Syracuse Poster Project: Call for Art and Poetry

The Syracuse Poster Project invites poets and artists to participate in its 2024 poster series.

The Project, entering its 23rd year, brings together poets and artists to create an annual series of illustrated poetry posters that celebrate Central New York.

New for 2024, the Project will solicit poetry on the theme “Famous Faces of Syracuse.” It will produce ten posters that honor famous people with deep ties to Central New York, as well as one poster featuring a fictional character from the future.

The series will also include one “reverse process” poster, starting with an illustration, and inviting writers to complement the illustration with a poem. For this special poster, the Project commissioned artist James P. McCampbell to create an illustration featuring Henry Keck, the historic stained-glass artist.

This year’s call for poetry, ongoing through Sept. 30, prompts writers with a series of  “Famous Faces,” and invites them to submit poems of famous Syracusans. The list, developed with guidance from the Onondaga Historical Association, includes Gustav Stickley, Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten, L. Frank Baum, baseball player Moses Walker, and the Toy Lady herself, Jean Daugherty, among others.

For the fictional character from the future, the Project invites poets to imagine someone who is not famous yet but will be in 150 years. What will they be famous for? What current reality might someone in the future respond to that will make them a legend decades from now?

The group’s call for poetry was formerly limited to traditional haiku. To appeal to more participants, the call now welcomes haiku and other short, three- and four-line poems. This year, panelists will select 10 pairings of poem and illustration. The artists of the selected posters will receive $500 for first place, $300 for second place, and $100 for third place. Artists and poets of the selected posters will also receive two poster prints and complimentary merchandise. 

For entry materials, visit the “participate” section of the Project’s website: https://www.posterproject.org/participate/entry_materials.php. Or reach Jim Emmons, project coordinator, at (315) 937-7123.

The deadline for submitting poems is Sept. 30. The deadline for completed posters is Nov. 21. Selected artist and poet pairs are announced in December and the posters are revealed in April.