to use their artistic voices. Put together an art show at your school that focuses on expressions towards school violence.

Step 1

Find a place to have your art show. Find a place that has lots of open wall space, or just a large open space where you can set up tables to put artwork on. How about the gym, the library, or even the hallways of your school? See if you can find a place where the art could stay up for a few days, and that way everyone will have time to see and appreciate it.

Step 2

Get friends and teachers to help out. See if one of your art teachers can help you out and go with you to the principal to get the OK for the show. You might also want to recruit a few friends to help you spread and the word and set things up the day of the show. Art teachers will probably be nice enough to dedicate a class period to getting students to create art for your show.

Step 3

Set guidelines for your show. Some questions you might ask yourself:

• Who can enter artwork?
• Will you ask people who come to fill out comment cards about the art?
• Will there be prizes?
• What are the rules about the subject matter of the art? (Will it be about violence/peace?)
• How will you publicize it?
• Will it be a fundraiser?

Step 4

Organize and plan in advance. Host a meeting or two with the people who are helping you out. Tell them what you would like the show to be like, but be open to suggestions! They may have some great ideas that you didn’t think of. Be sure to assign people specific tasks so things run smoothly.

Some things you may want make/have for your art show:

• Labels next to the artwork crediting the artist
• Anti-violence information pamphlets
• Tables/Chairs
• Refreshments

Step 5

Host your art show! As people walk into the show, hand out flyers with information about the show. If you'd like to, serve beverages and snacks. Encourage all the artists to attend and interact with those viewing their art.

Step 6

Wrap it up. Send thank you notes to the people who helped you out, telling them just how much you appreciated them, and be sure to how successful the show was!