New program will link local artists, collectors

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Legal Creative, a local organization that aims to boost the economic relationship between artists and the community, has launched its first major community project.

Titled Community Supported Art, it creates a structure that will link a small group of local artists and art collectors.

CSArt is modeled after a program that originated in Minnesota and has since been implemented in cities across the country.

Here is how the local program will work:

Nine artists will be selected by a juried process to participate. The artists can work in any genre, including music, written word, food, jewelry, clothing, photography, craft beer or wine, sculpture, pottery, screen printing, painting, plays and performance art. Collaborations between artists or work by collectives are also eligible.

The jurors will be local professionals in the art world, including Christopher Barzak, Phyllis Beard and Mark Shohayda.

Each of the nine selected artists will receive a $1,000 stipend with which to create 50 copies of an original work of art.

Additionally, 50 “shareholders” will be enlisted in CSArt. Each will pay $350 to the program and will receive nine works of art — one from each artist. Because each shareholder will receive nine original works of limited-edition art, the 50 slots are expected to quickly sell out, according to a news release from the Legal Creative. The shareholder positions will be offered in May. Check legalcreative.org for information.

Shareholders and artists will also be invited to several events this summer, each of which will feature local food, music and entertainment.

Examples of the works that will be created by the nine artists and received by the 50 shareholders include a limited edition of a vinyl recording, a run of screen prints or photographs, tickets to an upcoming original performance or event, letterpress editions of a poem or short story, or small paintings.

The call for artists begins today at legalcreative.org or the Legal Creative’s Face-book page. Artists must submit a statement, proposal, and work samples, and should be prepared to work within a limited time frame.