Following a two-year hiatus, The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center has announced the return of its annual Tejano Conjunto Festival en San Antonio Poster Contest.
In a press release about the contest, Cristina Ballí, Executive Director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, remarked, “We are so happy to relaunch our annual poster contest with bigger prizes this year. We welcome back our student artists, as well as community members and professional artists. The posters are a wonderful way to highlight the artistry of our local creative community and to help market both the festival and the best in Texas-Mexican cultural traditions.”
Though the festival itself was only canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the poster contest did not take place for the 2021 or 2022 festivals. For the 2021 festival, which was the first-ever live-streamed Conjunto festival, the 2020 winning poster was used in promotional materials. Then in 2022, for the festival’s 40th anniversary, a special retrospective poster, which featured images of all of the previous posters, was created.
The Tejano Conjunto Festival en San Antonio is the first and longest-running festival of its kind. For the past four decades, the festival has presented live performances, workshops, Hall of Fame inductions, and other events. Internationally recognized, the festival draws an audience of over 10,000 coming from across Texas, the United States, Mexico, Europe, and Asia.
As the poster contest is open to a wide range of artists, it will award prizes in the following categories: middle school, high school, college, open/professional. The overall winner will receive a $2,000 prize, and top selections for each category will receive $100 prizes. Additionally, an honorable mention will be awarded $50 in each category. The winning poster will be used to promote the festival and will appear on event listings, websites, social media, t-shirts, and more.
Submitted posters should follow the theme of Conjunto music, which the contest guidelines describe as “traditional music born in South Texas whose main instruments include the button accordion, bajo sexto, bass, and drums.” Posters must include the words “Tejano Conjunto Festival en San Antonio 2023.”
There is no entry fee and the submission deadline is Friday, January 27, 2023. Winners will be announced by February 13, 2023. Awards will be presented to the winning artists at the festival’s opening night ceremony on Friday, May 19, 2023 at Rosedale Park on the west side of San Antonio.
To read the full guidelines and submit your poster design, click here.
