North Riverside Park Mall will be celebrating its 50th anniversary serving its neighboring communities. Not only will it be 50 years of NRPM, but America will be celebrating its 250th Anniversary as well!

An incredible opportunity to showcase your enthusiasm for culture, family and more through artistic expression has been presented to Cicero District 99 and its families. NRPM would like to invite you to show off your creative ideas and artistic talent by submitting an original work of art to your child’s school art teacher!

Please read through the following information to learn more about the contest.

EXPECTATIONS FOR NRPM CICERO DISTRICT 99 ART CONTEST:
1) ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE! Students may participate by creating in-class artwork if assigned by the teacher, or optionally at home. 

2) Families may also work on an artwork piece together, but that will be judged in its own category separate from student-only artwork.

3) Artwork should be created on an 8x10 or 9x12 paper. You may ask your school’s art teacher for paper for your artwork (heavyweight paper).

4) THEMES will include:
-Community
-Family Life
-Local Culture
-250 years of America (immigration, symbols, patriotism, historical events over the past 250 years, a look at the next 250 years of invention and exploration, freedom, "this land is your land"). We realize this is a unique/difficult time to address this topic, but also believe it’s an opportunity to showcase determination, community culture and resilience.

5) There will be five artwork groupings:
-Kindergarten-Grade 2
-Grades 3-4
-Grades 5-6
-Grades 7-8
-Family Submissions

6) All artwork should be submitted to your school’s art teacher by Thursday, Jan. 22. NO LATE ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED!

WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER SUBMISSION OF ARTWORK:
• NRPM will work with original artwork to reproduce into banners. Top submissions will be framed and displayed.

• 15-20 pieces will be chosen to be created into larger banners to hang in the Food Court as permanent displays, as well as reproduced in the Management Hallway.

• Top submissions will be showcased for the Anniversary Celebration, Feb. 13-14 (The exhibition will be kept up for 2-3 months and the artwork will be returned afterwards).

• All submissions will be photographed and displayed on social media platforms.

So, if this is something you would be interested in, we look forward to seeing what you create. Be the best artist you can be and share your visions with the community!

The point of contact for artwork submissions will be your child’s school art teacher. Again, all artwork must be turned into your school NO LATER THAN Thursday, Jan. 22.