ArtPrize

ArtPrize
ArtPrize logo
Statusactive
Frequency
  • Bi-annually (2018 onward)
  • Annually (2009–2017)
Location(s)Grand Rapids, Michigan
CountryUnited States
Inaugurated2009 (2009)
FounderRick DeVos
Websiteartprize.org

ArtPrize is an art competition and festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[1] Anyone over the age of 18 can display their art, and any space within the three-square-mile ArtPrize district can be a venue. There are typically over 160 venues such as museums, galleries, bars, restaurants, hotels, public parks, bridges, laundromats, auto body shops, and more.

ArtPrize lasts for 19 days beginning in late September, and during each festival $500,000 in cash prizes are awarded based on public voting and a jury of art experts.[2]

ArtPrize was created in 2009 by Rick DeVos, the son of Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos and United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.[3] The DeVos family contributes approximately $560,000 annually to the ArtPrize budget.[4] In 2017, the festival's connection to the DeVos family's wealth and their conservative politics was criticized by artist Eric Millikin in his “Made of Money” installation, placed within ArtPrize.[5]

In 2014, The Art Newspaper listed ArtPrize as one of the most-attended "big ticket" art events (those where visitors are often counted more than once), with ArtPrize's attendance of 440,000 being roughly one quarter of the 1.6 million who attended the Russian Imperial Costume exhibition at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.[6] ArtPrize was highlighted along with Slows Bar BQ and the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park as one of the reasons to visit Grand Rapids in The New York Times’ "52 Places To Go in 2016."[7]

In 2018, ArtPrize announced the Project exhibition to showcase larger works and planned to hold ArtPrize every other year, though the Project 1 event in 2019 experienced substantially less visitors.[8][9] The twelfth ArtPrize was postponed in 2020 with officials citing the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 event ran from September 15 to October 2, 2022, with many visitors criticizing the smaller scale of works present.[10]

  1. ^ Tobin, Nancy (August 17, 2009). "West of Chelsea: A Local ArtPrize?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 20, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  2. ^ "Details about the Grand Rapids art contest". Chicago Tribune. April 23, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2009.
  3. ^ "Rick DeVos". www.artprize.org. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  4. ^ "Michigan Art Festival Scrutinized for Ties to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos – News – Art & Education". www.artandeducation.net. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  5. ^ "Winners to be announced in annual Michigan art competition". National Post. October 6, 2017. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  6. ^ De Silva, Jose (April 1, 2015). "Visitor figures 2014: top 15 Big Ticket shows". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  7. ^ "52 Places to Go in 2016". The New York Times. January 7, 2016. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  8. ^ McVicar, Brian (October 29, 2019). "How did ArtPrize's Project 1 go? Depends who you ask". MLive. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  9. ^ McVicar, Brian (October 18, 2019). "ArtPrize executive director stepping down". MLive. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  10. ^ McVicar, Brian (September 15, 2022). "'It's hustling and bustling down here:' ArtPrize 2022 kicks off in Grand Rapids". MLive. Retrieved September 23, 2022.