Believe it or not, art pays in St. Louis

Crime might pay in St. Louis, but art seldom does.

Art will, however, pay out to one talented artist who wins the contest to design the poster for this year's Soulard Mardi Gras.

This year’s prize package includes:

* $1,500 cash prize

* $250 gift certificate from the Framery

* 2 VIP Passes to the Mayor’s Tent for Grand Parade Day [** SEE NOTE **]

* 25 official posters

* 1 dozen official T-shirts

* 1 framed poster.

This year's theme is “Soulard Mardi Gras celebrates the History of the World!” but that doesn't have to be factored into the poster design. All submissions must, however, include the words, “Soulard Mardi Gras,” the Soulard Star image (see above) and the festival dates: January 6th - February 24th, 2009.

The final poster size will be 24”x30”, so scale your submissions appropriately. Any reproducible medium will be accepted. Submitting artists can be of any age. Any artist can submit as many entries as they like.

All artwork must be submitted no later than November 1, 2008 and dropped off to The Framery, 2027 S. 11th St. in Soulard at the corner of 11th and Russell.

The contest will be held on Thursday, November 6 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Soulard Art Market (corner of Russell Blvd. and 12th St. in Soulard), in conjunction with "the progressive dinner," said the press release, without explaining the progressive dinner and I'm too lazy to look it up.

To see winners from previous years, see the Framery site. Please direct any additional inquiries to The Framery at (314) 436-8889 or soulardframery@yahoo.com.

** NOTE **

The winning artist is encouarged by Confluence City to return the 2 VIP Passes to the Mayor’s Tent, with a note, "No, thanks. Not interested. Not nice people. Not my scene."

Image of Soulard Star from SJ Campbell's site.