WILLIAMSPORT, PA -- Some artistic statements need to be big. A statement about TOLERANCE is one of them.

That's the idea behind three billboards that will be going up in Williamsport on April 11^th designed by visiting artist Patrick Nagatani, art professor Lynn Estomin, and art students at Lycoming College.

The billboards are the culmination of a residency at Lycoming College by nationally known photographer Patrick Nagatani, who spent a week on the Lycoming College campus in March as part of the EAST/WEST: Points of Contact conference that was funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Nagatani worked with Prof. Estomin and her students to develop a project that would further communication between East and West cultures.

In a moment of introspection, the group came to the conclusion that rural Williamsport (PA) actually had a greater diversity of cultures that the average citizen might suspect. The Lycoming College art students hit upon the idea of featuring real local people in a photomontage that would celebrate local diversity as well as promote tolerance.

The Terry Wild Studio donated time, digital camera equipment and space for the initial photo shoot. The students designed the board and created the montage from twenty smaller photos.

In addition, the students designed a web-site at www.lycoming.edu/tolerance, (Active on April 10) which explains the project, gives biographies on each participant and information on world religions, diversity and issues of tolerance. The site also contains a number of links with resources for teachers on the subject of cultural diversity and tolerance.

There will be three billboards:

at the corner of Mulberry Street and Little League Boulevard (near Rite Aid and across from the Main Gate of Lycoming College)

Route 15 North at Hastings Street in South Williamsport, just before the Market Street Bridge

On Third Street near Hookers Garage.

The boards will be up approximately one-month, through May 11, the Williamsport School District's Multicultural /Diversity Day in Brandon Park.

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