The Community Voting Rights Art Installation created by Voting Access For All Coalition (VAAC) and Indivisible Metro Detroit opens at ArtPrize 2026 on Friday, September 18, and now it’s time to see the finished installation and vote for it.
Hundreds of individual pieces created by people at community art-making pop-ups across Southeast Michigan have come together at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids as part of Art at the Fountain Inspiring Social Justice.
ArtPrize public voting opens Friday, September 18 at noon. The Community Voting Rights Art Installation is Entry 26487.
VAAC will also be at Fountain Street Church throughout ArtPrize, with special programming planned for Sunday, September 20.
Read on for the story behind the installation, when you can visit, how ArtPrize voting works, and where to join VAAC in Grand Rapids.How we got here
Throughout the summer, VAAC and Indivisible Metro Detroit brought art-making pop-ups into community spaces across Southeast Michigan.
At each stop, people were invited to create small pieces exploring voting rights, democracy, civic participation, representation, access, and what it means to have a voice in the decisions that affect our lives and communities.
No art experience was needed. Participants used words, images, found materials, and a variety of art supplies to create something that reflected their own ideas and experiences.
The project grew one piece and one conversation at a time.
We held pop-ups at Urbanrest in Ferndale, events in Southgate and Hamtramck, QueerSeed Collective in Detroit, Affirmations in Ferndale, and other community spaces. Along the way, people of different ages and backgrounds added their own perspectives to what would eventually become one collective installation.
Each piece is unique. Together, they create a larger statement about voting rights and whose voices are heard in our democracy.
The Community Voting Rights Art Installation at ArtPrize
The finished installation brings those individual works together for visitors to experience as one collective piece.
Words are paired with artwork reflecting each participant’s voice, creative expression, and personal perspective. Visitors are invited to take their time moving through the installation and examining the many individual contributions that make up the whole.
The project will be exhibited at:
Fountain Street Church
24 Fountain Street NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
ArtPrize Entry: Community Voting Rights Art Installation
Artist: IMD/VAAC Collaboration
Vote ID: 26487
Preview Week: September 12–17, 2026
ArtPrize: September 18–October 3, 2026
ArtPrize is an international art competition and cultural festival that transforms venues throughout Grand Rapids into exhibition spaces for artists from Michigan and around the world.
Join us at Fountain Street Church on September 20
VAAC will also be part of special programming at Fountain Street Church on Sunday, September 20.
9:30–10:30 AM: Chapel Time / ArtPrize Artist Talk
Mary McGeehan, the art teacher who has been leading the creative production of the project, and Angela Davenport, VAAC Executive Director, are expected to speak.
12:00–2:00 PM: Friends & Family Event
Join us in the chapel, visit the installation, connect with VAAC, and take part in story sharing connected to the project.
ArtPrize voting begins September 18
Public voting for ArtPrize begins Friday, September 18.
When voting opens, look for the Community Voting Rights Art Installation, Vote ID 26487.
For now, save the dates, share the project with your networks, and if you will be in Grand Rapids during ArtPrize, make plans to visit the installation at Fountain Street Church.
ArtPrize is not the end of the project
Taking this work to ArtPrize is an exciting milestone, but the goal has always been bigger than a single exhibition.
After ArtPrize, VAAC and Indivisible Metro Detroit hope to bring the installation into libraries, community centers, cultural spaces, schools, and other gathering places throughout Metro Detroit.
The art can then continue doing what the pop-ups were created to do: open doors for conversation and civic learning about democracy, voting access, representation, and whose voices are heard.
What started with people sitting down at community events and creating one piece at a time has become a collective work that will soon be seen by visitors from across Michigan and beyond.
After Grand Rapids, we look forward to bringing it home to the Detroit area.
Updated September 18, 2026 with ArtPrize exhibition hours, public voting information, and details about VAAC’s ArtPrize programming.
The post VAAC’s Community Voting Rights Art Installation Opens at ArtPrize: Visit, Vote and Join Us in Grand Rapids appeared first on Voting Access For All.