Atlanta Pop-Up Art-Builds prior to Super Bowl - more public locations sought.

 Upon the suggestion of NFL Films, the creativity superheroes known as the Art Force 5 will be traveling to Atlanta to build mobile mosaic tributes to Atlanta’s first eight African-American police officers. Small 4” x 4” tiles will be painted by youth, residents, college students, police officers, and possibly NFL personnel at various locations throughout the city. The final six large mosaic portraits will be donated to various Atlanta educational venues after temporary outdoor exhibition outside of the original headquarters of these officers - a shuttered former YMCA at 24 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive in Atlanta.

 The team will engage the city from Tuesday, January 17 until Thursday, January 19 and again from Wednesday, January 30 until Friday, February 1. Late afternoons into evenings will be spent engaging youth at various YMCA and Boys & Girl Club center. During these six visit days, the team will spend late afternoons at various YMCAs and Boys & Girls Clubs and midday from 10am-2pm setting up pop-up art-builds at various locations throughout downtown Atlanta. Sites interested in hosting the free pop-up shop of mosaic tile painting are encouraged to contact program director Dan Napolitano at napolitano@alfred.edu.

 Founded in 2006, Alfred University’s Art Force 5 program strives to fulfill a mission of “Creativity over Conflict” through art-making and creative problem-solving. The team has presented fun superhero-themed non-violence workshops at over 100 schools and led more than 25 community art-builds. Their “Unite Rochester” partnership with the Rochester Police Department and superhero craft stations with Harlem Police have led to the program being awarded a summer programming headquarters on New York City’s Governors Island. Their recent grant from the State University of New York (SUNY) has supported the team’s travels to over twenty colleges - building a series of mosaic portraits of diversity and equity pioneers. The program has also partnered with numerous museums, national parks, and conferences including the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, Susan B. Anthony House and Museum, 2017 NAACP National Convention, Strong National Museum of Play, National Conference on Race and Ethnicity, and New York Comic Con.