Deadline Extended For
Second Annual Film Festival Entries
Film Entries Highlighting “Politics in the USA” Due by June 30

 The City of Alexandria’s Commission for the Arts has extended the deadline for entries to its Second Annual Film Festival to the close of business on Monday, June 30. The City will host the film festival from September 25 through September 28 at the Lee Center’s Kauffman Auditorium, 1108 Jefferson St. This year’s film festival theme is “Politics in the USA,” and the Alexandria Commission for the Arts is seeking short films, features, and documentaries supporting the theme. Winning films will be shown as part of the festival. 

“Politics in the USA” is defined broadly, but entries must have a clear connection to events and issues in the United States, either current or historical. International films related to United States politics are encouraged. The festival will also include a youth program component featuring junior filmmakers 18 and younger. The deadline to submit a film entry is June 30, 2008. To receive a submission form, visit www.alexandriacommissionforthearts.org .

“As one of the top arts destinations in the United States, and with Washington D.C. as a neighbor, Alexandria is the perfect place for a film festival on politics," said Pat Miller, chair of the Alexandria Commission for the Arts. "We invite films that inspire, provoke, and entertain, regardless of their political perspective."

The Alexandria Commission for the Arts, in partnership with the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities, is sponsoring the event. For additional information on the Alexandria Film Festival, and on other programs and activities sponsored by the Alexandria Commission for the Arts, call the Commission’s office at 703.838.6348, e-mail aca@alexandriava.gov or visit www.alexandriacommissionforthearts.org .

The City of Alexandria is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation or to request materials in an alternative format, call Cheryl Anne Colton, Cultural Arts Administrator, at 703.838.6348 (TTY 703.838.4902) or e-mail cherylanne.colton@alexandriava.gov .

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN

Subject: Call for submissions for artist-designed political yard signs

The Walker Art Center is co-producing a project called My Yard OurMessage as part of the UnConvention, a non-partisan collective ofcitizens (largely artists and arts organizations) who have cometogether to create a forum in which to promote the democratic andfree exchange of ideas on important issues. Our goal is to launch a series of public projects during the Republican National Conventionwhich is being held in Minneapolis the first week of September. ForMy Yard Our Message, we're inviting artists and designers around thecountry to submit designs for yard signs that can be ordered by thepublic. The 50 signs that win the popular vote will be displayed in 3 neighborhoods near the Convention as well as around the city by anyparticipating citizen.

Please pass the information along to anyone you think may beinterested in submitting a design, voting in July, or ordering a signlater this summer.

Call for submissions for artist-designed political yard signsYard signs are as ubiquitous and familiar to the American politicallandscape as baby-kissing and stump speeches, combining catchy imagesand pithy campaign slogans to increase visibility for vyingcandidates and their parties' messages. In honor of this electionseason, My Yard Our Message turns this tradition of politicalephemera on its ear with a unique national competition: we're putting
the message and the creative design for these political yard signs inthe hands of artists and then--in true democratic fashion--you, thepeople, will vote among the entries to determine a selection of fiftywinners, whose designs will be made available to order as full-sizedpolitical yard-signs after August 1.

Now through June 30, artists and designers are invited to submit yardsigns to <http://myyardourmessage.com/>MyYardOurMessage.com aroundthe theme of what it means to actively participate in a democracy.Entry specifications and the submission form are available on <http://myyardourmessage.com/>MyYardOurMessage.com. The full call forentries is available at
<http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=192440>http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=192440
or <http://www.myyardourmessage.com/>http://www.myyardourmessage.com/

My Yard Our Message is produced by the Walker Art Center in collaboration with The UnConvention
<http://theunconvention.com/>theunconvention.comThe project was conceived by Scott Sayre.

Robin Dowden
Director, New Media Initiatives
Walker Art Center dowden@walkerart.org>robin.dowden@walkerart.org

DEADLINE: Rolling
Arts in Embassies Program
Established by the United States Department of State in 1964, the ART In Embassies Program is a global museum that exhibits original works of art by U.S. citizens in the public rooms of approximately 180 American diplomatic residences worldwide. These exhibitions, with art loaned from galleries, museums, individual artists, and corporate and private collections, play an important role in our nation's public diplomacy. They provide international audiences with a sense of the quality, scope, and diversity of American art and culture through the accomplishments of some of our most important citizens, our artists.  For http://culturalalliance.pmailus.com/pmailweb/ct?d=FDZppwBzAAIAADH9AAHgZA