Alfred University’s Art Force 5 program will engage visitors at the Buffalo Bills training camp with a community art project celebrating women’s empowerment. A 196-piece mosaic, to be painted by the public and Rochester city leaders, will recognize the centennial of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, with a portrait of Susan B. Anthony, who spent most of her life in Rochester.
The Buffalo Bills hold their training camp at Rochester’s St. John Fisher College and this project will be offered on Sunday, July 28 and Wednesday, July 31 from 9am-12pm each day. Sunday’s camp requires pre-purchased ticket admission while Wednesday is a non-ticketed day.
Dan Napolitano, program director and assistant dean of Alfred University’s School of Art and Design, shared his vision for the project for which he is seeking support and partners. “A concept called 19 by 19 would see the Art Force 5 travel to 19 cities, joining fans in painting 19 tributes to women’s empowerment icons associated with those cities, in team colors. For example, Shirley Chisholm could represent a NYC team while a Betsy Ross mosaic might be painted in green and silver for Philadelphia.”
The Art Force 5 are no strangers to the city of Rochester or the NFL. In 2016, they were awarded the Democrat and Chronicle’s Unite Rochester grant and built community art alongside the city’s police department. In 2019, the program partnered with NFL Network’s NFL360 program and the Atlanta Police Department in building a mosaic tribute to the city’s first eight African-American police officers, who were sworn-in in 1948.
Each female empowerment mosaic will be accompanied by a sports jersey giveaway, with the first design created by recent Alfred University graduate Tiffany Gannon in collaboration with Napolitano. The project and image received approval and support from the National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House.
Connors & Ferris law firm serves as a sponsor of the Buffalo Bills training camp and was instrumental in getting the Art Force 5 program included in the fan section. Art Force 5 outreach is funded through a Performance Improvement Fund from the State University of New York (SUNY) and includes a summer residency in Harlem, NY culminating with an art exhibit on Aug. 9th featuring Harlem icons.
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