Calling All Artists and Graphic Designers
Atia’s Project Ladybug Fund (APLF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to easing the struggles of childhood cancer, is teaming up with HGTV host Meg Caswell to transform the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Family Lounge at The University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital. This remodel project will overhaul the stark, institutional space converting it to a calm, relaxing, and supportive place that families can use for privacy and respite.
The PICU Family Lounge’s current condition
The children in the PICU are the sickest, most vulnerable in the hospital, and the nature of the unit is one of high intensity and stress for the families who are visiting there. Sadly, many children admitted stay for months at a time, while others die there. Their families are undergoing a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty.
The PICU patient rooms are smaller than the rest of the hospital rooms. They have more medical equipment and less privacy. Therefore, the PICU Family Lounge serves a variety of essential purposes for the patients’ families, including:
- a waiting area for families whose children require emergency bedside procedures, during which they are not permitted to be in the room;
- a meeting room where families and medical teams discuss treatment plans;
- a support center where Child Life Specialist education siblings about what to expect when they see their sick brother or sister;
- a work and living space where families eat, talk on the phone, do computer work, or simply take a break;
- a space to receive their visitors and sometimes grieve.
Request for Artistic Services
APLF and HGTV’s Meg Caswell are requesting a donation from an artist and/or graphic designer to create a wall mural for the PICU Family Lounge. The vertical green wall and countertop (in the picture above) will be removed, opening up the space and creating a continuous wall in which the mural will be added. The paint color surrounding the mural will be a soft yellow and the other design elements will be in a turquoise and orange color pattern.
Mural Graphic Requirements
- The mural graphic should be a colorful, fun, uplifting scene with a cartoon quality like a boardwalk near the ocean or a carnival. This link provides an example: https://classroom.highlights.com/teachers-toolbox/hidden-pictures?destination=node/3276.
- The mural graphic should contain uplifting colors.
- The mural graphic mural will incorporate a Hidden Pictures element, turning the artwork into a game for the families to play while in the PICU Family Lounge. As part of the mural, the artist will create a key of 15-20 items that are hidden within the wall covering.
- The mural graphic MUST be submitted as either a JPEG or BMP file and MUST be at least 300 dpi. The artwork will be blown up and converted to a wall decal approximately 11 ft wide by 8 ft high that will be printed and applied by a specialist.
- The artist will submit their proposed sample work to chicagofund@projectladybug.org
- If selected the artist is invited to sign the donated piece.
- If selected the artist will receive a tax deduction letter for the value of the piece.
- If selected, the artist will be invited to the PICU Family Lounge’s exclusive and private ribbon cutting ceremony to view the impact of their artwork among the other newly added design elements. Artists will travel at their own expense.
- The University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, Meg Caswell and Atia’s Project Ladybug Fund has final approval on the image and has the right to request modifications to the graphic. The artist will agree to make any said changes requested by the entities identified above.
Additional Information About the Designer and Charity
Meg Caswell is the host of HGTV’s “Home Makeover” and “Meg’s Great Rooms,” and is also the winner of Season 6 Design Star. As a Chicago designer, she is thrilled to have partnered with Atia’s Project Ladybug to lead the PICU Family Lounge remodel effort. http://megcaswell.com/
Atia’s Project Ladybug Fund (APLF) is Chicago’s chapter of Project Ladybug, a qualified 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. APLF is dedicated in the name of a young Chicago girl treated at The University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. Atia was diagnosed with cancer at 17 months of age and underwent over 2 years of aggressive chemotherapy treatment. Today, Atia is 5 years old and in complete remission. Out of concern for various non-medical necessities, APLF was launched in December 2010. The hope of APLF is to improve the lives of pediatric cancer patients and their families by minimize outside stresses so they can focus their energy on what’s truly important – getting well.
To learn more about Atia’s Project Ladybug Fund, please visit our website: http://www.projectladybug.org/atias-fund/
And here’s information about the Pediatric Oncology Kitchen remodel we completed last year: http://www.projectladybug.org/blog/atias-project-ladybug-fund-remodels-hospitals-family-kitchen/
Meg Caswell Style 