Miller Canfield Sponsors World's Largest ArtPrize, Encourages Visitors to Start at 99 Monroe Avenue
The law firm of Miller Canfield – with Michigan roots for 158 years, 25+ in West Michigan – is proud to sponsor the second annual ArtPrize. The world’s largest international art prize competition will be held September 22-October 10 in Grand Rapids. The firm is encouraging visitors to start their ArtPrize experience at 99 Monroe Avenue.
Positioned in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, 99 Monroe Avenue combines two venues, inside the Campau Square Plaza Building and outside on the Louis Campau Promenade, and includes three of only 13 performance artists participating in ArtPrize.
99 Monroe Avenue – Miller Canfield’s Grand Rapids office location – will be home to 18 artists’ work including sculptures, paintings, installations, mixed media masterpieces and performance artists – all hand-selected by curator Barbara “Bunny” Kratchman of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, with the objective to make the art as interactive as possible. Kratchman is an arts consultant for Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs and former president of Artserve Michigan.
“Because of the convenient location of our venue and the diverse, interactive works that fill the indoor and outdoor spaces, we are encouraging visitors to make 99 Monroe Avenue their starting point to experience ArtPrize 2010 and downtown Grand Rapids,” said Richard A. Gaffin, principal and resident director of Miller Canfield’s Grand Rapids office and Kentwood resident.
The 18 artists featured at 99 Monroe Avenue are from all over Michigan and as far away as New York City.
In all, 1700+ artists will participate in ArtPrize. Part arts festival, part social experiment—this contest is decided solely on public vote. Cash prizes total $499,000. Last year’s competition brought over 200,000 visitors to downtown Grand Rapids and 334,219 votes were cast. Learn more at www.artprize.org.