FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Baltimore, MD - The Baltimore National Heritage Area (BNHA) is excited to partner with the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA), and the Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights on announcing a Student Artwork Call for Entry for the 2021 Fair Housing Month Exhibition. This call for entry seeks student art from Elementary School, Middle School, and High School students in Baltimore City for the 2021 Fair Housing Month Student Exhibition in April 2021. The exhibition will be a dynamic curated outdoor art event installed in the Parks and People Foundation location at 2100 Liberty Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21217 from Thursday, April 1, until Saturday, May 1, 2021. Students can submit their artwork here, and the deadline for submissions is Monday, March 1, 2021. The 2021 Fair Housing Month Exhibition is supported by the Maryland Center for History and Culture and the City of Baltimore. More information is available at www.promotionandarts.org. 

Theme: What Does Home Mean to You?
The theme of the 2021 Fair Housing Month Exhibition is open to interpretation on the theme of the home. From your dream house to your dream neighborhood, to what your block looks like, to thoughts on redlining, housing segregation, and discrimination. Students are encouraged to let their imagination and creativity soar. The prompts for Elementary, Middle, and High School students are included below.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS: Elementary School students are encouraged to read The Fair Housing Five and the Haunted House, illustrated by Sharika Mahdi, and then draw pictures, construct homes out of shoeboxes, or create a paper cut-out model of a house, neighborhood, or block.

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS: Middle School students are encouraged to read A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, and then create artwork based on the ideas of homeownership, home-buying, and moving into their very first home.

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: High School students are encouraged to read Baltimore's own writer, Kondwani Fidel's Hummingbirds in the Trenches, and then write a poem or create artwork about the meaning of home. GIVE-AWAY: The Office of Equity and Civil Rights will provide the first 25 student entrants in each category with a free copy of the related book: Elementary School - The Fair Housing Five & The Haunted House, illustrated by Sharika Mahdi; Middle School - A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry; and High School - Hummingbirds in the Trenches, written by Kondwani Fidel. FOR YOUR 

REVIEW & RESOURCE: For additional inspiration and resource, students are also encouraged to review the following videos:
National Fair Housing Alliance, “Seven Days - History of the Fair Housing Act”
Maryland Center for History and Culture, “Housing Discrimination”

MORE INFORMATION For further information about the 2021 Fair Housing Month Student Exhibition, please visit www.promotionandarts.org.
###