Art the Vote Billboards Encourage Voting

Those small daily choices your make impact our world, says Kansas City artist Karen Kay, who has won the Art the Vote (ATV) online billboard contest. Kay’s work, plus that of seven other artists, will appear on 70 billboards across Missouri, beginning September 1, 2008. The official unveiling for all billboards occurs September 5. Each billboard addresses a social issue and includes the words, “Vote, Your future depends on it.”

Kay’s illustration features a woman with a tree atop her head balancing a world and a recycling logo. Seven other artists had been invited to create billboard designs that address various issues from gas prices to democracy. Kay won the online competition for the eighth billboard in the series.

The billboard contest generated more than 10,000 art-selection votes on the ATV website. The contest entries can be viewed at artthevote.com.

ATV is a nonpartisan, Missouri-based effort to “engage, register and mobilize young voters and the creative community prior to the November election.” Conceived by a steering committee of Missouri artists and arts supporters, ATV is an initiative of the Missouri Billboard Project, a political organization that encourages voters to vote by “supporting the creation of art that draws attention to public-policy issues.”