How to participate

Overview

Thank you for considering being a part of this new project at Joslyn. Here is a quick overview of how to get started.

1. Explore this website.
2. Visit the Museum.
3. Check out the special exhibition artworks. Get inspired.
4. Do some research (if you like).
5. Go home. Write a song. Record it.
6. Send in your song to enter the competition!

Read on for the details below. You may want to print this page as a reference.

Competition guidelines

Participation in this competition is free. Art for Your Ears is open to residents (or former residents/natives) of Nebraska and the surrounding states who are working in all musical genres. If you can come to Omaha and visit the artworks in person, you are eligible to participate. Although there will be images of a selection of works available on this website, we strongly urge all participants to visit the Museum to experience the art firsthand.

We anticipate that some participants will compose songs expressing an immediate response to an artwork, while others will write music reflecting their consideration of the formal qualities, subject or narrative content, culture, or theme of an artwork. We hope to encounter music that surpasses these general expectations, as well.

Each musical track must be accompanied by a spoken introduction, briefly explaining the approach taken in the creative work. The introduction should clearly state the title of the artwork that inspired the music. If a song is a response to more general aspects of the exhibition, the introduction should explain that as well.

All accepted entries will be featured on this website as podcasts. All postings to this website will be attributed with the musician's and/or band's name, the song title, and the artwork or aspect of the exhibition interpreted by the musical composition.

The museum-going public will be invited to load songs from the website onto their digital audio players so they can listen to them while visiting the exhibition.

Entry format

Songs should be between two (2) and five (5) minutes long. In addition, the spoken introduction (up to a minute in length, as described above) should precede the music, making the entire track just over two (2) to six (6) minutes in length.

For the competition, please save your recording in the MP3 file format. A bit rate of 160 kbps or 128 kbps is recommended, with a sample rate that allows for the highest sound quality for your particular project, given the file size requirements. File size should be less than five megabytes (5 MB). (Please DO NOT send files larger than 5MB. Attachments that are larger than 5MB will be deleted.)

How to submit songs

Please send your MP3 file as an attachment to an e-mail, any time from August 14 until September 14. Please include the text of your spoken introduction in the body of your e-mail.

E-mail entries to: songs@Art4YourEars.org.

Print, read, fill out, sign, and mail the registration forms (you will find the two required forms: the Submission Form and the Licensing Agreement, in this PDF file). We will need to have on file your signed paperwork, both pages completed in their entirety, in order to process your entry.

Paperwork should be mailed to:
Joslyn Art Museum
c/o Art for Your Ears
2200 Dodge Street
Omaha, NE 68106-1292

If you have questions, please contact us at: info@Art4YourEars.org.

Entries must be original work (please see the Licensing Agreement for additional information). Joslyn Art Museum reserves the right to reject any submission deemed unfit for inclusion for any reason.

Creative Commons

In addition to the Licensing Agreement that is required in order to participate in this competition, we encourage you to register your song with Creative Commons (at http://creativecommons.org).

Selecting the winners

A panel of judges consisting of professionals with expertise in either or both art and music (including historians, educators, curators, critics, and practicing artists) will critique submissions and select approximately ten winners. The judging event will take place after all submissions have been received and processed, during the third week of September.

In addition to a formal juried event, all entries will be put to a popular vote at Joslyn Art Museum, which will take place beginning Saturday, September 16 through Sunday, September 24. For details about the popular vote, see Podcasts.

The winning tracks will be announced and featured as podcasts on this website, and also made available on Joslyn's audio guides (see Timeline for dates).

Incentives

We believe the unique creative challenge presented by this project is the most significant reward of the competition. Additional rewards include critical feedback from the formal judging event and exposure via this website. In addition to all of the above, competition winners will receive extended coverage on this website, additional exposure via Joslyn's audio guides, and a complimentary membership to Joslyn Art Museum.