The largest public-art project in the country’s history is launching with a Kickstarter campaign. The 50 State Initiative is a project of For Freedoms, a collaborative created by artists Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman.
The initiative hopes to install artist-designed billboards in all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, to inspire participation around the time of the midterm elections. Fifty-two Kickstarter campaigns have been launched, each with a goal of $3,000 that must be reached by July 3.
The project’s partners will create public programming. In Connecticut, partners are Hartford’s Amistad Center for Art & Culture, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and New Britain Museum of American Art. Artists include Tania Bruguera, Zoë Buckman, Paula Crown, Sam Durant, Theaster Gates, Rashid Johnson, Marilyn Minter, Richard Misrach, Trevor Paglen, Dread Scott, Nari Ward and Carrie Mae Weems.
To donate for Connecticut, visit kickstarter.com.
