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Calling Female Artists: United Wants You to Design the Paint Job on a Boeing 757

Feb. 28, 2019
3 min read
Her Art Here Mural - Los Angeles, CA - 4
Calling Female Artists: United Wants You to Design the Paint Job on a Boeing 757
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United's giving female artists a very special canvas to show their work: a Boeing 757. In anticipation of Women's History Month in March, United's offering underrepresented female artists the opportunity to promote their art on the side of one of its planes.

To enter to have your art displayed on the side of one of United's Boeing 757s as part of the Her Art Here campaign, you must identify as a woman, including cisgender, transgender, woman-aligned or non-binary. Additionally, you must reside in the United States and be able to visually represent either New York/New Jersey or California — two key markets for the carrier. United flies 757s from Newark (EWR) to Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO) and San Diego (SAN).

Women interested in entering should visit United's dedicated site and submit a design idea and examples of their work portfolio, along with a short video. Submissions must be made by March 24, and a panel of judges will narrow submissions down to three finalists. The public will then vote between April 10-19 to determine the winning artists.

Two winners — one representing California and one representing New York/New Jersey — will be selected to work alongside artist Shantell Martin to finalize the design for their respective region's plane. Final designs will take flight this fall, and both finalists and winners will have their work displayed in United terminals through 2019 and be awarded 100,000 MileagePlus miles — worth $1,400 based on TPG's most recent valuations.

United says that the Boeing 757 flies an average of 1.6 million miles per year and 476 cross-country trips.

According to The National Museum of Women in the Arts, while 51% of today's artists are women, fewer than 13% have their work on display in museums.

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"As a company, we believe in the importance of equality of women in what has historically been a male dominated field," said Jill Kaplan, United's president for New York and New Jersey. "When we heard the statistics about how underrepresented women are when it comes to displaying their art, we thought what better way to contribute to changing this narrative than by offering the biggest canvas we have access to — an aircraft."

United's says that it has more women pilots than any other airline in the world. It has worked with Women in Aviation for more than 25 years, and with Girls in Aviation Day, to ensure that the future of United features females in the cockpit.

All images courtesy of United.