We are just thrilled with anticipation for all the wonderful works of art from our very talented FD community for this year’s annual FD Art Competition 2021! And we have an exciting update.

This year the Dysautonomia Center has had the honor of partnering with Rick Guidotti, founder of Positive Exposure, an organization which promotes a more equitable, inclusive and compassionate world where individuals and communities at risk of stigma and exclusion are understood, embraced and celebrated. And though we had expanded the photography competition to include painting/drawing and poetry, together with Rick we have decided to do away with all restrictions to people’s creativity and are welcoming all art forms.

This is an opportunity to express yourself by introducing your work, your life, or your experiences through any artistic medium that you’re comfortable with including sketching, painting, photography, poetry, music, dance, sculpture, singing, multimedia expressions and then some. The sky is the limit!

All entries are accepted and will be featured in our annual art competition publication and website. The competition will also be featured on FD Day 2021.

Selected pieces will later be featured in a live viewing with a dedicated opening night gallery exhibition on Museum Mile in New York City at Positive Exposure 109!

Share your story with the world.

Selected artists will also have an opportunity to create a film showing their work which can be featured on a video screen at Positive Exposure during that live event, and can be featured on the Dysautonomia Center website.

We will have judges for every category. Judges will include acclaimed artists, photographers, musicians, writers, designers, art directors, and choreographers. This is your opportunity to be seen.

The date for the live show at Positive Exposure 109 will be determined based on safety, but it is our hope to have this event late this summer or early fall 2021. This event will be inclusive to other communities in addition to the FD community to create more visibility for the creative work of the artists. 

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us for any questions on artwork submission. We are happy to help and cannot wait to see or hear your story!

Updated rules are here:

1. Participants must have familial dysautonomia.
2. The central theme is “This is My Story”. Submissions should express yourself, tell us who you are and what it feels like to be you. There is no right or wrong. This is your story and your voice.
3. Submissions can be new or old, created at any time in your life, but they should be different from prior years’ submissions.
4. All submissions may be submitted electronically, but must be in high resolution. Grainy images hinder the judges’ ability to appreciate the art-piece and could unfairly diminish your chances of winning and showing how talented you are.
5. Paintings, drawings, sculptural work, and other material creations can be submitted by taking 2 high resolution photos of the artwork, one centered on the work, and one from a small distance to show scale. Alternately, if the painting or drawing is on a flat piece of paper and fits on a scanner then it can be scanned in.
6. Singing, dancing, music, spoken poetry and other physical art forms can be submitted through a high-quality video. Sometimes these are best submitted due to high file size by uploading to Google Docs and sending us the link to download them.
7. Poems, lyrics, and other written art does not have to rhyme. All forms are accepted.
8. Photo-altering software such as Adobe Photoshop may be used on photography submissions and can be a part of the creative process, but photos of paintings and drawings should be unaltered in their digital form so we encourage them to be photographed in a well-let room with indirect day light. 
9. All submissions must be titled! This is part of the creative process and can lend meaning to the artwork!

Please send submissions no later than May 14^th 2021 to nyudysautonomiacenter@nyulangone.org.

We cannot wait to hear Your Story!