The 2026 Art for Democracy fundraiser is on! Brought to you by artists Lena Wolff and Hope Meng, donations to the project are fully tax deductible through a partnership with our fiscal sponsor SaveArtSpace.
Our public art campaign encourages people to vote for meaningful reasons related to the critical issues of our day – democracy, reproductive freedom, the freedom to read, the fate of the planet, and more.
For this election year, we’re prioritizing placement of the messages on billboards and bus shelter locations in the must-win swing states of Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Virginia, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, and Florida.
How the Funds are Used
Funds raised go directly to project development and production. Billboards and bus shelter placement ranges from $2500-$5500+ per site, depending on size and location. The more we raise, the more we can circulate the messages! If we reach above our fundraising goal, we'll place more of the images in places where we most need to get out the vote in November.
On Poster Distribution
Democracy should not have an entry fee! The poster versions of our messages are never sold and always given away for free. This year, downloadable files for independent printing will be shared with anyone who wants to use them in cities from coast to coast.
Thank you for participating! Democracy is a collective effort and we couldn't do this without you!
Project History
Lena Wolff sparked the VOTE campaign in 2018 on the heels of a widespread anti-hate initiative she released in 2017 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 2018 and 2022, over 100,000 free VOTE posters circulated across the country in over 100 cities, with a focus on swing states.
Through a partnership with SaveArtSpace, we raised $25k to place 11 VOTE for Reproductive Freedom billboards in 7 swing states ahead of the 2022 midterms, and raised $65k to install 25 billboards in swing states in 2024.
Fee free ways to donate:
Venmo: @saveartspace
Donate by check, please make it out to #SAVEARTSPACE and send to 6391 Samson Dr. Grand Blanc, MI 48439.
Organizers
Lena Wolff is an interdisciplinary visual artist, craftswoman and activist for democracy. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area since the early 1990’s, Wolff’s visual art practice extends out of folk art traditions, while at the same time being connected to minimalism, geometric abstraction, Op art, social practice, and feminist art. Her broad but interconnected artistic output includes drawing, collage, sculpture, text-based pieces, embroidery, and public projects.
Since the 2016 presidential election, Wolff has generated several new projects that contribute to public dialog and civic engagement. In addition her widespread poster series, in 2020 she raised over $200,000 for BIPOC-led grassroots voting organizations with the project Dine for Democracy. Her work has been presented in galleries and museums across the United States and has been collected by The Alameda County Arts Commission, The Berkeley Art Museum, The Cleveland Clinic, One National Lesbian and Gay Archives, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum of California, The San Francisco Arts Commission, The University of Iowa Museum and The Zuckerman Museum of Art, among others. She lives with her wife, artist, teacher and illustrator, Miriam Klein Stahl and their daughter in Berkeley, California.
In 2019, November 12th was named Miriam Klein Stahl and Lena Wolff Day in the City of Berkeley by Mayor Jesse Arreguin for their work that merges art and civic engagement.
Connect with Lena at @lenawolffstudio.
Hope Meng is a designer who believes in the power of letters to communicate through both their content and their form. She is the designer behind Monogram Project, and the artist behind TEXT/TILE Studio. Hope lives and works in San Francisco, California.
Connect with Hope at @hopemengdesign.
SaveArtSpace
Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a message of social change that benefits the working class. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.