WASHINGTON — In the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, Houston voters will be motivated to cast their ballots by powerful imagery created and donated by internationally renowned artists from Texas and across the U.S. Eye-catching artwork displayed city-wide on fixed and mobile billboards, posters, and street panels is the heart of a new nonpartisan civic engagement campaign sponsored by People For the American Way Foundation, which has a decades-long track record of partnering with artists to celebrate and encourage voter turnout.
This campaign, centered in Houston, features art from Texas native Vincent Valdez, recent recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant,” along with other artists, including Jeffrey Gibson, Shepard Fairey, Deborah Kass, Bevery McIver, Tracie Ching, Michael Dixon, and Ellena Dien.
“Art has the power to move us in ways that words alone do not,” said Michael B. Keegan, a Houston native and People For the American Way Foundation president emeritus. “These brilliant artists will bring excitement to the election and remind people that voting is something important to do for themselves, their families, and their communities. We are thrilled to bring this campaign and these artists’ creative visions to Texas for the first time.”
Co-founded by acclaimed storyteller and entertainment legend Norman Lear, People For the American Way Foundation has long worked with artists to dispel apathy and cynicism and inspire people to make their voices heard at the ballot box. Among artists who have participated in previous pro-democracy campaigns are Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Shepard Fairey, Carrie Mae Weems, Vincent Valdez, Beverly McIver, Michael Dixon, Deborah Kass, Tracie Ching, Alyson Shotz, Alyse Stone, Wangechi Mutu, and Derrick Adams.
This year’s Houston campaign builds on current Artists for the American Way installations by Shepard Fairy in Virginia and Beverly McIver in North Carolina. It is designed to extend beyond traditional advertising corridors, reaching audiences in and around Houston’s celebrated arts and cultural destinations, major events, restaurants, hotels, colleges and universities, schools and polling places. It will have a presence in Houston’s seven designated cultural districts. The campaign’s mobile billboard truck will be deployed around arts festivals as well as colleges and universities. The campaign’s reach and impact will be amplified by sharing artwork across People For the American Way Foundation’s nonpartisan social media platforms.
People For The American Way Foundation is committed to strengthening American democracy, defending constitutional values and ensuring that all people have the opportunity to participate fully in our nation's civic life.
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About People For the American Way Foundation
People For the American Way Foundation is a national organization that educates and inspires Americans to defend freedom, justice, and democracy from those who threaten to take them away. For more than four decades, we have been dedicated to making the promise of America real for everyone and have worked toward a vision of a vibrant America where basic rights and freedoms are upheld for all, not just the wealthy and the powerful. Learn more: http://www.peoplefor.org/foundation
