Embracing Our Differences

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Sarasota, FL
Embracing Our Differences

Through the transformative power of the arts, we educate and inspire to create a better world. Petersburg.

The centerpiece of Embracing Our Differences is an outdoor juried art exhibition featuring 50 billboard size images (12.5 feet by 16 feet) created by local, national and international artists and writers. The display reflects the artists' interpretations of the theme "embracing our differences" The exhibition is displayed annually at Bayfront Park in downtown Sarasota and Poynter Park in St. In 2

024, 422,576 people visited the exhibitions—bringing the total amount of visitors to more than 4.8 million since 2004. The 2025 exhibition had an impressive response to the call for artwork and inspirational quotes, with 10,124 entries pouring in from 122 countries and 46 states. Students from 511 schools around the world submitted artwork or quotations to the juried exhibition and more than 65% of submissions were from students. Also crucial to our mission are our ongoing education initiatives. Presented in partnership with regional school districts and nationally recognized educators, these programs have impacted over 587,000 students since 2004, including 55,357 students and 2,048 teachers last school year.

06/19/2026

Happy Pride Month! 🌈

Here are a few simple ways to celebrate with kindness, inclusion, and respect:
✨Use people's correct names and pronouns
✨Listen with curiosity, not assumptions
✨Amplify LGBTQ+ voices, art, and businesses
✨Speak up when something isn't right
✨Check in on the LGBTQ+ people in your life
✨Show up all year long

Pride is for everyone. Let's make it feel that way. 🏳️‍🌈

“Change the Game”
By Davide Nolfo
Torino, Italy
2025 Gallery

06/18/2026

Some of the most important conversations start with a painting, a photograph, a sketch, or something we hear that makes us stop and think.

Embracing Our Differences looks for art like these pieces that explore the perspectives that shape our everyday lives. The roles we're handed, the boxes we're put in, the expectations we have to push back against.

They exist in our daily lives, and art is how we work through them together.

Title: “The New Rosie the Riveter”
Artist: Elisa U.
8th Grade, Sarasota Military Academy Prep, Sarasota, Florida
Teacher: Pam Kok
2018 Gallery

Title: “Pink is for Girls”
Artist: Napoleon Stewart
Edwardsville, Kansas
2020 Gallery

Title: “Whose Doll?”
Artist: Courtney Beth Tippett
Bradenton, Florida
2023 Gallery

06/16/2026

🎓 Students & adults
🎨 Amateur & professional creatives

If you have a piece that inspires empathy, dialogue, and understanding, we want to hear from you.

👉$12,000 in total cash awards
👉No submission fee
📅 Deadline: July 1, 2026

🔗 Submit artwork & quotations:
https://www.embracingourdifferences.org/submit-art-quote/

06/13/2026

The wrong words can echo for a lifetime. What we say, and how we say it, shapes the world around us more than we realize.

Choose your words like they matter, because they always do. 💬

06/11/2026

Educators, the end of the school year is a powerful moment when growth is visible, stories are ready to be told, and inspiration is everywhere. 🍎

Encourage your students to submit their artwork or a meaningful quotation for our 2027 Exhibition (and consider submitting something of your own, too). The classroom isn't the only place great work deserves to be seen.

✨$12,000 in total cash awards
✨No submission fee
🚨Deadline: July 1, 2026

🔗 Submit artwork & quotations at the link in our bio!

06/08/2026

"This art depicts the diversity of people found in San Francisco and can represent the diversity of other cities — the lonely gay man, the hardworking woman, the carefree child, the shriveled homeless one.”
- Marconi Calindas
San Francisco, California
“Angels of San Francisco”
2014 Gallery

Each figure is a reminder that every life holds weight, and every story deserves to be met with kindness.

06/04/2026

Congratulations to 2025–2026 EOD Scholarship Recipient Abigail Lauber! 🌟

Abigail, a Riverview High School student and four-year member of Coexistence Club, will attend the University of South Florida to study Psychology.

We cannot wait to see the positive impact she will make in the years ahead. Help us congratulate Abigail on this exciting achievement!

06/02/2026

See you at Silver Pride! 🏳️‍🌈

Presented by Senior Friendship Centers & Project Pride SRQ, this FREE celebration honors the amazing LGBTQ+ community members who are 50 and better.

It's going to be a fun day and we are so happy to be a part of it! Come stop by and say hello.

We can't wait to see you there!
https://www.ppsrq.org/silverpride2026

06/01/2026

📚The school year is wrapping up, and so is your chance to be part of something lasting.

Submit your artwork and quotations that speak to you for a chance to be featured in our 2027 Exhibition.

⭐️$12,000 in total cash awards
⭐️No submission fee
📅 Deadline: July 1, 2026

🔗 Submit artwork & quotations through the link in our bio!

05/30/2026

In honor of , we’re sharing a few prompts inspired by kindness, inclusion, and the beauty of different perspectives. ✨

Whether you’re an artist, writer, or simply someone with a story to tell, we hope these inspire you to create something meaningful.

Which prompt did you choose?

Address

Sarasota, FL

Telephone

+19414045710

Website

https://www.EmbracingOurDifferences.org/

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