The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce is holding an art competition for a face mask design that pertains to the city. The deadline for submissions is Sunday, Aug. 30.
Director of community outreach at the Athens Area Chamber, Lindsay Brannen, said the idea for the competition came about when she was out with her husband for dinner. It was the couple’s first time back in a restaurant since quarantine started. They started talking about wearing masks and how “nobody likes wearing them necessarily, but that’s how we’re able to go see our favorite businesses,” she said.
Then, Brannen’s husband brought up how he thought it would be cool if Athens had a mask, and it could help promote mask-wearing around town, she said.
The theme of the mask is “envision Athens,” Brannen said, so artists should consider what their vision is for the town.
“If someone wants a more green or bike-friendly city, their’s might have bikes on it,” Brannen said. “My oldest daughter was like, ‘we need more art murals downtown,’ and so she drew a pretty floral [design]... It’s like, what is your vision for future Athens?”
In order to motivate people to submit designs and create buzz around the competition, the chamber has settled on a $1000 award for the winner, according to a press release. The money for the award came completely from sponsorships from local businesses such as Terrapin Beer Company, Charlie Fleming Mortgage Group, Jittery Joe’s and more.
Brannen said these sponsors were chosen because they are part of industries that “aren’t hurting right now” and supporting the competition was a great way to come through when the community needed them.
Money from the sponsorships will also pay for the printing of 500 masks with the winning design, Brannen said. The chamber plans to print only 500 so the masks are very limited edition, she said.
All of the money raised from the sale of these masks will go toward the Athens Creative Directory, a new website by Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Department and Culture workgroup of Envision Athens to better connect local artists with patrons, Brannen said.
The competition is only open to those with residency in Athens-Clarke County and immediate surrounding areas. Since the design is for fabric that will be cut into masks the designs must be a repeatable pattern suitable to different cuts and sizing. Submissions “cannot include any trademarked or licensed logos related to any brand or entity, including the University of Georgia,” according to the competition rules.
In order to streamline the voting process, the chamber will utilize a small selection committee to narrow down submissions to around eight to 12 entries. Then, the chamber will post those designs to Facebook, and the public can vote on which mask is their favorite for one week.
Since the artists submitting designs must be residents of Athens or the immediate area, the theme of the mask design is “envision Athens,” and the money raised from mask sales will go toward Athens Creative Directory. Brannen said she chose Satisfactory Printing to screen print the masks so they are truly 100% Athens.