Fort Works Art and its nonprofit arm Gallery of Dreams have announced an open call for the America 250 City Art Poster Project, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The project is a nationwide initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts and the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), part of the celebration commemorating the official separation from Great Britain of the colonies that would become the United States of America, on July 4, 1776.
The project guidelines state that poster art for participating cities should “celebrate local history and inspire hope for the future in honor of the semiquincentennial,” and that artists of all ages may apply.
A Fort Works Art press release describes the open call as “offering local artists a rare opportunity to contribute to a historic, national visual archive,” that “celebrates the city’s vibrant creative movement and underscores Fort Worth’s growing role as a cultural leader on a national stage.”
Cities with populations of 30,000 or more have been invited to participate, with each city’s mayor ultimately making the final selection to represent the city. Jocelyn Bogen, a Program Director for the United States Conference of Mayors, told Glasstire that the goal is to collect 250 posters for the July 4th America 250 celebration. Other cities participating include Lincoln, Nebraska; Montgomery, Alabama; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Rochester, New York.
The selected Fort Worth poster will be displayed with other city posters in an exhibition held at the USCM’s 94th annual meeting in Long Beach, California, from Thursday, June 4, through Sunday, June 7. A book featuring all posters will also be published in print and digital editions.
Other Texas cities and institutions will offer America 250 celebrations, programs, and events throughout 2026. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission has assembled Texas America250 traveling exhibits available to libraries, schools, and museums across the state, with 700 participating venues so far.
From Wednesday, March 4, through Sunday, April 5, the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin will host Hope for Spring: Stars and Stripes Forever, a juried exhibition of local artists meant to “commemorate and interpret this historic moment as we consider what we value the most about these United States,” according to the museum’s website.
Arts for Rural Texas in Fayetteville has announced an open call for its juried exhibition, America the Beautiful: Celebrating 250 Years as a Nation, seeking art that “celebrates the diversity, complexity, and evolving story of the American experience — from its founding to the present day,” according to the applications web page. The application fee is $25 each for up to three submissions per artist, with $6,000 in jury prizes to be awarded. The deadline to apply is Friday, May 1, at 4 p.m.
To learn more about the America 250 City Art Poster Project specifications and guidelines, visit the USCM website. Apply to Fort Works Art’s open call, via the gallery’s CaFÉ applications page, by Wednesday, April 1.