About
The Urbana-Champaign People’s History Project, coordinated by elizaBeth Simpson, is a collective, largely volunteer, effort to identify current and historical citizens, groups, and events which have made a significant contribution to the social well-being of the Urbana-Champaign community.
We then celebrate these contributions through the design and distribution of posters in their honor. Posters are displayed in local business and ‘around town’, as well as on MTD buses. They are available for purchase through this website and will become available at the Urbana Farmer’s Market, which begins May 7, 2011.
The project is inspired by the Celebrate People’s History Posters distributed by Just Seeds Artist’s Collective, and is funded in part by the Urbana Public Arts Grant.
You are part of the story- please get involved!
Learn more about the People’s History.
How Does it Work?
This project aims to promote and celebrate the contributions made to the well-being of the Urbana-Champaign community by unrecognized “local heros”. This primarily takes the form of well-designed and attractive posters that both inform and inspire the community as they take the bus, attend the farmer’s market, shop in local businesses, and visit each others’ homes. By making an open call for designs, informal artists are encouraged to participate, and the final public display allows our community to recognize its wealth. In this way, civic pride, both in our creative skills, our capacity to affect positive social change, and in the many contributions “average citizens” make, will increase and inspire us to do more as we are daily reminded of our Urbana-Champaign People’s History.
Ongoing Oral History and Research:
We ask “Who has done something to make life in Urbana-Champaign better for everyone?” We then follow up on suggestions by interviewing people and reviewing source documents. The process used invites public participation at every step.
Poster Design:
Once we decide on a poster topic, we identify an artist or graphic designer (professional or not) to create two images- one for display on the MTD buses, and one that will be used both for street display as well as creating hand-screened posters for home display. We provide the artist with basic prompts, but support their creative discretion to design the poster as they see fit. We also accommodate artists who have their own concept, or those who want a fully conceptualized design idea.
Poster Printing and Promotion:
We then print the posters in three versions- digital prints for MTD and street display, and hand-screened posters available for purchase to help fund future posters.
This project is funded in part by the Urbana Public Arts Program
Jul 02, 2010 @ 03:32:42
I hope the tribal Indians (Native Americans) will receive some serious attention. Way back before local tribes started to get driven west to the point that they trampled on each other and which resulted in their own wars. The natives that really lived here before colonial invasion. May need an anthropologist. Good luck with the project. David
Jul 24, 2010 @ 17:01:16
Sounds like a worthy project. Good luck!