Next Stop: Democracy is funding local artists and makers to inspire celebration and participation on Election Day.
A NEW LOOK FOR ELECTION DAY!
“Next Stop: Democracy!” is a brand new, Philly-based voter engagement project that’s asking one simple question: Can a celebratory, citywide public art exhibition on Election Day help increase voter turnout in Philadelphia?
We aim to answer that question this November 3rd by hiring 60 area artists to create 60 “Vote Here” signs to be installed in multiple polling locations across Philadelphia. If our creative intervention works, we plan on rolling out similar projects in cities across the US!
Some of the amazing – and downright legendary – artists we’ve recruited to create signs include Isaiah Zagar, Gaia, Ishknits, and NoseGo…and we’ll be announcing more as the weeks go on!
But we don’t want to use cheap, plastic signs that we order off the Internet. This is why we need YOU. To do this right, we want to honor our artists and offer them locally made, reliable, and durable canvases. That’s where Darla comes in!
Darla runs the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym, and she’s ready to build us sign frames that will be functional and beautiful. But these high-quality wooden signs are more expensive than the mass-produced plastic ones.
We’re committed to growing the creative and maker community in Philadelphia. We want to fund locally made, quality signs, but we need your support to do it!
With your donation, we’re one BIG step closer to reimagining Election Day in Philadelphia, and to inspiring Philadelphians to go to their polls.
If you, like us, know that the best of all futures for Philadelphia starts with a creative, civically engaged citizenry, please consider making a donation and then sharing this project on social media.
THANK YOU!
We believe one of our biggest risks are on the theft of the signs. But we are procuring locks and are working with local partners to monitor the signs when on site.
But the biggest risk of all is the continuing decline in voter turnout. Only 27% of Philadelphian’s turned out in the 2015 Mayoral primary. That’s down from 34%. Our proposed solution…Next Stop: Democracy. There is relatively no data on art interventions around voter engagement. Even if the idea of signs is not the answer, we will have data collected from UPenn research team to begin building a body of research to inform future art intervention practitioners.