Artists win free Something in the Water passes with creative ice cream cone entries in a contest by YELLOW
Artist Nadd Harvin didn’t buy passes for Something in the Water, but knew they’d end up at the event somehow.
“When the tickets went on sale, I was like, I’m just going to trust I know I’m going to be out there, and I knew my art would get me out there,” Harvin said. “I just knew.”
That faith paid off when one of their sketches won two “VVIP” passes this week in an Instagram contest by YELLOW, an education nonprofit started by Pharrell Williams.
A step up from VIP passes, YELLOWZONE tickets offer additional perks such as prime viewing spots, an all-inclusive bar and a private indoor space. Proceeds from the limited passes — which are sold out — will go to YELLOW.
Harvin’s sketch is a self-portrait drawn in blue ink, holding a “YELLOW” cone from the Oceanfront Dairy Queen. The limited-edition cones with purple sprinkles debuted April 1. To enter, contestants had to follow Yellow’s Instagram account and tag it in a picture with the cone. Three winners picked randomly received pairs of general admission passes, while the YELLOWZONE passes went to the most creative post.
Along with Harvin, Zion Womack, Nina Bolden and Ted Martinez won tickets — and while their posts weren’t deemed the “most” creative, each took a unique approach.
Womack entered a photo of herself at the beach holding a cone and wearing a Kid Cudi hoodie — the performer she and her boyfriend are most excited to see. Something in the Water stickers decorate the Instagram image.
Bolden, a clinical mental health grad student, and boyfriend Javiere Surrency posed with their cones in front of a bright yellow wall across the street from the Dairy Queen. They wore shirts created by Surrency, an electrician’s apprentice, part-time graphic artist and aspiring fashion designer. And Martinez and his friend Anthony Perez, who met through Martinez’s life-changing pandemic fitness journey, pulled a screenshot from a video they took of themselves doing handstands over their cones on the beach.
But the sketch drawn by Harvin — the atrium artist in residence at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art — stood out.
“At YELLOW we always say FUTURE FORWARD, and this was a beautiful interpretation,” Stephanie Walters, YELLOW’s director of engagement and communication, said in a text message. “This is even more proof that there are so many talented creatives living here in Hampton Roads.”
The nonprofit started as an organization called “From One Hand to Another,” which offered summer camps and other programming in the region, but eventually grew into its current iteration as YELLOW — a name picked for its meaning to Pharrell. The producer has synesthesia, a sensory-crossing condition which, in his case, means hearing sounds can cause him to see colors.
“It’s clear to me that YELLOW is more than a color: it’s a feeling, it’s a mindset, and it’s the lens of possibility through which we must view the future and through which the youth must view themselves and the world,” Pharrell wrote on the organization’s website.
In 2021, the nonprofit opened “Yellowhab,” a privately funded school in Norfolk. The school currently has 40 third to sixth grade students, admitted by a lottery open to Norfolk residents who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits or meet federal income guidelines. There is currently no cost to students to attend.
In addition to the sale of YELLOWZONE passes, a portion of the proceeds of Something in the Water also will go to the nonprofit. Along with Yellowhab and other local initiatives, YELLOW provides national educational programming such as a Future Engineer program in partnership with Amazon and a “Finding your OTHERness” creativity campaign with Warby Parker.
Leading up to the festival, YELLOW held its first in-person “Yellow Bright Sparks” conversation series, after hosting similar events on Instagram Live in previous years. On Earth Day, the organization hosted a “Decks of Tomorrow” event, giving away 40 custom skateboards designed by local artists.
Walters wants the public to remember, though, that while YELLOW is deeply involved with Something in the Water, the nonprofit will still be here once the festival is over.
“There’s other community programming that’s happening,” she said. “Be on the lookout for everything that we’re doing through our socials and our website, and if you’re interested in connecting with us and partnering with us, then definitely reach out.”
Katrina Dix, 757-222-5155, katrina.dix@virginiamedia.com
