GRAND RAPIDS, MI – ArtPrize 2014's sixth exhibition and $560,000 competition will be bigger than its fifth.

A total of 1,537 entries will be seen in 174 venues this fall in the radically open exhibition created by social media entrepreneur Rick DeVos.

Artists from 42 U.S. states and 51 countries will contribute to a show that's bigger than last year, but not the biggest in the history of ArtPrize.

ArtPrize 2014's Connections Period ended Thursday with an original list of 2,191 registered artists and 194 registered venues whittled down to create the exhibition opening Sept. 24.

All will compete for $560,000 in prize money, half awarded by public vote, half awarded by a panel of jurors on Oct. 10 near the end of the 19-day-exhibition.

Related: ArtPrize, New York's Art21 unveil major developments for sixth event in Grand Rapids

Every artist brings with them their own perspective about ArtPrize, said Christian Gaines, executive director of ArtPrize.

"Some will compete for the public vote, others will hope for a nod from our jury of experts. Many artists will get involved simply for the satisfaction of exhibiting good work, expanding networks of peers and mentors, pursuing professional opportunities, selling art and having fun,” Gaines said. “These ingredients – along with the enthusiastic involvement of 400,000 art lovers – serve to celebrate artists, transform an entire city and inspire a million conversations about art and why it matters.”

Related: ArtPrize 2014 shifts prize money from popular to juried vote, adds categories to public vote

ArtPrize 2014 will have the third greatest number of artists and the second greatest number of venues in its six-year history.

ArtPrize 2010 had 1,713 artists, and ArtPrize 2011 had 1,582 in all. Only ArtPrize 2010 with 192 venues had more than this year's event.

This past week, more than 500 connections were finalized in the final four days of the connections process to match entries by artists and artist teams with a store, restaurant, museum, park or office within ArtPrize's 3-square mile district in downtown Grand Rapids.

That means more than 650 registered artists and 19 registered venues were eliminated in the six-and-a-half week Connections Period that opened April 28.

ArtPrize 2014 opens Sept. 24 and continues through Oct. 12, 2013 in Grand Rapids plus Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park outside of the city.

More than 11 percent of the artists in ArtPrize 2014 are from foreign countries. More than 31 percent are from outside of Michigan.

Artists from the United Kingdom and Canada will lead the international presence at ArtPrize 2014.

After Michigan, artists from Illinois and New York lead the U.S. representation by state. Outside of the Great Lakes region, California will have the highest representation in ArtPrize 2014.

Last year, ArtPrize 2013 welcomed 1,524 works by artists from 45 U.S. states and 47 countries who displayed work in 169 bars, restaurants, offices, museums and public parks in ArtPrize 2013.

ArtPrize's newly revised awards this year will award $280,000 through the popular vote of registered viewers, voting online or through various forms of social media, to decide the $200,000 first prize winner plus the winners of four category awards each worth $20,000.

Another $280,000 will be determined by a panel of jurors. The $200,000 grand juried prize will be decided by three jurors led by Susan Sollins, founder and executive director of Art 21.

Related: ArtPrize 2014 unveils jurors who will award $100,000 at sixth annual event

Sollins, founder and executive director of Art21, will head the three-person panel awarding the Grand Juried Prize, sponsored by Kendall College of Art and Design.

Joining Sollins will be Leonardo Drew and Katharina Grosse, two artists featured in Art21's upcoming seventh season of "Art in the Twenty-First Century."

Another four category awards, each worth $20,000, will be selected by four individual jurors.

“ArtPrize is an unconventional art platform," said Kevin Buist, director of exhibitions at ArtPrize. "Its intellectual and aesthetic conflict is its greatest strength and causes a friction that energizes the production and discussion of art in a way that a traditional competition or art-show model does not."

E-mail Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk: jkaczmarczyk@mlive.com

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