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How to Plan the World’s Largest Art Prize
By Jen Eberbach
Grand Rapids, Michigan is currently hosting the world's largest award for artists. ArtPrize will award a total of $500,000 to artists chosen by popular vote from 1,262 participants. Planners hope the event will help make a name for Grand Rapids and promote the health of the city for years to come.
Bill Holsinger - Robinson, president of Pomegranate Studios, has developed ArtPrize alongside creator Rick DeVos. He shares his thoughts about a handful of decisions and strategies that came into play before sending ArtPrize off on her maiden voyage, September 23rd to October 10, 2009.
1. Take a lesson from the big dogs
Holsinger - Robinson explains that he found it useful to research how "other mass events" function "operationally," when planning was just getting off the ground. Consider highly successful film festivals - think Tribeca, Toronto, Sundance, or the Denver Film Festival; or large-scale international art exhibitions - think Art Basel - Miami or the Venice Biennale. What these events have in common is that they "leave an impact on the community, especially ones that have run for years and years," he says.
Working for DeVos' film website www.spout.com, Holsinger - Robinson has attended countless film festivals, including those that the company sponsors. In the early stages of planning ArtPrize, there was a lot of research to be done on how these events operate. "It required taking a look to say, what's been possible, and what's actually worked before," he says.
2. A distributed approach to responsibility
In order to pull the event off, ArtPrize "pushed responsibility out to the community at large," says Holsinger - Robinson. He describes their approach as a "distributed model," and reports, "We've consistently given everybody a challenge - to make this event work requires participation, not just showing up."
Instead of curating the event, ArtPrize invited any artist from anywhere in the world to participate, as long as they could successfully set something up with a participating venue in town. Venues also run the gambit, from traditional art exhibition spaces like museums and galleries; to public spaces; to businesses, and beyond.
"The success of the event thus far is that we've tried to own as little of this event as possible. That's everything from artist relations, to the venues themselves, and the types of events they are throwing on behalf of the artists, how artists are promoting something, and such," he says.
3. Trust in the democratic process
A unique aspect of ArtPrize is that voting is democratic, rather than by jury like most art fairs, juried art exhibitions, and film festivals. During the first week of the event, the public can vote electronically with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down vote on every artwork in the competition. The top ten artworks, which receive the most thumbs-up votes, will reach the finals. During the second week of ArtPrize, voters can give one thumbs-up to their favorite artist.
Using up and down votes also "strikes a different kind of conversation," according to Holsinger - Robinson. In particular, down votes encourage people to react to "challenging pieces of art," he explains. "What we think is going to happen is that there will be some pieces out there that automatically get lots of down votes. We'll show those on the website - those controversial pieces of art. That will draw attention to those pieces, and if they are deserving of a second look, people have the ability to have their mind changed," he predicts.
4. Tech it up
Every step along the way, ArtPrize has relied heavily on web and mobile technology to organize people, match artists with venues, spread event information, and ease operations. Now that the event has started, their most critical e-tool is being put to the test. "You have a number of platforms to vote on," including the website, a mobile version, text messaging, and an iphone application, explains Holsinger - Robinson.
"It's about striking conversations, being influential to a group of people, and the easiest, most efficient way to do that just happens to be through these tools right now. The real benefit is having a single voice that can be very influential, very quickly," he says.
5. Show a little Midwestern hospitality
"We reached out to local hotels to make sure they were well-aware of everything that was happening, and all of the hotels in town - not just downtown, but in all of the surrounding areas - have put together deals for artists," explains Holsinger - Robinson. General visitors can also find deals and ArtPrize guest packages at a number of area hotels.
ArtPrize is also selling wristbands that allow priority access to some of the events and free transportation around the city. "The wristband gives you free access to the shuttle that we have set up. Then we've partnered on top of that with the Rapid, which is our local system, and Meijer's. If you have a wristband, for example, you can park at a Meijer's, ride the Rapid for free into the city, then get on one of our buses and ride the rest of the ArtPrize neighborhoods," he reports.
Their participating merchant program also encourages businesses to give discounts and deals to visitors. "We don't want to be one of those festivals that bring in a bunch of outside vendors on the street for street food. We want to fill the restaurants up as well. Since people have these wristbands, throw them deals and have discounts," he says.
6. Figure out where the money's coming from
The $500,000 award money is a gift from the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, which "has made a multi-year commitment to provide the prize money," as reported by the Grand Rapids Press. However, corporate contributions have also made this year's event happen. "We've been really encouraged by the number of corporate sponsors that have stepped up. I think a lot of the companies see it as an opportunity for attract and retain programs as well," says Holsinger - Robinson.
ArtPrize is currently filing for non-profit status and considering opportunities for funding in the future. "This year, it's been more like an entrepreneurial startup. Being part of that startup mentality, everything you do is a learning experience and building upon your decision for any future work as well," he concludes.
photos by Flickr user 
