The Pole Banner Art Project

About the Project

Up Your Arts, the City of Southport, and Downtown Southport, Inc., are proud to announce their joint sponsorship of a new annual art project. “Raise Up Your Arts” is a juried art exhibition to showcase the rich diversity of our community and abundant creativity of our artists. All are welcome to apply — this is an excellent opportunity to showcase your work and build name recognition.

The photographed works of selected individual artists will be featured on one of twelve vertical banners hung from utility poles in Southport’s central business district from May-November 2023. Artists must be at least 18 years of age and currently producing artwork in Brunswick County. The deadline for submissions is March 12, after which entries will be juried by an anonymous peer review panel.

Calling Local Artists

The panel will choose the work of twelve artists for the 2023 series. The winners will be featured at Up Your Arts’ 2nd Annual Cool & Fancy Gala on April 22, when they will also have the opportunity to offer an individual piece of their artwork for commissioned sale during the gala’s live auction.

Digital images submitted must be of original art created within the last five years involving any artistic medium or discipline — painting, pottery, sculpture, photography, glass, jewelry, metalwork, woodwork, fiber art, dance, theater, musical performance, etc. Each submitted photograph can feature one piece of artwork or a collection of more than one 3-D pieces grouped together (one- and two-dimensional pieces cannot be grouped).

The artwork and artist’s name will appear on a 30″ x 48″ section of each banner, which will be gifted back to the artist when removed from display in November.

How to Apply

The application fee for each submission is $25. Pay the fee(s) online here using the red check- out button here, or mail payment by check to: Up Your Arts, P.O. Box 11326, Southport, NC 28461.

Complete the registration form and upload your image(s) here: Registration Form and Image Submission

You will not need to complete your registration information multiple times for multiple submissions. Digital images must be a high resolution, portrait format, jpg or png file.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions or comments.