Embracing Our Differences celebrates 21 years of diversity

Embracing Our Differences is an annual exhibit in Sarasota Bayfront Park. COURTESY PHOTO

Embracing Our Differences, a nonprofit organization that celebrates individuality, common humanity, and diversity through art, is marking its 21st anniversary with its annual exhibit in Sarasota Bayfront Park.

The annual, large-scale, juried exhibition runs through April 14. The program originated here in 2004, when the Florida Holocaust Museum’s traveling exhibit, “Coexistence,” was brought to Sarasota from the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem, Israel.

Sarah Wertheimer, EOD’s executive director, said the response this year to the call for artwork and inspirational quotations was strong, with 16,604 entries pouring in from 125 countries and 44 states. Students from 584 schools around the world submitted artwork or quotations to the exhibit, which takes a year to put together.

“It starts six months prior to the deadline,” Wertheimer said. “We’re already starting to advertise for the 2025 exhibit. This summer, we will go through the adjudication process with a wonderful panel of volunteer judges who all have a background in the arts as well as education, and they all have a close connection to our organization.”

Best-in-Show Adult, “‘Hand’le with Care” by Samantha Dennis, Woodbridge, Canada. COURTESY PHOTOS

A separate committee judges the creative writing competition quotations. They read thousands of quotations, only to select the top 50. The art panel selects their top 50 works of visual art.

“We combine those two together, and that’s what goes on display at the exhibit,” Wertheimer said. “We are so grateful for the wonderful volunteers who dedicate themselves to doing this work.”

Awards for artwork are given for the Best in Show Adult, Best in Show Student, and People’s Choice categories, with the last chosen by visitors to the exhibit. Adult art and quotation winners each receive $2,000, and students receive $2,000, which they split with their school’s art and English language arts programs.

The Best-in-Show Adult Artwork award went to Samantha Dennis from Woodbridge.

Canada, for “‘Handle with Care,” which shows hands of different colors and abilities gently cradling colorful beams of light that are shaped as a heart.

“Me, Myself, and I” by Leung Wing Yan Janet, Taichung, Taiwan

The Best-in-Show Student artwork went to Sylvia Tirado, an 11th grader at Wycombe Abbey (school) in High Wycombe, United Kingdom, for her work “Are My Roots Showing?” which depicts a young woman of color examining her dyed blond hair for signs of her true hair color, which is dark.

The Best-in-Show Adult quotation award is “I stand against hatred with love, prejudice with acceptance, and ignorance with knowledge,” submitted by Md Faisal Arefin from Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

The Best-in-Show student quotation award is “Spread kindness like the world depends on it… because it does,” submitted by Jessie Ochsendorf, a 7th grader at Pine View School in Osprey. Her teacher is Susy Grandusky.

To see all of the works in the 2024 exhibit, see the online gallery at www.embracingourdifferences.org .

From here, the exhibit moves on to Poynter Park in St. Petersburg. EOD then donates the banners to the schools in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

In 2023, the exhibit was also to be displayed at the State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota. However, the college had requested any artwork that included words such as “diversity” and “inclusion” be removed from the exhibit. EOD declined and canceled the college exhibit. Vandals had also slashed several of the banners on display at the park.

Although EOD is well known for its annual art exhibitions, its educational initiatives continue all year.

“The education programs that we do throughout the year in Manatee, Pinellas, and Sarasota County schools really are where the majority of our resources are spent,” Wertheimer said. “We do reading days for elementary schools. We have lesson plans and curriculum field trips. We do professional development workshops for educators, and we partner with other organizations in the community to bring more arts and cultural opportunities to the schools.”

Funding for EOD comes primarily from individuals and foundations in the community. Any private individuals wishing to contribute can visit www.embracingourdifferences.org .

“These ongoing arts education programs represent the most important aspect of our efforts,” Wertheimer said. “We’re reaching and impacting the lives of thousands of students and teachers, both locally and around the world.”

So far, the program has made an impact on more than 587,000 students since it was launched. A total of 58,122 students and 1,981 teachers participated in the 2022–2023 school year alone.

“We are so grateful to the community for embracing us and embracing these very important messages of inclusion, kindness, and respect during a time when we think this is what everyone is really craving.”

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