Most art commissions end when the piece is finished. A file gets sent. A fee gets paid. The work disappears into someone’s hard drive or onto a wall most people never see.
A One Ball for All commission is different. Your design goes on a sports ball. The ball gets mass-produced by the hundreds (or for our biggest events – tens of thousands). The balls land in cities around the world. Kids pick them up. The game begins.
Your art is literally in motion.
How does the One Ball for All artist program work?
We run an open Call for Artists at oneballforall.org/call-for-artists. This isn’t only about great art, though. We look for artists whose work connects to each initiative’s community and cause. We select one artist per ball design — and we make it worth it.
Selected artists receive an honorarium, signature on the ball itself, identification on our website, across social media, and in all press. You get dedicated video, photography, and content produced and distributed across all One Ball for All channels. You get a set of finished balls to keep, gift, or display. And you get something harder to quantify: your work in the hands of thousands of people who wouldn’t otherwise encounter it.
Why does community-rooted art matter right now?
Because people are hungry for it. A 2024 National Endowment for the Arts research brief – based on U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data – found a direct relationship between arts engagement and social connectedness, examining how the arts can impact issues of loneliness and social isolation.
A study by the Knight Foundation and Urban Institute found that access to cultural spaces significantly increases community attachment – it was the standout amenity for enhancing both feelings of belonging and concrete civic action.
Art doesn’t just decorate communities. It connects them. And when that art is on an object people play with, pass around, and take home? The connection goes deeper.
What kind of artists does One Ball for All work with?
We’re not looking for a particular style – and uniquely, we can work with a surprisingly breadth of media. We’re looking for artists whose work is honest, culturally rooted, and made for the people it’s meant to reach.
How do I apply?
Head to oneballforall.org/call-for-artists. Read the current brief. If it resonates — if your work and the community feel like a fit — apply.
We find the artists who already know how to make it beautiful. Maybe that’s you.
Sources
- National Endowment for the Arts — Arts engagement & social connectedness research brief (2024): https://www.arts.gov/news/press-releases/2024/new-research-explores-arts-engagement-and-social-connectedness
- Knight Foundation / Urban Institute — Cultural spaces and community attachment (via SSIR, 2025): https://ssir.org/articles/entry/investing-in-creativity-as-social-infrastructure
