You can make your own celebration flag for World Cup in KC. How to submit designs

As the metro area makes preparations for the upcoming World Cup, Johnson County Park and Recreation District is celebrating the tournament with some new public art in the form of flags. They’re taking proposals from local artists for the project until Sunday night.

The flags will be on display at Theatre in the Park and at Meadowbrook Park this summer.

“Flags are really something that globally people recognize and know that it’s a place of gathering or meaning and celebration, so it just felt like the right thing at the right time to pursue that as a project,” said Angi Hejduk, public art specialist for Johnson County Park and Recreation District.

Theatre in the Park will host public watch parties of various World Cup matches, including the ones being played locally.

The call for proposals is open to both professional artists and hobbyists living in Cass, Clay, Douglas, Jackson, Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, Platte and Wyandotte counties.

What should the artist’s flags look like?

Proposals for the flags must include four different sketches inspired by nature, drawing from a color palette of yellow, dark blue, light blue, purple, light pink, hot pink, burgundy and light green.

Although the project administrators will provide most of the material in the form of new ripstop nylon kite fabric, some of it will be recycled from an old hot air balloon donated for this purpose.

Each flag must include a piece of the balloon’s 2,400 square feet of pink, purple or burgundy fabric. All the flags will be three feet tall and six feet wide. The top and one side have to be straight to allow them to hang correctly on the poles, but there is room for curves on the other two sides.

Hejduk said that while artists’ abstract designs should be inspired by nature, there’s a lot of leeway . Artists aren’t limited to what can be found locally in nature and might even use the flora and fauna of visiting nations as their starting point.

In addition to receiving the materials to make their flags, the 10 chosen artists will each get a $1,500 stipend.

So far, Hejduk said some submissions have come from groups of artists working together.

“Not all visual artists are fiber artists that can handle the sewing elements associated with it,” she said.

Where will World Cup flags be displayed?

Meadowbrook Park will display one flag from each artist, and the other 30 flags will fly at Theatre in the Park. Some flags will be attached to lamp posts, but there is money in the project budget for temporary flag poles as well.

To encourage both visitors and locals to see not only the flag displays but all the other art on offer in Johnson County, the public art division will launch an art passport guide later this year that leads people to various local sites.

“We’re going to have millions visiting the whole metro area. I think that we’ll be very surprised by number of people who we see in our communities that are enjoying and seeking to learn what our culture is here,” Hejduk said.

“I think they said the average visitor will be in town for nine days. There’s a lot of time between games when somebody’s here that long.”

For more information on the project guidelines and how to submit a proposal, visit JCPRD’s website.