The Akron Art Museum has launched a new art competition, challenging local residents to take photographs of how they see Northeast Ohio.

The contest, which has a Sept. 30 deadline, has one qualifier: All photographs must be taken with a lomographic (Lomo) camera, a low-fidelity plastic toy camera.

These lo-fi cameras, such as the Diana and Holga, can make even the most amateur photographer create stunning photographs by allowing the user to take quick, casual and fun shots as well as experimental images.

There are five categories in the contest, to which participants can submit a maximum of three photographs:

• Freaks and Geeks, inspired by Diane Arbus.

• Self-Portraiture, inspired by Cindy Sherman.

• Landscape, inspired by Ansel Adams.

• Life on the Street, inspired by WeeGee.

• People and Pop Culture, inspired by Andy Warhol.

Selected works will be put on exhibit in the Akron Art Museum's Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation Gallery Oct. 18 through Jan. 11.

Lomo cameras can be bought from a variety of retailers and online shops, as well as local stores, including the Akron Art Museum store.

For information, call 330-376-9186, Ext. 230, visit http://www.akronartmuseum.org/exhibitions/details.php?unid=828 or e-mail aCaplan@AkronArtMuseum.org.

Happy birthday

At this time last year, the Akron Art Museum was in the midst of celebrating its new John S. and James L. Knight Building, designed by the Viennese firm Coop Himmelb(l)au. The expanded museum reopened to the public on July 17. It hasn't slowed down yet. With record-breaking attendance numbers to international awards, the successes of the past year are unparalleled in its 86-year history, museum officials say.

The museum raised $44.3 million in seven years, with $35 million spent on the new building and $9 million added to the museum's operating endowment. Mitchell Kahan, museum director and chief executive, said that ''membership rolls have more than doubled, which is the major benefit of instituting an admission charge.'' Nearly 100,000 people visited the museum in its first year, about double the number that visited in 2004, before the museum closed for reconstruction. The new building has also won a host of design awards.

The new museum ended its first fiscal year in the black on June 30.

TODAY

Akron Arts Expo — Begins with ''Taste of Akron'' from 6 to 10 tonight at Hardesty Park. Food samples available for $2, $4 and $6 from a variety of area restaurants, live entertainment and events throughout the evening. Admission is free. Sponsored by West Point Market and American Wood Reface.

The Expo's Fundraiser & Silent Auction is from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, featuring original artwork from the Akron Arts Expo artists and items donated by local organizations and businesses. Beverage samplings, hot and cold hors d'oeuvres and entertainment. All proceeds benefit the Akron Arts Expo's artists and the children's area. Tickets: $50 presale, $55 at the door. Call 330-375-2836 for tickets. Sponsored by Akron Life & Leisure Magazine and The Spa at Glenmoor.

The Expo, presented by Time Warner Cable and the city of Akron, continues from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday with live entertainment, food, free admission, arts and crafts, over 160 juried exhibitors, free shuttle service Saturday and Sunday from Firestone High School to Hardesty Park, Verb Ballet performances 8:45 p.m. Friday and Saturday, a children's area, and a coloring contest. Prize is a $100 Target gift card. Entry forms available in the Akron Beacon Journal, at participating Wendy's or visit http://www.ohio.com. 330-375-2835 or 330-375-2836 or visit http://www.westpointmarket.com orhttp://www.ci.akron.oh.us/.

Teen Spirit — The Akron Art Museum's Teen Council announced its first major project, an exhibit of hand-screened concert rock posters, on view at the museum's Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation Gallery through Oct. 12. The exhibit, Smells Like Teen Spirit: Posters From the Akron Art Museum's Teen Council, features the work of professional screen printer Jon Hicks, who creates concert posters for Northeast Ohio music venues, along with Downtown@Dusk concert posters created by the teens. The growing popularity of the genre of hand-screened concert posters, along with the ''DIY'' aesthetic, are said to reflect the creative process of the bands and musicians and a move away from slick commercial printing and advertising. Hicks, who also teaches graphic design at Virginia Marti College of Fashion and Design in Lakewood, guided the teens through the process of screen printing and creating their own posters. The posters created as a result of the project will be auctioned off during each Downtown@Dusk concert of the band for which they were made. The concerts are held on Thursday evenings, with Carlos Jones & the P.L.U.S. Band playing at 6:30 tonight. All proceeds will benefit future Teen Council projects. Council members are Amy Breedon of Hudson High School; Zachery Hopson of East High School; Leann Schneider of Tallmadge High School; Dred Geib and Flora Csejtey, both of Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts; Drew Woyat of St. Vincent-St. Mary; Marilyn Baker of Blue Ridge International Academy; Megan Smeznik of Copley High School; Margie Byrne of Nordonia High School; and Tori Kulwicki of Archbishop Hoban High School.

