ArtPrize


ArtPrize is an art competition and festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 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.
ArtPrize was created in 2009 by Rick DeVos, the son of Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos and United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. 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.
In 2014, The Art Newspaper listed ArtPrize as one of the most-attended "big ticket" art events, 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. 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."
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. 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.

Concept

ArtPrize was conceived as an untraditional art contest with its goals being: any artist in the world could compete; anyone with property in downtown Grand Rapids could turn their space into a venue; and any visitor could vote for their favorite artwork. Event organizers would provide no selection committees or curators. And the largest cash prize in the art world would be awarded entirely by popular vote.
At the inaugural ArtPrize, held in 2009, the winners were determined solely by the public, voting from mobile devices and the ArtPrize website. In 2010, ArtPrize added categories judged by art experts, and in 2014 restructured the awards format bringing two parallel tracks of public vote and juried awards with equal prize amounts.

2009 competition

The 2009 exhibition occurred in a area of downtown Grand Rapids, from September 21 to October 9, 2009. 1,262 artists or artist collaboratives displayed their work in 159 venues. An estimated 200,000 attendees visited the event, with 334,219 total votes cast throughout the 19 days.

Participation

ArtPrize 2009 official participation numbers:
  • 1,262 artist entries
  • 159 venues
  • 37,264 registered voters
  • 334,219 total votes cast
  • 200,000 visitors to Grand Rapids, Michigan

    Public Vote Awards

The 2009 prizes, totaling to $449,000, were:
  • 1st place: $250,000
  • 2nd: $100,000
  • 3rd: $50,000
  • 4th through 10th: $7,000 each

    Public Vote Top 10

On October 1, the top 10 entries were announced, and their ranking was announced October 8:
  1. Open Water no.24 – Ran Ortner
  2. Imagine That! – Tracy Van Duinen
  3. Portraits – Eric Daigh
  4. The Grand Dance – David Lubbers
  5. Moose – Bill Secunda
  6. Nessie on the Grand – The Nessie Project
  7. Field of Reeds – John Douglas Powers
  8. The Furniture City Sets the Table for the World of Art – Sarah Grant
  9. Ecstasy of The Scarlet Empress – Jason Hackenwerth
  10. winddancer 2 – '''Michael Westra'''

    Surprise Awards

Two previously unannounced awards were handed out:
  • Curators Choice Award : salt & earth – Young Kim, Winston-Salem, N.C.
  • Sustainability Award : The Image Mill: Sustainable Cinema #1 by Scott Hessels

    2010 competition

The 2010 event took place from September 22 to October 10. The event introduced "Exhibition Centers," local cultural institutions featuring professional curation. Each ArtPrize Exhibition Center was required to host voter registration/activation as well as a retail presence. ArtPrize sought to have at least one Exhibition Center in each downtown Grand Rapids neighborhood.

Participation

ArtPrize 2010 official participation numbers:
  • 1,713 artist entries
  • 193 venues
  • 21 countries and 44 U.S. states
  • 44,912 registered voters
  • 465,538 votes cast
  • 250,000 visitors to Grand Rapids, Michigan

    Public Vote Awards

The 2010 prizes, which were decided by public vote, totaled $449,000, were:
  • 1st place: $250,000
  • 2nd: $100,000
  • 3rd: $50,000
  • 4th through 10th: $7,000 each

    Public Vote Top 10

On September 30, the 2010 Top 10 entries were announced, and their rankings were revealed during the Winners Announcement on October 7:
  1. Cavalry, American Officers, 1921 – Chris LaPorte, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  2. Svelata – Mia Tavonatti, Santa Ana, California
  3. Lure/Wave, Grand Rapids – Beili Liu, Austin, Texas
  4. A Matter Of Time – Paul Baliker, Palm Coast, Florida
  5. Vision – David Spriggs, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  6. Helping mom one penny at a time – Wander Martich, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  7. Dancing With Lions – Bill Secunda, Butler, Pennsylvania
  8. salt & earth – Young Kim, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
  9. SteamPig – The Steam Pig Experiment Birks, Jensen, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  10. Elephant Walk – Fredrick Prescott, Santa Fe, New Mexico

    Juried Awards

Event organizers announced the addition of four juried awards for ArtPrize 2010. Event organizers noted that, depending on sponsor availability, more juried awards might be added to the program.

