KYCC Student Art Contest

SIP Interns: What are they up to?

Sophomore Landscape Architecture major, Gail Wallace, Kentucky Climate Consortium Intern, has worked with the KYCC to develop an addition to their annual symposium, highlighting student art related to climate change.

As far as creating the project, I think the whole idea of it is very on-brand for a Landscape Architecture major—we have the unique task of acknowledging the environment from a more creative perspective. I’m excited to get to bring that concept to the KYCC in the form of the Student Art Contest. Creativity is extremely important when it comes to solving big problems, and climate change is a big problem.

Gail Wallace, SIP Intern

Prompt:

What does climate change in Kentucky feel like to you? 

How has climate change impacted you and those around you? 

How are Kentuckians rising to the challenge of climate change?

How will it work?

Submissions will be guided by a prompt that will correlate with the annual theme of the Kentucky Climate Symposium. Submissions will be accepted from any undergraduate or graduate student currently enrolled at least part-time at a college or university in the state of Kentucky. One winner will be chosen for each category, as well one runner-up. Each submission will be reviewed by a committee of experts from relevant disciplines.

Submissions open March 25th and are due July 7th, 2024! To read more information and to submit artwork click here.

The four winners will receive $200 each and will be invited to do an interview-style session to talk about their piece at the Symposium. The four runners up will receive $100 each and will be invited to attend. The KYCC will also be funding the artists travel to the symposium if they live outside the Fayette county KY area!

The competition will continue annually and could therefore be considered as a sustainability-related initiative for continued student participation every year. This project aids in making the pursuit of sustainability goals an integral part of the UK student experience, which is one of UK’s sustainability goals. Actually, it’s one of our five guiding principles;

1. Make the pursuit of sustainability goals an integral part of the UK student experience
2. Reinforce the University’s commitment to our people
3. Decarbonize Campus Operations 
4. Become a Zero-Waste Campus
5. Model Environmental Excellence

Specifically, this project will contribute to sustainability on campus by supporting the work outlined in priority action 1.2.2 “Benchmark (by 2024) and pursue annual increases in the number of students engaged with sustainability-related organizations, initiatives, and service,” action 1.3.4 “Provide students with resources for dealing with eco-anxiety and climate anxiety by 2024,” as well as action 1.7.2 “Establish an incentive program that provides rewards and honors for behaviors, internships, co-curricular activities, and other work that supports sustainability by 2025.”

We wish Gail good luck with her new annual art contest proposal and can’t wait to see the artwork submitted!