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ABOUT VANS CUSTOM CULTURE
VANS CUSTOM CULTURE MISSION
In its fifth year, the Vans Custom Culture art competition inspires high school students across the United States to embrace their creativity and draws
attention to the importance of art as an integral part of our schools' focus in the face of shrinking budgets.
COMPETITION OVERVIEW
The first 2,000 U.S.-based public or private high schools (Sorry no home schools or community programs may enter), to register for Vans Custom Culture
according to our official rules will receive four pairs of Vans shoes (106, Sk8-Hi, Slip On and Authentic) to customize!
Each pair must be customized to represent one of four themes: Action Sports (Defined as boards and bikes, not stick and ball!) Music, Art, and Local Flavor
(Inspired by your surrounding community, city or state). ONE THEME PER PAIR!
Photo submissions are made online via the Vans Custom Culture website after which an internal selection and external public vote will whittle the entries down
to a group of five finalists who will travel to New York City for the Vans Custom Culture Final Event.
HOW
DO I PARTICIPATE IN CUSTOM CULTURE?
HERE'S A STEP-BY-STEP BREAKDOWN OF HOW YOUR SCHOOL CAN PARTICIPATE IN CUSTOM CULTURE 2014:
REGISTER YOUR SCHOOL
WAIT FOR YOUR SHOES
CUSTOMIZE YOUR SHOES
You must have a teacher or administrator register your school
Each registered teacher will receive shoes sometime between
Get busy customizing your four pairs of Vans! It's up to you and
at www.vans.com/customculture beginning January 6th at
February 14th and 28th. They will be delivered to your school's
your teacher to decide how the shoes are customized and
12noon EST. Only the first 2,000 schools will be eligible, and only
address! Each school will receive four pairs of shoes: 106, Sk8
whether you work on them individually or in groups. Just
one teacher from each school may register. Once your teacher
Hi, Slip On and Authentic. To prepare, download shoe templates
remember, the design must be 100% original and cannot
submits your school's registration, they'll receive an automated
at www.vans.com/customculture so you're ready to start
reference any celebrity likeness or include copyrighted
http://www.vans.com/customculture/about/
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About | Vans Custom Culture
1/13/14, 9:47 AM
e-mail with a link they'll need to click to confirm their
customizing as soon as they arrive.
material. Each pair must align with one of the following themes:
registration. We'll be reviewing each school that registers daily
Art, Music, Action Sports and Local Flavor. Remember, Action
for accuracy and legitimacy! Registration officially ends on
Sports must reference sports that use boards or bikes
February 14th at noon EST. We'll begin sending out shoes once
(Skateboarding, BMX, Wakeboarding, Surfing, Snowboarding
registration ends.
etc), NOT sports like soccer, baseball and football.
SUBMIT YOUR DESIGN
THE TOP 50 SEMI-FINALISTS
THE TOP 5 FINALISTS
Once your shoes are complete, your teacher must login to
Once all the submissions are in, Vans staff will narrow them
The five schools as determined by online voting will be
access their account using the password they created at
down to a group of 50 semi-finalists (ten schools per region,
contacted on May 12th to confirm their availability to travel to
registration and upload five images of the customized shoes
five total regions). We'll announce that group and open up the
New York City for an all expenses paid three day trip, including a
(one image for each of the four pairs and one group shot).
site to public online voting on April 25th. This vote will
star studded event to crown the contest winner.
Shoe photos must be taken against a plain, one color
determine the five finalist schools. If your school is one of the
The grand prize winner will receive a $50,000 donation to their
background and cannot include props or people in the shot.
50 semi-finalists, congratulations! This is the time to spread the
art program and to sweeten the deal, the four runners up will
Submissions will be accepted between February 28th and April
word to everyone you know to vote for your shoes online at
each receive $4,000 prizes for their programs too. Our partner,
7th.
www.vans.com/customculture. Voting will start on April 25th and
Journeys, will also be awarding prize money to the school with
end on May 12th at 12noon EST.
the best Local Flavor themed shoe in the amount of a $10,000
For the second year, our program partner, truth, will be giving
donation to that school's art program.
the 50 Semi-Finalists the chance to customize a skate deck
inspired by their reaction to the following ugly truth about big
tobacco: In 2006, a judge ruled that Big Tobacco had been
engaged in a 50-year scheme to deceive the public about the
dangers of smoking.
For more information, check out our FAQ or drop us a note on our Facebook wall at www.facebook.com/vanscustomculture. If you still have
questions, send an e-mail to customculture@vans.com and someone on our team will reply to you as soon as possible.
http://www.vans.com/customculture/about/
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