When Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were fighting for their lives at the height of the McCarthy-era Red Scare, many high profile people were among the tens of thousands of concerned individuals worldwide who rallied to try to save them. From that dark time to the present, artists have been some of the most prominent individuals to call for justice for the Rosenbergs and to champion the progressive values that Ethel and Julius died defending.
Among the panoply of Rosenberg case-related artistic endeavors by writers, musicians, poets, playwrights, and others, the portraits of Ethel and Julius created by Pablo Picasso and 
Fernand Léger (left) have become some of the most iconic. (View a larger version of those images here.) Since our founding, the Rosenberg Fund for Children has often incorporated these powerful images into our newsletters and promotional publications, event invitations, stage productions, website, posters and t-shirts, and other items.
Now, as we start what is our 25th year as an organization, we’re using this milestone as an impetus to expand our visual lexicon. The RFC will produce a wide range of commemorative materials to mark this anniversary. We also will stage a large-scale, public event in the fall of 2015, in the Eastworks building in Easthampton, MA (the renovated mill building that is home to our office). This 25th anniversary celebration will focus on the theme of “Artists as Activists.”
In this context, we issue a call to artists (particularly those engaged in using art for progressive social change): we invite you to create an original work that visually represents the RFC at 25 – our two and a half decades of celebrating the children of resistance – to be used as the central image of the fall anniversary event, and perhaps in other ways throughout this year or even beyond. (Download a .pdf of the the Call to Artists here.)
To submit an artwork for consideration (due by April 15, 2015), email a high resolution (300 dpi or better) digital photo of the work to amber@rfc.org, or send a photograph of the artwork via surface mail to the RFC, 116 Pleasant St. Suite 348, Easthampton, MA, 01027.
If we choose an artist-submitted work as our featured image, we will provide the artist with a modest honorarium ($200) in exchange for the grant of permission to the RFC to reproduce images of the work in/on RFC materials. Credit for the artist will be included, whenever reasonably possible, with all RFC uses of the image.
For further information, contact RFC Communications Director Amber Black, at (413) 529-0063 or amber@rfc.org.