Categories and winners

  • Two-Dimensional: Garden Party, Chez Hatfield – Andrew Lewis Doak and Adrian Clark Hatfield, Royal Oak, Michigan
  • Three-Dimensional: XLoungeSeries – Mark Wentzel, Atlanta, Georgia
  • Time/Performance: The Jettisoned – Yoni Goldstein, Chicago, Illinois
  • Urban Space: Plan B – Rick Beerhorst and Rose Beerhorst, Andre Beaumont and Mike Hoyte, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • International: Evaporative Buildings – Alex Schweder La, Berlin, Germany / New York, New York
  • Sustainability: A Matter Of Time – Paul Baliker, Palm Coast, Florida

    Jurors

2011 competition

The 2011 event ran from September 21 to October 9. The biggest change to the competition was the addition of an exhibition center dedicated to performance art—St. Cecilia Music Society. The organization was also the recipient of a $100,000 Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Participation

ArtPrize 2011 official participation numbers:
  • 1,582 artist entries
  • 164 venues
  • 39 countries and 43 U.S. states
  • 38,811 registered voters
  • 383,106 votes placed
  • 322,000 visitors to Grand Rapids, Michigan

    Public Vote Awards

The 2011 prizes, which were decided by public vote, totaled $449,000, were:
  • 1st place: $250,000
  • 2nd: $100,000
  • 3rd: $50,000
  • 4th through 10th: $7,000 each

    Public Vote Top 10

On September 30, the 2010 Top 10 entries were announced, and their rankings were revealed during the Winners Announcement on October 6:
  1. Crucifixion – Mia Tavonatti, Santa Ana, California
  2. The Metaphorist Project – Tracy Van Duinen, Chicago, Illinois
  3. Rain – Lynda Cole, Ann Arbor, Michigan
  4. President Gerald Ford Visits ArtPrize – Sunti Pichetchaiyakul, Thailand and Montana
  5. Rusty: A Sense of Direction/Self Portrait – Ritch Branstrom, Rapid River, Michigan
  6. Grizzlies on the Ford – Llew “Doc” Tilma, Wayland, Michigan
  7. The Tempest II – Laura Alexander, Columbus, Ohio
  8. Ocean Exodus – Paul Baliker, Palm Coast, Florida
  9. Under Construction – Robert Shangle, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  10. Mantis Dreaming" – Bill Secunda, Butler, Pennsylvania

    Juried Awards

In addition to awards distributed as a result of a public vote, the organization distributed seven juried awards for ArtPrize 2011. An award dedicated to an outstanding venue was added in 2011. Each juried award winner received $7,000.

Categories and winners

  • Two-Dimensional: One Ordinary Day of an Ordinary Town – Mimi Kato, St. Louis, Missouri
  • Three-Dimensional: Nature Preserve – Michelle Brody, New York, New York
  • Time/Performance: Remember:Replay:Repeat – Caroline Young, Chicago, Illinois
  • Urban Space: Salvaged Landscape – Catie Newell, Detroit, Michigan
  • International: DISAPPEARANCES – an eternal journey – Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Venue: SiTE:LAB – Curator: Paul Amenta, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • Sustainability: Walking Home: stories from the desert to the Great Lakes – Laura Milkins, Tucson, Arizona
  • Ox-Bow Residency: Progressive Movement – Evertt Beidler, Portland, Oregon

    Jurors

2012 competition

The 2012 ArtPrize competition ran from September 19 to October 7. The event introduced new changes to the ArtPrize Juried Awards program, including category prizes valued at $20,000 and a first-ever $100,000 Juried Grand Prize, decided by panel of three art experts.