Wilson’s work “I Won’t Tell You the Rules” was the perfect choice to be our second CAN Purchase Prize recipient. While the piece is visually stimulating, a mixed media game board of sorts, more importantly, it is thought provoking. Will Wilson’s work “I Won’t Tell You the Rules” speaks to the challenges that students from economically challenged backgrounds face applying, enrolling and graduating from college. Wilson cites a CNN statistic that only 21% of poor students who enter college earned bachelor’s degrees by age 24 as opposed to 99% of wealthier peers. As Wilson says about the work, “I was considering the meaning and implication of You Are Here is the ways in which our starting points in life impact the length and difficulty of the paths we're on, inevitably having enormous impact on our success in life. The greatest indicator for poverty is poverty. This led me to create mazes that are easier for some to solve than others or for outcomes of seemingly random choices to be positive or negative. I invite you to play along while thinking about the things in your life that have given you advantage or opportunity that others may not have.” Founded in 1915, the Cleveland Art Association (cARTa) is a non-profit organization that promotes and supports the visual arts in the greater Cleveland community. cARTa owns a collection of over 200 works including paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, textiles, ceramics and glass by notable Cleveland artists which it lends to its members. Annual proceeds from the sale of art and membership dues help fund the organization’s primary mission of providing scholarships to the Cleveland Institute of Art. Our selection of “I Won’t Tell You the Rules” is the perfect intersection of art, mission and message.