Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Thursday, October 19, 2000

Release #407-00

 
Contact:

Michael Anton/Julie Caudell 212/788-2958

   

MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES GRAND PRIZE
WINNER OF "ART AGAINST ABUSE" POSTER CONTEST AND THE
CITY'S NEW DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today announced the 10 finalists and one grand-prize winner of the "Art Against Abuse" poster contest which was sponsored by the Mayor's Commission to Combat Family Violence as a means to create public awareness of domestic violence amongst the City's teenage population. The judges of the poster contest were Beverly Sills, Chairman of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Glen Lowry, Director of the MoMA; Peter Max, artist; and Ted McCagg, of Young and Rubicam, Inc.

The Mayor also introduced the City's new domestic violence education campaign which focuses on domestic violence among young people. The campaign was created for the City with the pro bono help of Young and Rubicam, Inc.

"Public education has been a critical element of New York City's strategy to fight domestic violence," said Mayor Giuliani. "We continue to make great progress in bringing the problem of domestic violence out from behind closed doors. The new public education campaign fulfills this purpose by emphasizing that even teenagers often are victims of domestic violence. The Art Against Abuse Poster Contest achieves the City's goal of promoting awareness and actively involves teenagers in the fight against relationship abuse. The outstanding artwork that resulted from the poster contest is evidence that these students understand the issue and have creative solutions for increasing awareness."

Mayor Giuliani was joined by the poster contest grand prize winner, Dara Goodman, Ms. Sills, Deputy Mayor Anthony Coles and Commission to Combat Family Violence Director, Angela Albertus.

"On behalf of all the judges I would like to express our gratitude for the opportunity to help increase public awareness among young people of the problems surrounding domestic violence and the solutions available," said Ms. Sills. "I would also like to congratulate Dara and the finalists on their compelling works of art and contribution they have made toward helping their fellow young people understand this issue."

"In an effort to end the cycle of violence, the City strives to prevent and end relationship abuse among teenagers before the violence extends to adult relationships," said Commission Director Albertus. "The new Public Education Campaign builds upon the success of last year's campaign, which featured the injured adult faces of domestic violence. The current campaign is striking because it emphasizes that relationship abuse can happen to anyone, and may not always be visible. The Art Against Abuse Poster Contest provided young people with a unique opportunity to join the City's fight against domestic violence and raise the level of awareness."

In January 2000, the Mayor's Commission to Combat Family Violence launched the poster contest which encouraged high school students to design posters addressing the issue of teen relationship abuse. The poster contest is a follow-up to the City's Teen Relationship Abuse Public Education Campaign, which was launched in 1997 with the distribution of teen relationship abuse posters, brochures, and fact sheets. The contest is part of a comprehensive effort to increase awareness and education about teen relationship abuse and to provide services to young people. The contest has served as a mechanism to involve teenagers in the City's fight against domestic violence. The contest drew 170 participants from the City's schools.

The grand prize winner, Dara Goodman, attended Townsend Harris HS in Queens and is now a freshman at the University at Buffalo. American Express donated her prize, an IBM 600 laptop computer.

The ten finalists were Victoria Caro, Long Island City High School; Dana Catanzaro, Bishop Kearney High School; Gigi Chen, LaGuardia High School; Johanna Diaz, Forest Hills High School; Stephanie Gluck, Leon M. Goldstein High School; Melissa Hom, Benjamin Cardozo High School; Masuda Hossain, Bishop Kearney High School; Ilia Javoronkov, LaGuardia High School; Derrick Lee, LaGuardia High School; and Lisa Martusciello, Bishop Kearney High School. Each finalist was awarded a certificate of achievement and an art kit from Pearl Paint.

The City's new domestic violence public education campaign includes displays on city buses and subways including dedicated subway cars as well as displays throughout the City's public schools. It's tagline is "For many high school and college girls, the hardest thing to learn is how to leave an abusive relationship."

The campaign, created by Young & Rubicam, uses a yearbook portrait theme to convey the message that domestic violence has a devastating effect on many young women. It also includes the City's domestic violence hotline phone number. The campaign posters feature 40 portraits of students as they might appear in a high school or college yearbook, with starkly contrasting captions that illustrate the abuse that many teenage girls experience, such as: "Most Likely to Be Killed By Her Boyfriend," "Most 911Calls," "Most Excuses for a Black Eye," "Worst Skull Fracture," "Most Likely to Be Forced Into Sex," and "Most Likely to Marry Her Abuser."

The placards convey the important message that domestic violence occurs across all ages, and happens too frequently in the context of teen dating. The placards provide the 24-hour hotline number for domestic violence victims is 1-800-621-HOPE (4673). In 1999 the hotline received over 4,000 calls from teenagers alone.

 

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