Show your community’s interest in bringing art back by coordinating a collection of visual art. You can choose to focus it on a specific theme, or have it be more general.

Art Space

Scout out a good spot for an art show. If it is in your school-maybe use the gym, the library or even the hallways above the lockers? If it is for the entire community, consider your library or other community used spaces like coffee shops or a café. You could hold an art opening on a night during the week (so parents and brothers and sisters can come) and then leave the artwork on display for a longer period of time.

Support

If you are having it in your school, get the support of your art teachers and then go with them to the principal to get it all OK'd. Art teachers will probably be nice enough to dedicate a class period to getting students to create art for your show-just ask them! Also, 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.

Meetings

It might be good to announce a few after school meetings where you can tell friends and classmates exactly what your show is about and how they can get involved. You can also use this time to create art.

Publicity

Advertise! Make flyers, email the event to listserves, create an event on facebook, be creative and get the word out. Find an artist to help (it shouldn't be hard, it is an art show).

What type of art show?

Think of all the guidelines for your show. Do you want to open it to any type of art-like photographs, paintings, graphic art, etc, or just a specific kind? Will there be certain rules about subject matter? Can anyone enter the show? Does all artwork need to be framed to be entered? These are all things you should think about.

The Show

Have a few friends get set up at the entrance to the show to pass out info sheets on what the show is all about and who all the artists are. If you'd like to, serve beverages and snacks. Encourage all the artists to attend and interact with those viewing their art. Other things to think about:

• Is there enough space for sculptures or other free standing art?
• Should you make posters leading guests to the show?
• Do you want guests to fill out a survey for you about their reactions to the art?
• Do you want to have awards for audience favorite, most thought provoking or other creative categories

Ways to Make it Pay

Can you get parents to pay a small admission to support the art program at your school, or maybe to help fund the next art show. If you do charge admission make sure you have some cheese. Another option - get the artists to donate their artwork so that when people buy it the money goes to support a cause.  

Thanks

After this event, you should send thank you notes to all your friends who helped you and all the artists who participated. Show them you appreciate everything they did. You could start an annual art show!

Don't Forget...

Let us know how it went! Go here to share your project with us.