ELIZABETH, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is inviting artists to submit designs for the Marsha P. Johnson monument that will be erected on Elizabeth’s freedom trail.
Submissions will be accepted until December 15. The county is looking for artists with professional sculpture experience and a previous work reference. The budget range for the project is between $100,000 and $200,000. The full project description and design criteria can be found on the Union County website for LGBTQ+ affairs.
The monument is the product of a collaboration between The family of Marsha P. Johnson, the City of Elizabeth, the Union County Freeholder Board, and Garden State Equality.
“It is an honor to recognize an Elizabeth native as influential and important to the history of the nation in the fight for equality everywhere,” said Elizabeth Councilman-at-Large Manny Grova.
The Freeholder Board has described the future monument as ‘celebrating both her roots in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and her pivotal role in the vanguard of the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement.’
Garden State Equality is fundraising for the monument project. Any unspent donations will go towards a scholarship fund that Garden State Equality is setting up with the family of Marsha P. Johnson.
The plan is for the monument to be installed on June 1 with a dedication on June 28, the 52nd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Marsha P. Johnson will be the first black trans woman and first LGBTQ+ person to be honored with a public statue in New Jersey.
For more information on the submission process contact Danni Newbury from the Union County Office of LGBTQ Affairs at 908-527-4742 or [email protected].
