CEArts is accepting submissions of artwork images, poetry & song lyrics, and prose for our 2025 edition of The Polk Street Review!
Download and SAVE our Submission Form (example saved file name: YourName_TPSR2025.pdf) and submit by 01 Nov using ANY of these 3 options:
• EMAIL Submission Form with your submission files & brief bio (3rd-person) to info@cearts.org. If your files make the email too large to send, use one of the two other options, please.
• use WeTransfer (free version) to send all files (submission form, Word docs, 3rd-person bio) to info@cearts.org
• share all files in one Google Folder to infog@cearts.org (NOTE: the lowercase “g” in the “infog” part of our address for Google Folder submission).
2025’s Optional Theme: Behind The Veil
If you choose to use our optional theme, we want your creative responses to Behind the Veil. The questions below are just to get you thinking about the unlimited possibilities evoked by this prompt ~ innermost thoughts, secrets, spiritual insights, beliefs, desires, and so much more ~ it’s always up to YOU to creatively interpret our optional theme!
What lies behind the veil? What has remained hidden for too long and has now been exposed as we draw the curtains back? What’s the excited or nervous bride thinking under her veil? What happens when the veil between life and death thins and loved ones pass beyond? How does a veil shift how we perceive different cultures?
For the first time, we’ll have TWO special sections in the book!
One will be devoted to submissions from Northwest Arkansas (NWA) and the other will be devoted to submissions from Northwest Arkansas’ Native American Nations! Our partnership with The Empowerment Initiative (which is based in Bentonville AR) has brought the people of NWA into our global family. We’re excited about these two new sections, and we look forward to receiving submissions from a variety of NWA creatives! All submissions in these sections will be considered for a “Best In Section” award, one from each section.
ALSO NEW: Oral Histories
1) Audio or video files of oral history are accepted. With submission, we strongly urge a Microsoft Word or Google doc English-language transcription to be included for the print publication.
2) Audio/video files will be uploaded online on our website on the year’s/edition page for which they are submitted, on our podcast channel, and (possibly) our YouTube channel with appropriate credit given to the person submitting (if audio-only, then we may include some accompanying “generic” imagery for videos).
3) If accompanying transcriptions are not submitted by the 01 November annual deadline, the oral history submission may be included in the print edition as a QR code linked to the online audio file.
Pre-Orders of the book, Patron donations, and Advertising Space buys help us cover project costs.
When you submit, please pre-order at least one book. Purchase link is in the form.
Pre-order copies of the book: https://square.link/u/zPMs9N8a Note: books will be shipped/available for local pickup in Februry 2025 when they are printed.
Patron donations can be made with PayPal and Square:
PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EYUZBTW7297XQ
Square: https://cearts.square.site/#FUIXHl
See Advertising Space info at the bottom of this page.
Some of our favorite “veiled” images & quotes for inspiration
Note: veiled females in Art do not always represent a virgin/Virgin Mary/Vestal Virgin, etc. The figure of the veiled lady frequently represented country/culture; for Italian artists that was Italia in the same way as Britannia represented England, Hibernia represented Ireland, and Lady Liberty represented America.
Draw the Curtain by Nicolas Party (click link for art installation that enwraps a circular building!): https://www.flickr.com/photos/gaphiker/52043734252/in/photostream/
“I draw the curtains, and I wait. Actually, I am not waiting for anything, I am merely making myself absent. Scoured, if only for a few minutes, of the impurities which dim and clog the mind, I accede to a state of consciousness from which the self is evacuated, And I am as soothed as if I were resting outside the universe.” – Emil M. Cioran
“Shut the windows, draw the curtains, keep the rumour out!” – L.P. Hartley
Advertisers and Patrons
DEADLINE 01 November!
Use the form below or Square link to send in your Advertising Space buys & images. Patrons may also use the form below: