EVENT PURPOSE
(This open call for the Art of Covid Contest is for all UK employees of the Asian-American and Asian diaspora.)
As we continue to live through this pandemic, and we approach the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s signing into law the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, we invite our Asian-American/Asian diaspora community at UK to share with us their experiences or stories in artistic form.
We are hoping to collect and exhibit visual or literary works from an Art of Covid contest that reflect on the individual and collective experiences of our faculty and staff over the past two years.
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MORE BACKGROUND
With COVID affecting every population around the globe, we unfortunately saw and experienced a severe spike in Anti-Asian rhetoric, harassment and violence here in the U.S. Lexington was no exception.
Out of the pain that many of our colleagues suffered came a feeling of empowerment to overcome difficulties and a renewed sense of pride and joy in our Asian-American/Asian heritage.
Pain, empowerment, pride and joy—those are the three prompts that we have identified for you to submit artistic entries along with your personal stories. You may submit photos, drawings, paintings, poems, songs, short stories or narratives—any artistic form that best tells your story.
Thanks to the generous contributions from College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, College of Engineering, College of Medicine, and Gatton College of Business and Economics, we will be able to award monetary prizes as well as certificates of recognition to first-, second- and third-place winners who are UK employees from our Asian-American/Asian diaspora community.
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Cash Prizes:
1st Place: $500 each, 3 winners
2nd Place: $300 each, 3 winners
3rd Place: $200 each, 3 winners
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TIMETABLE
* April to Mid-May: Open for entries!
* May 20 deadline: Last entries accepted by 4:30 p.m., the day of the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s signing into law the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.
* Late May and early June: Judging by a panel assembled by the Organizing Committee.
* June 30: Deadline for notifying winners and receipt of their monetary prizes.
* Fall 2022: Exhibit and celebration of our winners with an opening day event and a closing day reception.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
This Open Call for the Art of Covid Contest is for all UK employees of the Asian-American and Asian diaspora.
The deadline to submit your work for consideration is 4:30 P.M., FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022.
You may submit work in any visual medium or literary medium.
You may submit up to three works for consideration.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
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Submission of Visual Work: You can submit up to three works. Your image/photo file should be in JPEG format.
Please make sure to indicate the following details for the description of your works: a). Which category you are submitting the work for— Pain / Empowerment / Pride & Joy — b). Title, Medium, Size, Date of the work.
Furthermore, please name your JPEG file in the following format before your submission: Last Name_Title of work_Date.jpeg.
The judging committee will be relying on reviewing your work digitally, so please make sure to submit clear resolution images with a maximum file size of *1 MB* or a maximum dimension of *1200 pixels x 1200 pixels *.
Submission of Literary Work: You can submit three respective works as a word document in a PDF format. Please make sure to submit a separate document for each submission.
Furthermore, please name your PDF file in the following format: Last Name_Title of work_Date.pdf.
Only short form literary works such as poetry or short stories/narratives (ranging from 600 – 800 words) will be considered. If you wish to present your work as printouts on the gallery walls, the maximum length of your word document is *4 pages* with font size 14 and document formatting.
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Entry Submission: please attach your JPEG or PDF files to an email at this address: UKAAPIART@gmail.com with your name, title, university email and phone number.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Special thanks to the Organizing Committee for all who contributed help or ideas:
Jason Akhtarekhavari
, Arts in HealthCare Manager, 
University of Kentucky HealthCare
, UK Chandler Hospital


Vanessa Grossl, 
Policy Analyst, The Council of State Governments
, UK graduate student, Arts Administration
Gregg O. Hall, professor in UK’s Patterson School of Diplomacy
Fuko Ito, visiting art professor in the School of Art and Visual Studies
Robert Jensen, director of UK’s School of Art and Visual Studies
Tracy Lu, associate professor in the Department of Retailing and Tourism Management, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment
Huajing Maske, executive director of UK’s Office of China Initiatives
Buck Ryan, journalism professor and director of the Citizen Kentucky Project of the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center
Sarah Tran, a journalism graduate and now a graduate student in public health who worked at UK’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging
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Jennifer Wang, doctor, Department of Radiology, UK Healthcare
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HELP AND CONTACT
For any questions, help or advice, please contact: UKAAPIART@gmail.com