NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Statue Fund, Inc., with the help of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, announced today the four finalists for The Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Woman Suffrage Movement Monument design competition at Girl Scout Central in New York City. The finalists are:
- Meredith Bergmann - Examples of past work: Boston Women's Memorial (Abigail Adams, Phillis Wheatley and Lucy Stone), Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA; FDR Hope Memorial, Roosevelt Island, NYC; Marian Anderson, Converse College, Spartanburg, SC; Memorial to Countee Cullen, Bronx Council on the Arts, NYC; September 11th Memorial, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC; and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in collections of Justice Ginsburg and Columbia University
- Jane DeDecker - Examples of past work: Amelia Earhart, Amelia Earhart Elementary School, Alameda, CA; Emily Dickinson, Converse College, Spartanburg, SC; Sister Catherine McAuley, Mercy Hospital, St. Louis, MO; Harriet Tubman, Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, AK; and Sherlock Holmes, Public Safety Center, Edmond, OK
- Victoria Guerina and Lloyd Lillie - Examples of past work: The First Wave, Women's Rights Convention of 1848 project, 11 of 20 life-size bronze historical portraits and figures for the Women's Rights Museum, Seneca Falls, NY (including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia and James Mott, Jane and Richard Hunt, Maryanne and Thomas McClintock); Martin Richard Memorial, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA; and Katherine Lee Bates, Falmouth, MA
- Ann Hirsch - Examples of past work: Anna Bissell, Grand Rapids Community Legends, Grand Rapids, MI; Bill Russell Legacy Project, Phase 1 and Phase 2, City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA; Saint Walking (St. Ignatius of Loyola), Walsh Jesuit High School, Cuyahoga Falls, OH; Home, Patriot Plaza, Sarasota National Cemetery, Sarasota, FL; and Stanley Ketchel, Grand Rapids Community Legends, Grand Rapids, MI
Spurred by the #MonumentalWomen campaign to create the first statue of real women in New York City’s Central Park, 91 submissions from artists located throughout the United States were reviewed by a jury consisting of a diverse mix of art and design professionals, historians and representatives from NYC Parks and the Statue Fund. The winning sculptor will be announced in July.
The call for sculptors was a two-stage process: The first stage was a Request for Qualifications in which the Statue Fund invited sculptors to submit illustrations of previous work, curriculum vitae and their approach to the design of the monument in sketch, text form or both. The second stage is a Request for Proposals, in which the four qualified finalists are invited to submit models for the monument. The chosen artist will work with The Statue Fund, as well as Beyer Blinder Belle, the international architecture firm assisting with the management of the program.
"Today marks another step in The Statue Fund's effort to move history forward: the announcement of the finalists in our design competition," said Pam Elam, president of The Statue Fund. “Our Woman Suffrage Movement Monument, honoring all the women who won the right to vote for over half this country's population, will break the bronze ceiling in Central Park after 164 years. But that's only the start. We are committed to creating a full and fair historical record that finally reflects the vast and varied roles that women have played in it. We are also determined to challenge municipalities across this nation to re-imagine their public spaces to create tributes to ALL the people who have made those cities great. But most importantly, we vow to complete the journey toward justice of the valiant women who came before us and achieve full equality for women. Monumental change is coming.”
As supporters of the #MonumentalWomen campaign, Girl Scouts of Greater New York Troop 3746 introduced the finalists and girls presented The Statue Fund with an impressive $5,000 donation from their Girl Scout Cookie earnings at today’s event at Girl Scout Central. The Girl Scouts’ support for the project first took off when members of Troop 3484 learned about the lack of real women represented in the park and pledged a donation of $1,920—symbolic of the year the 19th Amendment was ratified and women won the right to vote—from their cookie earnings to The Statue Fund. The troop also regularly took to Central Park with signs, chants, flyers and a petition to advocate for women’s representation among statues and to help raise awareness for the fund, garnering media attention for their effort.
“Equity and access are at the core of our work at NYC Parks—and those values extend to figures we choose to honor with our monuments,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP. “That made it an easy decision to honor Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and the countless others who sacrificed for gender equality. Our city owes a debt of gratitude to the bold leadership and advocacy of The Statue Fund, Girl Scouts of Greater New York and New York Life, who are the driving force behind #MonumentalWomen.”
Added Elam, "We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Girl Scouts of Greater New York for their contributions from their cookie earnings, and New York Life for the $500,000 challenge grant in support of our monument and our mission."
“When the troops discovered that the only female figures depicted among Central Park’s statues are fictional, including Mother Goose and Alice in Wonderland, they were disappointed with the lack of representation of great historic women,” said Girl Scouts of Greater New York CEO Meridith Maskara. “Our organization equips girls with the tools and confidence they need to advocate for themselves and others. The troops’ strong dedication to this issue exemplifies our mission to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place.”
The New York City Parks Department has approved both The Statue Fund's proposal for a statue with the two figures of Stanton and Anthony alongside the names of other suffragists included in the design, as well as the statue location requested by The Statue Fund—the Literary Walk on The Mall in Central Park.
#MonumentalWomen is a campaign of The Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Statue Fund, Inc., an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. All contributions to the group are tax-exempt. For further information or to make a contribution to match the New York Life Challenge Grant, please contact The Statue Fund at www.monumentalwomen.org or Post Office Box 150-074, Van Brunt Station, Brooklyn, NY 11215.
Girl Scouts of Greater New York is New York City's largest girls-only leadership program, reaching more than 29,000 girls ages 5 to 17 in every zip code of the five boroughs with the help of over 8,000 volunteers dedicated to making the world a better place. facebook.com/girlscoutsnyc @GirlScoutsNYC
Girl Scouts of the USA, the country’s premier girl leadership organization with 2.6 million members, recently launched the G.I.R.L. Agenda Powered by Girl Scouts, a nonpartisan initiative to inspire, prepare, and mobilize girls and those who care about them to lead positive change through civic action. facebook.com/GirlScoutsUSA @GirlScouts
