Frequently Asked Questions

  • Scrollathon is a program uniting people from diverse backgrounds and communities. Participants create their own artwork they keep, collaborate on a legacy artwork that stays in their community, have their photographic portraits created, and share their stories on video. Expanding on their own studio practice, Steven and William Ladd created these collaborative events as catalysts for participants to express their personal stories, share their hopes and dreams, and unite in group art-making experiences. Using textiles, found materials, and other media, they create artworks of profound beauty and meaning. 


  • Scrolls are made from two strips of fabric that are tightly rolled together around a wooden dowel and secured with a pin. The scrolls are then arranged in a frame and glued into place to make a finished work of art. During a Scrollathon® participants make a scroll, identify their work with initials, and contribute their piece to the larger whole.

  • The National Scrollathon project originated at the Kennedy Center. In 2019, as part of the festivities inaugurating the Center’s first expansion since 1971, the Ladd Brothers were invited to conduct a Scrollathon. The Scrollathon engaged over 750 local Washington DC residents in the creation of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow—a mural that is permanently displayed in the River Pavilion at the Center. At the installation of that piece, the idea of a national-level Scrollathon at the Kennedy Center was born, convening a vast assembly of Scrollathons from all across America.

  • National Word Ask is envisioned as a way that anyone who wants to can participate meaningfully in the Kennedy Center installation, at no cost and from anywhere in the country, by sharing a word via the project website that expresses their hopes and dreams for America at its Semiquincentennial.

  • Yes, we would love to speak with you!

  • A. A Program Host is a museum or other institution (e.g. Dallas Museum of Art or the Detroit Pistons) located within the United States, its territories, or internationally, that is connected to a diverse community. They can host at least four sessions with 25 participants each, over the course of a day in 2025, and have temporary or permanent spaces to display art. Program Hosts must secure funding for the program.

  • We are seeking some specific art-making materials and we will have certain other needs (such as transportation, lodging, printing) that may be able to be covered by select in-kind gifts. We are not yet set up to receive gifts of stocks or other securities, but we hope to be able to accept that kind of contribution in 2024.

  • Yes, for gifts up to $5,000, please go to Scrollathon.com and select “Donate” to reach the online credit card processing feature on our Fiscal Sponsor’s website.  For assistance or for gifts over $5,000, information is also available by clicking “Donate.”

  • First, gifts of any size are important and greatly appreciated, so please let us know of your interest, and we will gratefully follow up with you. Furthermore, since we are fundraising over a 5-year period, if you are able to make a multi-year pledge, we will be delighted to credit you for your entire contribution! So, if you can pledge $100/year x 5 years, you’re a $500 donor, and if you can pledge $1,000/year x 5 years, you’re a $5,000 donor. Second, we will be quite appreciative of everyone who can help us reach our fundraising goals, so we anticipate creating online fundraising appeals down the road, and we will gratefully include everyone who is willing and able to help us achieve our goals by sharing our appeal with their constituents, i.e., via Facebook on Giving Tuesday, or the like. To discuss details reach out to us via our contact page.

    • Participation by up to 500 diverse people from your community

    • Up to 20 one-hour sessions over 5 days (4 per day)

    • Individual artworks for each participant to keep that express their story

    • A Collaborative Artwork that will permanently belong to you as a legacy of America’s 250th

    • Photographic portraits of participants

    • Videos of select participants sharing their stories.

    • Signature Plate of participants’ signatures

    • A Souvenir Publication for each participant 

    • Project page on Scrollathon.com

    • Inclusion in the Kennedy Center Exhibition

    • Designate a Point Person to communicate with our team.

    • Designate up to a week to host the Scrollathon program onsite in 2024/2025 (or select an off-site location).

    • Provide two rooms (one the size of a classroom and the other can be a little smaller) during Scrollathon.

    • Provide two staff people to attend all Scrollathon sessions (just for safety).

    • Provide tables and chairs for 25 Participants.

    • Identify 4-20 Community Groups to provide Participants for the sessions. Sessions are 1-hour each with 25 Participants per session with 4 sessions per day.

    • Distribute and collect Program Participation Releases to all Participants through Community Groups.

    • Fund the Scrollathon program or work with our Development Team to secure funds.

    • Optional: Program Host can keep the collaborative artwork that will be created. Most do. Or we can work with them to donate the artwork to a museum or public institution/building.

    • Distribute the Souvenir Publication to Participants after the conclusion of the project.

    • Allow us to use photographic reproductions of the collaborative artwork at a major exhibition in 2026 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts!

  • Reproductions of the Collaborative Masterwork, Portrait Mural and Signature Plate made by your community at your institution’s Scrollathon will be installed at an exhibition that takes over the Kennedy Center campus from Memorial Day to Labor Day in 2026. Your organization’s name will also be listed on wall text related to the project and may be used with your permission in press releases and press articles.

  • Yes! Steven and William lead each Scrollathon. Every Scrollathon participant meets and works directly with these two world-class, lifelong professional artists, in what is truly an inspirational experience. 

  • Yes!

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  • No, there is no such obligation.

FUNDING TIPS:

  • The program results in a museum-quality artwork that enters the collection and they can often pull from this budget. They may also approach a patron interested in supporting this kind of acquisition. Especially patrons interested in community engagement, or who have a specific Community Group that they are affiliated with that could be invited to one of the Scrollathon sessions.

  • Since Steven and William Ladd will be onsite facilitating the programs, museums can pull from a residency budget that is in place or they can approach a patron that gets excited about the community being directly exposed to professional artists. Steven and William have often been told that there are very few artists in the world on their level that make themselves directly available to the community in this way.

  • Scrollathon typically fulfills all of the criteria for use of these budgets. This opportunity has an individual, local, state, and national scope which is usually broader than existing programming efforts. This is a plus for approaching a patron for specific funding!

  • The National Scrollathon results in a suite of artworks that can be exhibited at the museum (Collaborative Masterwork, Portrait Mural, Signature Plate, Storyteller Videos) and can therefore pull from an exhibition budget. Since the works can be exhibited at the conclusion of the program in 2025 and then again in 2026 during the Semiquincentennial some institutions are able to pull from multiple fiscal year's exhibition budgets.

  • Often a museum has funds for Special Projects that intersect with community and the exhibition spaces. 

  • Some institutions are pulling from these budgets and using it as an opportunity to be part of a national conversation about the 250th Anniversary of America.

  • We have been able to secure some funding through our own efforts for institutions that cannot support the program. This funding is not guaranteed and is only available to Institutions that have committed to doing the project and can demonstrate that their community does not have the resources to fund. Just as an FYI, museums who do not have the resources for the community because they are in the process of funding a new building have not been successful at securing this Match Fund.

  • In some cases we have been able to secure additional funding to supplement the Match Fund which has been the case for Guam and Northern Mariana Islands.

  • In some instances the museum has brought the cost down by directly paying for travel and lodging which can often be donated through a local business.

  • There are many other approaches that museums are using but most of those involve standard Foundation, Individual, and Corporate approaches to fundraising around special opportunities.