We greet the New Year with two calls for submissions: one for our ongoing series, What is freedom?, and a repeat call for Who sparked the spark? which looks at the teachers or other individuals who first led us down the garden path to creativity.
ArtsEtc is accepting prose (fiction and non-fiction) and poetry for both submissions (please see guidelines and details below). Photographers and visual artists are also encouraged to submit.
We're always on the lookout for dynamic, original expression; words and images that make us sit up and pay attention. For a keener idea of what we're after, do check out the writing throughout the site.
Deadline: ongoing.
Payment: Yes, we pay for work published on this site—amazing but true!
WHO SPARKED THE SPARK?
Who is the person that most inspired or influenced you to become an artist, who sparked the spark that makes you the creative human you are today? It could be a teacher, family member, friend or someone else entirely. Surprise us in a poem of not more than 21 lines; flash fiction of 500 words or less; short fiction (1,500 words); or in a 750-word essay.
WHAT IS FREEDOM?
Again, share your thoughts in a poem of not more than 21 lines; flash fiction of 500 words or less; short fiction (1,500 words); or in a 750-word essay. You may also first want to read this mini personal essay on freedom, or consider the following from ArtsEtc editor Robert Edison sandiford, the blog entry that inspired the series:
AROUND Independence each year, I pelt this quotation at my Research Paper students in the Division of Fine Arts (Graphic Design) at Barbados Community College:
“Elitism is a good thing and highly democratic, if rightly used on behalf of the majority. Democracy was not achieved to make us all mediocre, but to make us free and superior, each in his own way.” — Louis Dudek
As a class exercise, we riff on it for a while, trying to decipher collectively what the late poet-philosopher meant. We pick at words that juk us hard in our pride, like “elitism” and “democratic.” We wince at words that challenge our sense of industry, like “majority” and “mediocre.”
What does he mean, stringing all these words and concepts together like pearls then dangling them before us, especially the part about being “free and superior”?
My students respond, or attempt to. They seem to have some idea. As independent as they are, they are all also waiting for a leader of their country who is beyond political; a man or woman who inspires as much as guides. Someone who can convince them their dreams matter because freedom would not have been possible without them in this island, their island.
Last year, instead of just talking about freedom, I asked my students to write me something about freedom and themselves. These are their thoughts... [READ MORE]
