|OUR TIME TO THRIVE|

Howard County Pride is proud to present our first ever Pole Banner Art Competition! This competition is designed to provide an excellent opportunity to local Maryland artists between the ages of 18-25.

You will be entering for a chance to see your art work displayed around the Merriweather/ Columbia, MD area! Anyone driving through the area in the weeks leading up to HoCo Pride's festival on Sunday, October 8th, 2023 will see this art displayed proudly on the light poles near the park.

This competition is open from March 18 through May 6, 2023. All submissions are due to the google form by 11:59pm on Saturday, May 6, 2023. No exceptions will be made. Any submissions made past this time will not be considered/judged.

Rules for Submission:

Dimensions of art must fit to a 30in by 80in banner

Must include a border or solid colors at the top and bottom of the design.

Avoid beige or pastels—focus on bright, bold, vivid colors.

Yellows are allowed but should be a deeper yellow.

Design should be simple, eye-catching, and easy to process in 5second or less

NO hate speech, vulgar imagery, and offensive words/phrases are allowed

Must include:

The organization: “HoCo Pride”

The Date: “October 8, 2023”

The theme: “Our Time to Thrive"

File submissions MUST be a vector file (.pdf, .eps, .ai)

Submissions can be made here or at https://forms.gle/eodKC4ScPmkyqQmD6

Artists will be judged on the following criteria:

Communication of the Theme

Creativity

Composition

Overall impression

This competition is designed to offer a platform to recognize artists within our community. As such, artists are allowed to tastefully include their signature within the work, as long as it does not obstruct/distract from the overall design/artwork. We understand that being a part of our community comes with non-disclosure of our identity sometimes-- which is why we will only be accrediting artists in our marketing materials upon the request of the artist sent to info@howardcountypride.org. We hope this allows you a space to thrive.

Please keep in mind: these are going to be displayed on light poles-- which means the viewer should be able to process the majority of the artwork in the length they have while safely driving their car down the street. Aim for a simpler design which can be processed in about 5 seconds.

Only one submission is permitted per person--anyone found to have made multiple submissions under the same or different names will be disqualified from the competition. If you would like to amend your submission prior to April 29, 2023 at 11:59pm, please make sure to email info@howardcountypride.org so we are aware of the resubmission and can delete the previous one made.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email Alisha Tronetti at info@howardcountypride.org.

Winners for this competition will be announced in June of 2023 at a HoCo Pride event (date: TBD).

|OUR TIME TO THRIVE|

Howard County Pride is proud to present our first ever T-Shirt Art Competition! This competition is designed to provide an excellent opportunity to local Maryland artists in grades K through 12.

You will be entering for a chance to see your art work displayed proudly on our volunteer t-shirt on the day of Pride 2023! Anyone attending the festival will see this art on our volunteers while they are hard at work hosting this year's festival.

This competition is open from April 30 through June 11, 2023. All submissions are due to this form by 11:59pm on Sunday, June 11, 2023. No exceptions will be made. Any submissions made past this time will not be considered/judged.

Submissions can be made here or at https://forms.gle/T14MnUufzsvoAqoYA

Please read the rules carefully-- which can be found either within the survey or below:

Avoid beige or pastels—focus on bright, bold, vivid colors.

Yellows are allowed but should be a deeper yellow.

Design should be simple, eye-catching, and easy to process in 5second or less

NO hate speech, vulgar imagery, and offensive words/phrases are allowed

Must include:

The organization: “HoCo Pride”

The Date: “October X, 2023”

The theme: “Our Time to Thrive"

File submissions may be .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .pdf, .ai, .eps, .gif, .bmp, .psd, however .PDF, .AI, or .EPS are preferred.

Artists will be judged on the following criteria:

Communication of the Theme

Creativity

Composition

Overall impression

Please address any questions to info@howardcountypride.org

Winners will be announced in June 2023 at a HoCo Pride Event (date: TBD)

All submissions will be judged by the HoCo Pride Planning Committee

Please include a short reflection (max: 500 words) of what your design means to you, and how designing your art has allowed you to connect/learn more about diversity and inclusion

This competition is designed to offer a platform to recognize artists within our community. As such, artists are allowed to tastefully include their signature within the work, as long as it does not obstruct/distract from the overall design/artwork. We understand that being a part of our community comes with non-disclosure of our identity sometimes-- which is why we will only be accrediting artists in our marketing materials upon the request of the artist sent to info@howardcountypride.org. We hope this allows you a space to thrive.

Only one submission is permitted per person--anyone found to have made multiple submissions under the same or different names will be disqualified from the competition. If you would like to amend your submission prior to June 11, 2023 at 11:59pm, please make sure to email info@howardcountypride.org so we are aware of the resubmission and can delete the previous one made.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email Alisha Tronetti at info@howardcountypride.org.

Join us for some Drag Queen Bingo to kick off our Restaurant week from 6-7pm on June 11, 2023!

We are very excited about our First Annual HoCo Pride Restaurant Week. Thank you to all the restaurants that have joined us as partners this week+ by showing their support by supporting HoCo Pride. Each restaurant will be donating a certain percentage of their proceeds that night to support HoCo Pride. We hope you can join us for our kickoff event at The White Oak Tavern on June 11 and we encourage you to visit are other PRIDE supporters throughout the week. To see all participating restaurants and specials, click here. Please note that some restaurant will require you to bring a flyer or share that you are there supporting HoCo Pride.

Join us on Friday, June 23, 2023 from 8-10pm for a night filled with love and powerful performances! This Open Mic is open to anyone who would like to perform. Hosted by the fabulous Bella Naughty!

Tickets can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-mic-poetry-night-at-busboys-and-poets-columbia-md-tickets-643427678507?fbclid=IwAR2loOFqZUyWq86Wpw3jQr-lhtL3gV_g6gnm9O2M79jTD_giAT-rpjucECY

Chalk! Tie Dye! Lawn Games! And more!

Join us Sunday, June 25 from 6:30-8:30pm at Colorburst Park in the Merriweather district for a fun evening in the park! At 7:30pm, we will also be presenting 3 community engagement awards and announcing the winner of our T-Shirt Art Competition!

This event is sponsored by the Downtown Columbia Partnership.

HoCo Pride was proud to present this years HoCo Pride Festival on Sunday, October 15, 2023!

Thank you for joining us in Symphony Woods @ Merriweather park from 11-4pm for amazing fun, festivities, and entertainment!