Artist to visit — Artist P. Buckley Moss will be at an art signing and a Meal With Pat at an Amish homestead from noon to 7 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday at the Berlin Creek Gallery in Berlin. A shuttle service will run from the gallery to the Amish home on Friday. Parking is at the Berlin Elementary School parking lot. Dinner reservations are $35 per person. Information: 330-893-2686 or e-mail at BCGallery@tusco.net.

SATURDAY

Pleine Aire Painting — Trumbull Art Gallery, 196-198 E. Market St., Warren, holds a Pleine Aire Painting Session from 10 a.m to 3 p.m with Chris Leeper at Zipay's Farm, 2280 State Route 7 (north of Yankee Lake), Hartford. Cost is $20 per artist; bring your own lunch and drinks, water media supplies and easel, etc. To register, call Judy Waid at 330-856-5498 or Trumbull Art Gallery at 330-395-4876.

Celebration of Heritage — The Cleveland Restoration Society spotlights Cleveland's diversity with its first event at 5:30 p.m. at St. John A.M.E. Church and the Emeritus House, 2261 E. 40th St. St. John A.M.E. Church is the first black church established in Cleveland. Valet parking will be available at the church. Trolleys will take guests to the Emeritus House, 4450 Cedar Road, the recently rehabilitated home of the Phillis Wheatley Association, where cocktails and dinner will be served. Tickets are $175 each; tables begin at $1,500. 216-426-1000.

SUNDAY

Museum tour — From 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., the Cleveland Museum of Art offers its Summer Sunday Series programming for the whole family, including gallery tours, lectures, family studio workshops and art and music educational programs — all free. Today's events are the Highlights Tour; an art treasure hunt at 2 and 3 p.m.; two Create Together Workshops: Family Crests and Fancy Feet; Community Voices with artist Neal Hamilton at 2:30 p.m.; Art Cart in the Armor Court at 3:30 p.m.; and a 3:30 p.m. performance by the Eric Gould Trio. Details: 888-262-0033 or http://www.clevelandart.org.

MONDAY

Annual picnic — Progress Through Preservation, Akron's architectural heritage organization, holds its annual picnic beginning at 6 p.m. at Virginia Kendall Park's Ledges Shelter. Participants are asked to bring a dish to share and a serving utensil, marked with your name. PTP provides the meat, iced tea and lemonade, napkins, plates, cups and utensils. The Ledges Shelter has a covered picnic area and indoor picnic table seating, but you may bring a blanket or lawn chairs as well. Please R.S.V.P. by Friday to Barb at 330-434-6140 or barb@snyderandsnyder.com or the PTP office at 330-374-3787 or ptpakron@att.net.

TUESDAY

Collection Gem — Massillon Museum Curator Alexandra Nicholis gives a free 10 a.m. gallery talk on The Gem of the Collection at the exhibit Eclectic. Everyday. Elegant. Call the museum, 121 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, at 330-833-4061, for reservations.

Worth noting

Architecture prize — Sept. 15 is the deadline to nominate an architect or firm for the Richard H. Driehaus Prize. Administered through the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, the prize is awarded annually to an outstanding architect or firm whose work applies the principles of classicism with respect to sustainability, to the built and natural environment. The $200,000 prize for the 2009 laureate is the largest unrestricted prize of its kind. This is the first year the nomination has been opened to the public. For details and to submit nominations, go to http://www.driehausprize.org/nominations.shtml.

New curator — The Cleveland Museum of Art appointed C. Griffith Mann as chief curator. The medieval art historian, noted for skill in organizing exhibits and expanding access to museum collections, will begin his new duties at the museum in early September. Mann arrives in the midst of the largest renovation and expansion in its history, a $350 million project designed by Rafael Vinoly that will increase the museum's size by nearly 200,000 square feet. Mann began his museum career at the museum 16 years ago as an intern in the education department. Since March 2007, he has been director of the curatorial division at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, where he oversees seven collections departments, the office of the registrar, photography, the library and curatorial publications and installations and research on the Walters' encyclopedic collection. As chief curator in Cleveland, Mann will oversee 11 curatorial departments. He holds both a Ph.D. and master's degree in art history from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree in history and art history from Williams College. An avid baseball fan and outdoor enthusiast, he will be moving to Cleveland with his wife and three children.