It’s National Voter Registration Day, and two local organizations are coming together to raise funds for Seed the Vote, an organization dedicated to ending voter suppression.
195essential teamed up with Lawrence-based Elevated Thought to put out a call-to-action encouraging artists within their organization to design a t-shirt for the Voter T-shirt Collection, launching today, September 22, 2020. Fifty percent of t-shirt proceeds will go to Seed the Vote.
Officially founded in 2010, Elevated Thought® seeks to address social issues demanding solutions. ET offers holistic, cross-disciplinary opportunities for learning (arts, humanities, social sciences, philosophy, history). They welcome, nurture, and expose youths ages 13 to 22 to the power of arts and creativity to help them harness and amplify their voices to change their community and society.
After receiving a handful of impressive designs, the 195essential team chose artwork from Rhode Island School of Design student and Lawrence native Michelle Collado to be featured on one of the collection’s t-shirts. Michelle’s design beautifully depicts a message of ending voter suppression. 195essential also incorporates the tagline ‘Free the Vote’ by artist Adriel Jiminez into their “Essential Voter” collection campaign.
“At Elevated Thought, we are designed to build capacity for creative practices that enable youth to produce the stories and vision that lead to individual and community change,” says Marquis Victor, founding executive director of Elevated Thought. “We are thankful to be working with a like-minded company such as 195essential to bring opportunity to our young artists and create real change in our communities and beyond.”
“Being able to support incredibly talented local artists and an amazing nonprofit like Elevated Thought is what 195essential is all about,” says Jason Harris, co-founder of 195essential. “We look forward to continuing to foster this relationship with their artists and collaborate on additional designs in the future, giving artists the opportunity to introduce their work to a new audience.”
To purchase Michelle’s t-shirt along with the rest of the collection, visit 195essential.com. For more information about Elevated Thought®, visit elevatedthought.org.
In honor of National Voter Registration Day, check to make sure you’re registered to vote at vote.org.