GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Registration for venues to host pieces during ArtPrize 2022 opened Monday and executive director Craig Searer said the massive art competition in Grand Rapids quickly saw strong interest.

“It’s all going to work very similarly to the way it has in the past, but this year we have a new system,” Searer told News 8 late Monday afternoon. “We’ve already had a lot of venues commit to ArtPrize this year.”

He said any businesses that want to host art but aren’t sure if they’re within the event boundaries can go to ArtPrize.org and click on the “venues” section.

Artists can start registering April 25. Works can be submitted in the 2-D, 3-D, time-based and installation categories, plus the digital category, which is new this year.

“Digital’s going to be a really cool and exciting category for us,” Searer said.

ArtPrize 2022 runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 2. Some $250,000 in prize money will be up for grabs through public interaction and from jurors.

“We’ve got lots of emails from artists and venues and visitors … very excited to have it come back this year,” Searer said.

“Our focus this year is on the visitor experience,” he added. “So we’re trying to do as much as we possibly can to make sure that when a visitor comes downtown, they have as much information as possible to experience as much as they can on that particular day of ArtPrize. Or if they want to plan their trip, there’ll be some planning activities that come out before ArtPrize to make the most of their experience.”