Art of Democracy Poster Guidelines

The Art of Democracy posters are created by artists taking part in exhibitions and events around the country. These posters are not merely show promotions but are made to carry a strong political message. Some Art of Democracy exhibitions will feature all of the posters. The posters will be exchanged between venues and distributed where they will be seen.

Create an Art of Democracy Poster
Become a poster distributor

Posters are a significant part of organizing for the Art of Democracy. They have the advantage of being street level, and in the public realm, whether in a shop window, on someone’s door front or in the public space, posters assert the ideal of community space and community voices in a concrete way. They will also be the most enduring, part of the coalition.

Every venue for the Art of Democracy exhibitions is encouraged to create one or more posters both for their own use and for national distribution. Ideally, these posters should follow some basic guidelines.

1. The name ART OF DEMOCRACY should appear on the poster.


2. The logo of the ART OF DEMOCRACY (developed by New York artist/illustrator Frances Jetter) should appear on the poster. The logo is available in high resolution format at http://www.artofdemocracy.org/resources/logos.html.


3. The web site address WWW.ARTOFDEMOCRACY.ORG should appear on the poster.


4. The posters should be hard hitting and political. Please don’t consider the poster to be only a promotional device for a show.


5. The posters should be available in sufficient numbers to send out to other participating venues. At the moment we are developing a distribution list. A suggested minimum would be fifty posters for the purpose of distribution to other venues.


6. The word poster covers a wide range of possible media. The poster could be any printmaking technique, woodcut, screenprint, letterpress, etc. It could also be a commercially printed image, or digitally printed.
   
   A digital printer in Tennessee has been suggested for printing short runs of posters at 18 x 24 inches, at $2 each; http://www.shortrunposters.com/.


7. The choice of paper for posters is a personal and aesthetic one, but a lightweight paper can seriously cut down on shipping costs. It is easier to roll in a tube. A good paper to use for light weight easy distribution is white (as opposed to beige,) newsprint this paper is cheap, light, and is porous enough for wheat pasting on the walls of your favorite locations. Of course it is not archival so a more archival paper might also be used.

Distribution and Display

Any poster campaign is only as good as its distribution, so we are developing a distribution network. Those who know of cafes, or art galleries or public spaces in their local community are encouraged to sign up to become an Art of Democracy poster distributor. Email us at info@artofdemocracy.org.

Poster distributors will receive posters from the various artists and venues around the country and get them out in their local community. These posters can be used to promote the local show, to express the specific message of the poster and to democratize the public space. The intention of the posters is to distribute them and display them widely.

Several venues will be exhibiting the posters made by all of the venues. In New York, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area venues will show all the posters made. Other venues may also want to include some or all of the posters.

All of the posters will be posted on the Art of Democracy website here.

In addition the posters will be one of the lasting testaments to the Art of Democracy shows and will be important from the point of view of inspiring future actions by artists. The national organizers are planning on donating complete sets of the posters to the collections of various public institutions, some of whom have already expressed an interest.

Art of Democracy
Poster Gallery

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