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Thurston County celebrates second annual countywide art contest, expands South County participation
Summary
County staff and community partners say the second annual Thurston County art contest doubled entries this year and will display winners at the county fair after a public gallery and staff/commission vote next week.
Thurston County officials on Tuesday previewed plans to recognize winners of the county's second annual art contest at next Tuesday's board meeting and announced several outreach and display steps intended to broaden participation, especially in South County.
The contest, launched April 30, accepted submissions the last week of May and used multiple drop-off locations to increase participation outside of Olympia. "We were successfully able to launch it on April 30 via Facebook," said Taylor, one of the program coordinators. County staff said entries rose from about 50 last year to about 100 this year, with roughly 60 adult entries and an increase in youth and staff submissions.
County staff credited new drop-off sites — including locations in the city of Rainier and Public Works — with bringing entries from ZIP code 98576 where there had been none the prior year. "Our public works drop location got almost 30 submissions itself," the coordinator said. Commissioners praised staff and partners for outreach; the county plans a public gallery in the boardroom Thursday and Friday ahead of the June 17 recognition and will display winning pieces at the Thurston County Fair in August.
Commissioners and staff also discussed developing a memorandum of understanding with the fair foundation to allow the contest to accept donations and sponsorships and to expand programming, such as an "artists in action" demonstration space at the fair. Commissioner Ty Metzer said staff and the fair board had worked to expand the contest's reach; several commissioners thanked staff for the outreach efforts.
The art contest recognition will be on the June 17 board meeting agenda; a staff vote (with one recusal noted) and a commissioners' recognition of winners are planned for the event.
