Stop, Drop and Make Art
From Dani Brown, Arts Education Special Projects Coordinator —
I recently had the privilege of joining a panel to judge the 2015 Fire Prevention Poster Contest. The contest is held annually by the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) to highlight and promote fire safety awareness throughout Tennessee schools. This year’s contest theme corresponded with the National Fire Protection Association’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, “Hear the Beep Where You Sleep: Every Bedroom Needs a Working Smoke Alarm.”
Tennessee students in kindergarten through high school created art posters to illustrate the importance of working smoke alarms. Local fire departments sponsored the contest in schools from their districts and selected a winner from each grade. The local winners were then sent to the SFMO for final judging in Nashville. Over 200 poster entries were received this year. The winners were selected by a panel made up of myself, Michael Cooper with Murals & More and Shaun Giles of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
The poster contest winners will each receive a $50 prize check and a certificate of achievement signed by Gov. Bill Haslam. The students will be honored at an awards event on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 at the Tennessee Fire and Codes Academy in Bell Buckle, TN.
