Embracing Our Differences Riverwalk Celebration Set For Friday

The 10th annual Embracing Our Differences is set to open on Easter Sunday, when it's 80 degrees instead of the cool 60s, but some of the messages from the art might warm you up anyhow.

You can start with a chill celebration Friday night from 5 to 6 p.m. at Riverwalk, 452 3rd Avenue W., followed by Music in the Park from 6 to 8 p.m.

The Embracing Our Differences exhibit produced by nonprofit Coexistence Inc. blends free educational lesson plans in schools, free field trips and student art and original quotes judged in a worldwide competition. 

The artwork is displayed on posters, 12 1/2 feet by 16 feet, with quotations displayed beside them.

For the past 10 years, the exhibit was exclusively displayed at Sarasota Bayfront Island Park. This year is the first exhibit displayed at Anthony T. Rossi Waterfront Park from March 30 to April 28. You can also see the art at Bayfront Island Park in Sarasota from March 31 to June 2 and at North Port High School May 1 to June 2.

The messages are also different this year, the Herald-Tribune reports:

“It's gone from being race, creed and color to cyberbullying, body image, homelessness, sexual orientation, gender identity and mental health issues,” says Michael Shelton, one of the founders and executive director of Co-Existence, Inc., the nonprofit organization behind the exhibit. 

So far, 4,000 Manatee County students registered to participate, and the organization has a goal of 6,000 to 7,000 Manatee students participating this year, according to the organization. 

At least two Bradenton students are winners for their quotations they composed.

Noah Font, a student Palma Sola Elementary, won with his original quote: "When you exclude someone, you exclude an opportunity." Miles Fischer, a student at the Louise Johnson Middle School of International Studies, won with, "A puzzle can't be whole unless the pieces work together."

The quotes will be displayed on the same poster of artwork selected for the exhibit.

Out of the 1,972 quotes submitted for the contest, 20 of the winners are from area schools, according to the organization.

For the artwork, 2,400 submissions came from 44 countries and 32 states. The best-in-show adult and student category winners and people's choice for art each win $1,000. 

The Best-in-Show adult winner is Liat Waks from Petach-Tigwa, Israel, for her work, "Differences Work, Just Ask a Fork." The Best-in-Show student winner is "Cyber Bullying: Beware of the Big Bad Predator" by Steven Staub, Bobby Alvarez, and Gennadity Kazimirov, seventh-grade students at Heron Creek Middle School in North Port. 

In the classroom portion, the program works with curriculum development staff from the county school systems to write and provide free lesson plans teachers can use, and the curriculum staff's time is paid for by the organization.

The Writing About Diversity program help teachers find ways for their students to express thoughts about the topic of diversity, according to the organization.