In partnership with the African American Museum, Dallas, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science has announced a call for entries for a staircase commission to create a vibrantly colored and eye-catching site-specific creative design that celebrates African-American leaders in science – from history and modern day – who have made significant contributions to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The Staircase Project is presented by Kroger.
To spotlight the artistic talent in the Dallas/Fort Worth region, the Perot Museum will commission an African-American creative designer who resides in North Texas to design the image.
The winning designer will be awarded a prize of $5,000. The deadline to enter is Oct. 30, 2020, and the winner will be notified of his/her selection by no later than Dec. 1, 2020. There is no submission fee. For rules, details and submission instructions, GO HERE.
The creative design will be reproduced on weatherproof, vinyl materials and professionally installed on the Perot Museum’s large, multi-story outdoor staircase facing Field Street, a main thoroughfare into Downtown Dallas. For images and videos of past staircase installations along with design templates, GO HERE.
Entrants will be provided a suggested list, compiled by the African American Museum, of extraordinary scientists, inventors and innovators – both local and national – to inspire creativity for the design. These leaders include famed agricultural inventor and “Wizard of Tuskegee” George Washington Carver, NASA’s Mary Winston Jackson (who was portrayed in Hidden Figures),father of the blood bank Dr. Charles Drew, and telecommunications inventor Shirley Ann Jackson, the first African-American woman to earn an MIT doctorate. North Texas STEM leaders (born and raised in Dallas) include Dr. John H. Hopps, an American physicist and deputy Undersecretary of Defense, and Otis Frank Boykin, an engineer, entrepreneur and American inventor with approximately 26 patents. Other noteworthy African-American STEM leaders also may be included, and a mix of men and women leaders from both history and modern day is recommended.
The panelists are Dr. Lauren Cross, program coordinator & assistant professor, interdisciplinary art and design studies, College of Visual Art and Design at the University of North Texas; Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney, deputy director and chief operating officer of the African American Museum, Dallas, and former chairman of the history department at The University of Texas at Arlington; Byron Sanders, president and CEO, Big Thought; Dr. Linda Silver, Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer, Perot Museum of Nature and Science; and Arthur Simmons, quality systems management, processes & analytics, Texas Instruments.
Participants must be a U.S. citizen 18 years of age and older, and collaborations of up to two individuals are allowed. Submission requirements include an overall image and detailed specs, artist statement, short bio and photo for promotional purposes. Finalists will participate in mandatory interviews – conducted in person or virtually – with the judges.
Because the Perot Museum and the African American Museum are both 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, entries must be non-political and non-violent in nature.
The Perot Museum is located at 2201 N. Field Street in Dallas, Texas. For rules, details and visitor information, go to perotmuseum.org.
About the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. The top cultural attraction in Dallas/Fort Worth and a Michelin Green Guide three-star destination, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a nonprofit educational organization located in the heart of Dallas, Texas. With a mission to inspire minds through nature and science, the Perot Museum delivers exciting, engaging and innovative visitor and outreach experiences through its education, exhibition, and research and collections programming for children, students, teachers, families and life-long learners. The 180,000-square-foot facility in Victory Park opened in December 2012 and is now recognized as the symbolic gateway to the Dallas Arts District. Future scientists, mathematicians and engineers will find inspiration and enlightenment through 11 permanent exhibit halls on five floors of public space; a children’s museum; a state-of-the art traveling exhibition hall; and The Hoglund Foundation Theater. Designed by 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis Architects, the Victory Park museum has been lauded for its artistry and sustainability. To learn more, please visit perotmuseum.org
About the African American Museum, Dallas. The African America Museum, Dallas was founded in 1974 as a part of Bishop College. The Museum has operated independently since 1979. For more than 40 years, the African American Museum has stood as a cultural beacon in Dallas and the Southwestern United States. Located in Dallas’ historic Fair Park, the African American Museum is the only museum in the Southwestern United States devoted to the collection, preservation and display of African American artistic, cultural and historical materials that relate to the African-American experience. The African American Museum incorporates a wide variety of visual art forms and historical documents that portray the African American experience in the United States, Southwest, and Dallas. The Museum has a small, but rich collection of African art, African-American fine art and one of the largest African American folk-art collections in the United States. Learn more at aamdallas.org.