Voices Soon To Be Votes: Student Artists Picture Democracy
A Juried Student Exhibition at the Long Island Museum
Call to High School Student Artists
Deadline: November 27, 2024
Calling Long Island students in grades 9 – 12 to submit work for a juried exhibition on view alongside our annual student art exhibition, The Colors of Long Island, and in conversation with two new exhibitions on view this Spring. Students are asked to create artwork that responds to the themes and ideas presented by the Smithsonian’s Voices and Votes: Democracy in America exhibition as well as the Long Island Museum’s response exhibition: Building the Ballot Box: Long Island’s Democratic History.
Voices and Votes: Democracy in America is based on a major exhibition from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. When American revolutionaries waged a war for independence they took a leap of faith that sent ripple effects across generations. They embraced a radical idea of establishing a government that entrusted the power of the nation not in a monarchy, but in its citizens. That great leap sparked questions that continue to impact Americans: who has the right to vote, what are the freedoms and responsibilities of citizens, and whose voices will be heard?
Building the Ballot Box: Long Island’s Democratic History by the Long Island Museum is a reply to the national story told by the Voices and Votes: Democracy in America exhibition. For over 250 years, Long Islanders of all backgrounds have advocated and pushed towards an expanding definition of citizenship, from the Revolutionary War period and the elimination of the institution of slavery in the early republic, through the fight for women’s suffrage and Civil Rights. The exhibition highlights ongoing issues today in the Nassau-Suffolk region—from advocacy work for immigrant rights, to the cause of affordable housing and job equity throughout our communities— and how these causes have strong grassroots energy and local support. Throughout history, residents of Long Island have worked inside and outside of formal government pathways and within the public sphere to ensure their voices are heard.
Students Artists: What does Democracy mean to you? Since America’s founding almost 250 years ago, artists have used their work as means of engaging society in this important question. How do we, as Americans, practice and live our Democracy today? How is your voice heard?
ENTRIES
- Registration is now closed.
Please email us at art@longislandmuseum.org or call (631) 751-0066 x283/284 if you have further questions.
