The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce announces Mask On, Athens!, an art competition benefitting the new Athens Creatives Directory. Voted on by the community, the winner will get his or her artwork printed on fabric which will then be sewn into face masks. A cash prize of $1,000 will also be awarded to the winning artist.  

“Credit is due to my husband John for this awesome idea,” said Lindsay Brannen, Director of Community Outreach at the Athens Area Chamber. “We were eating at Punta Cana Latin Grill, discussing how critical face coverings are for saving our favorite local businesses. John asked, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if there was an Athens mask?’ We talked about it through the rest of the weekend and landed on the art competition as the means to create such a mask. I took the idea back to my team at the Chamber and they loved it. We’re all so excited to see this come to fruition!” 

After participating artists have submitted their work, the community will vote for their favorite via the Chamber’s Facebook page. After voting closes, a pop-up web store hosted by Satisfactory Printing will begin pre-selling the masks. Satisfactory is also helping with the printing of the winning artwork onto fabric. Community in downtown Athens will then sew masks in two adult sizes from the fabric. “We also envision local retailers selling the masks in their stores as well,” Brannen said.  

Mask On, Athens! is presented by the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce and Terrapin Beer Company. Additional sponsors include Charlie Fleming Mortgage Group, Athens Pulmonary, PermeaPure, Interweb Systems, Shane Dekle State Farm, Stable Waters Financial, Wild Moon Studio, LangScapes, ProCoat Painting, Jittery Joe’s, Dalton Carpet One, Community, and Satisfactory Printing. 

Proceeds will benefit the launch of the Athens Creatives Directory, a joint collaborative effort of ACC Economic Development and Envision Athens’ CREATE Athens work group. When asked about the impact of this initiative, Envision Athens’ Project Manager Erin Barger shared: “The Athens Creative Registry is an economic development mechanism for both the Athens creative economy collectively, and the individual artists who make Athens the brilliant creative community that it is.”

Interested artists must email lindsay@athensga.com for official rules and guidelines. The deadline for art submissions is end of day on Sunday, August 30.