Stacey Bendet and Lady Gaga Launch Effort to Help Get Out the Vote

Jennie Bell
·2 min read

Stacey Bendet and Lady Gaga are calling on creatives to help inspire more people to cast their votes in the 2020 U.S. election.

Today, Bendet’s Creatively network and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way organization launched a campaign asking artists — including designers, animators, photographers and illustrators — to create a social-first campaign about voting.

Bendet told FN, “Our goal is straightforward and vital: Get out the vote –– in all ways possible –– for the November election, to elect candidates who will help build a kinder, braver, and more just world.”

Bendet, who is CEO of the Alice + Olivia fashion brand, launched the Creatively network in May to help artists connect with each other and find work amid the current economic recession. “Creatively has an amazing, diverse network of artists and creatives across many disciplines,” she said. “By calling on them to design this campaign, our hope is to inspire people to get out to the polls or vote from home using absentee ballots in November.”

To take part in the campaign, visual artists should submit their work through the Creatively app or website, now until Sept. 24. All the submissions will be highlighted by Creatively, and Born This Way will announce the finalists and winner during the week of Sept. 28. The grand prize winner will be awarded $10,000 and two finalists will each receive $2,500. The voting campaign will run during October through Election Day.

In recent months, a number of brands and retailers have announced initiatives to help raise awareness about the upcoming election. Keds and Birdies are among those that have unveiled voting-themed product to whip up excitement ahead of November, while Birkenstock, Steve Madden and Nike have pledged to close their offices on Election Day to give employees an opportunity to head to the polls.

Bendet said she teamed up with Born This Way on the social campaign because both organizations “felt civic participation and holding our communities to a higher standard was critically important to our missions. At the end of the day, we want to empower our communities to ensure their voices are heard, and there’s never been a more important time to do so.”

She added that for the campaign they are looking for “thumb-stopping” creative work from any type of medium, be it photography, illustration, still-life or video. “But all should inspire Americans to do one of the kindest things we can for our communities: vote,” Bendet said.

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