The City of Texarkana, Texas Department of Community Development is excited to announce the Design Downtown Regional Art Contest to be held this fall in downtown Texarkana. Residents of Miller, Bowie, and Cass counties will be able to submit renderings of a downtown Texarkana building, public space, or stretch of property in the Arts & Historic District. Winners will receive local recognition, have their submissions displayed in various locations downtown, and prints will be made for the Sesquicentennial Time Capsule, which will be buried on December 8, 2023.
Currently, downtown has large-scale redevelopment happening, new businesses under remodel, landscape and infrastructure improvements, and an energy that’s hard to match buzzing down its historic city streets. To aid in this reimagining of downtown, the city wants to know what a revitalized downtown could look like through the eyes of its community.
The contest will run from September 1st – November 3rd. Submissions may be dropped off at the Texas City Hall front desk, located at 220 Texas Blvd, during normal business hours. Starting November 6th, winning submissions will be displayed in various city buildings in the Arts and Historic District and used to guide downtown revitalization efforts. Local artisans will judge each entry and divisional winners will be announced on Friday, December 1st, just in time for the City’s Sesquicentennial Celebration. The winning submissions will also be made into prints to be put inside the Sesquicentennial Time Capsule that will be buried a week later on Friday, December 8th. There is no entry or submission fee for this contest, and ages ranging from 1st Grade to Seniors 55+ can enter their creative reimagined downtown works. First, Second and Third place grand prizes will be presented to winners in each division.
Planning and Project Management Coordinator Matt Solomon encourages the community, young and old, to join in the reimagining of downtown.
“Texarkana has a rich and well documented history”, said Solomon. “Over the last several years the Community Development team has planned and executed various projects around the city with the focus of honoring the past and growing the future, and this contest will allow the voices in our community to be heard through art and creativity.”
For more information on contest rules, guidelines, and previous sketches of downtown for inspiration please visit their website at https://texarkanatexas.gov/864/Design-Downtown-Regional-Art-Contest.
For contest updates and reminders, please follow their Facebook Event Page at https://fb.me/e/4F2rGLHYB
For more information, contact Brooke Stone at brooke.stone@txkusa.org or (903) 798-3901.
