Energizing creative expression among Indiana students

Since 1998, Electric Consumer and participating Indiana electric cooperatives have held an annual art contest for Indiana students in grades kindergarten through 12. The winning works from each grade are then used to illustrate the Cooperative Calendar of Student Art that participating REMCs/RECs have distributed.

Each of the numbered grades is given the corresponding month of the year to illustrate: 12 grades, 12 months. It’s a perfect combination. Kindergartners are assigned the cover each year.

The calendar is localized by the participating cooperatives to provide important information to consumers such as billing and annual meeting dates, phone numbers and electrical safety and energy efficiency information. The calendar helps co-ops meet one of the 7 cooperative principles — member information and education.

In addition, by being illustrated with student art, the calendar helps fulfill another of the 7 principles — commitment to community. As more art programs in schools face budgetary challenges, Electric Consumer believes encouraging the arts — the imagination, self-expression and creativity these disciplines stimulate — is vital to society. Not only do the arts produce aesthetic beauty and entertainment for our hearts and souls, studies after study show the arts play a key role alongside science, technology, engineering and math in producing the minds of well-rounded, problem-solving, thoughtful individuals needed to lead and run our modern, high-tech world.