A Community Art Project
MARU invites youth and young artists to join “Belonging in America”, a community art project about identity, home, connection, and belonging.
MARU is thrilled to announce cash prizes for our Belonging in America youth art project:
🥇 1st Place: $500
🥈 2nd Place: $300
🥉 3rd Place: $200
Thank you to our sponsor, Magic Cabinet, for making these awards possible and investing in the next generation of young artists.
In a recent collaborative survey, we asked our community a question: “Where do you belong?”
- 88% said they felt a sense of belonging to the Bay Area
- 29% felt belonging to America.
(Art-based collaboration with MARU and A PLACE OF HER OWN™)
Through art, we want to hear your story.
- Who and what do you belong to?
- Do you feel like you belong in one place—but not fully in another?
- How have you and your community created your own place to belong?
- Where are places that we all belong?
This project is about claiming space, sharing truth, and imagining an America where we all belong.
- You don’t need to be a professional artist.
- Your experience is enough.
- Your voice matters.
We Belong—our stories, our voices, our place in America.
Logistics Overview
This project will include a single round of evaluation conducted by a multidisciplinary panel of peer judges, professional artists, and community leaders representing diverse sectors, including public service, education, and cultural criticism. The final selected works will be exhibited at the MARU Community Gallery in San Leandro for two months, open to public viewing and potential sales. Details regarding the commission structure will be shared with selected artists.
Selected artists will also be invited to participate in an artist talk during the opening reception on May 30, 2026. Artwork that is not selected for exhibition or sold during the exhibition period will be returned to the artists.
Curatorial Focus: Works on Paper
For this inaugural exhibition, MARU has chosen to focus on works on paper. Paper is versatile. It bends. It folds. It can be marked, erased, layered, or transformed. Paper carries names, histories, documents, letters, and drawings. Paper preserves memory. And when brought together, paper becomes resilient and structural — like community.
In many ways, paper reflects the experience of becoming American — adapting while holding identity, transforming while preserving memory, standing stronger together than alone. Through this material, we invite young artists to explore belonging as something shaped, marked, and continuously formed.
Eligibility
Participants
Anybody ages 13–18 (7th grade to 12th grade) residing in the East Bay.
Artwork Medium
Works on paper only, including but not limited to:
- Pencil
- Charcoal
- Pastel
- Watercolor
- Ink
- Acrylic
Artwork Size
Maximum physical size: 36” × 36” (including mounting or framing)
All works must be original.
Submission Process
Submit one artwork for digital review via Google Forms by April 30th. All artists are asked to submit the physical copy of their art in-person at MARU on May 1st or May 3rd.
Required Information:
- Artist Name
- Age
- School, City and County
- Contact Email
- Parent/Guardian Email (required if under 18)
- Artwork Title
- Medium (e.g., watercolor on paper)
- Approximate Dimensions (height × width in inches)
- Short Artist Statement (150–250 words responding to the theme)
Digital Image Requirements:
- JPEG or PNG format
- Maximum 1920 pixels on the longest side
- Maximum file size: 5MB
- File name format: LastName_FirstName_Title.jpg
Example: Kim_Jisoo_Belonging.jpg
If you need assistance resizing your image, please contact MARU. We are committed to making this process accessible to all participants.
Jury & Selection
Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of invited community leaders, professional artists, cultural critics, and peer reviewers from the greater Bay Area.
Works will be evaluated based on:
- Strength of concept
- Engagement with the theme
- Originality
- Artistic development
- Clarity of presentation
Deadline: April 30, 2026
Selected artists will be notified mid-May 2026.
MARU believes belonging is built through participation. We look forward to seeing how young artists in our community define and shape what it means to belong in America.
Submissions are now being accepted
When you are ready to submit your artwork, please complete the following form.
🎨 Belonging in America Submission Form
If you experience any issues accessing the form, feel free to contact Dana Kurlander at dana@kcceb.org—we’re happy to help!