Creating the Vote

Update: We're fully funded for our initial offering and distributing coloring kits this week. Additional funds will be used to distribute more coloring pages!

Art on the Streets is making it easy to get information about voting in 2020.

Coloring pages created by local artists make it fun for everyone to share the how, when, and where of voting in the time of COVID.

Our coloring kits include two pages, crayons, and glue dots to share the creative campaign with the world (or at least your neighbors).

Kids and adults can color the artwork and use the removable glue dots to display their creativity in a window!

Each coloring page will include a QR code and website to direct voters to information about registering, requesting and completing a mail-in ballot, voting early, and finding the correct polling place.

We've done coloring kits before so we know how to do this! Earlier this year, we worked with artists to create coloring pages for a 'Stay Home Save Lives' campaign during the COVID shutdown and a Census participation campaign in partnership with the City of Cincinnati and Camp cARTwheel.

First, we'll engage two local artists to create coloring pages for us. We already have a small grant to cover one artist and we're raising the funds for the second. We always pay the artists!

Next, we'll order the coloring kit materials: crayon boxes (we have a great source!), removable glue dots, and paper bags to put it all in.

We've already started recruiting our distribution partners—like school meal programs, housing development managers, local community centers, libraries, park managers, etc.

Then we add the QR code and voter info website information to the artist coloring pages and take them to our printer.

Finally we put all the kits together and contact the media to get the word out about where people can get the kits.

And then we help with distribution of the kits in a safe and healthy way.

We love spotting coloring pages in the windows of our neighborhoods!

We're big on artist-led campaigns for civic engagement and equitable policymaking.

Voting is step one for engaging the community in advocating for policies that address their priority goals.

In 2020, voting is complicated and new for everyone because of COVID. Everyone is encouraged to vote by mail or to 'early-vote' if they can. 

Our coloring-kit campaign provides the information people need to find out how to take these unfamiliar voting steps — and for those who vote on election day, we will make sure they can find their polling place easily.

We believe that sometimes information is most effectively shared by family members and neighbors, rather than from officials or a bureaucratic source. When kids bring coloring kits home, the creative approach brings attention to information in a whole, new way! And coloring pages in windows are eye-catching for passers-by and visitors, so we put the website and QR code there to make it simple for neighbors to follow up too.