MLK Inspired Art & Performance Contest

Start thinking about your submissions!

Win $200 by creating a work of art inspired by the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Winning submissions will be displayed throughout the week of February 12, 2024, in Lobby 10!

Submissions are due by January 21, 2024.

Guidelines

Enter the contest by submitting a visual artwork, piece of performance art, or literary work inspired by the values of MLK. Make sure to use the theme for 2023-24:

“We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character; that is the goal of true education.”

There will be one winner in each of the art contest submission categories, which will be organized by art medium:

• Medium: 2D visual art – drawing, painting, video.

• Medium: 3D visual art – sculpture, crafts, etc.

• Medium: audio – music, spoken word, submitted as an audio file.

• Medium: written word.

The contest is open to all MIT undergraduate and graduate students, staff, postdocs, and faculty.

Submissions are due by January 21, 2024.

Apply today!

For this year only, in celebration of the 50th anniversary, we are making a quilt as a community project. We warmly invite you to contribute a square of fabric that expresses something about MIT’s diversity and/or about MLK’s legacy! 

Here are some details:

• All squares will be 10”. We have fabric you can use! Decorate the square to create an image, a pattern, or words. 
• We suggest you have a gathering of friends to create your squares together!
• Need help with materials? Let us know if you’d like fabric paint or other supplies.
• Make sure you leave a half-inch border all the way around the edge! These squares will be sewn together, and we don’t want to lose any of your design. 

Process:

• Fabric squares & materials available starting November 15. Pick materials up on campus or receive via campus mail.
• We need your squares by winter break! Submit by Friday, December 22.
• Community quilting sessions the first week of IAP to sew the squares together.
• The finished quilt will be displayed in Lobby 10 the week of February 12, 2024, and then sold via silent auction at the MLK Gala on February 17, 2024. 
• Auction proceeds to benefit a charity or other organization, chosen by popular vote from those who contribute squares.

To participate, please reach out to mlk-celebration@mit.edu. We can’t wait to get started!