Submitted proposals will be accepted from now until September and the commissioned artists will be provided with a blank fiberglass, life-size cow to paint his or her proposed design on and a budget from the sponsors of the exhibitions.

"Everybody can be an artist," said Jonathan Chen, a commissioner of 2009 CowParade Taipei.

Although designs may be submitted by anyone, Chen stressed that no more than 200 cows would be made available to the public, based on the quality of the submitted proposals.

CowParade is an international street art event, which has captured the hearts and imaginations of hundred of millions of people around the world since 1999. To date, nearly 5,000 of the three-dimensional fiberglass cow canvases have been created by more than 10,000 artists.

2009 CowParade Taipei is modeled after Chicago's popular Cows on Parade held ten years ago. Since the Chicago Cows on Parade, there have been over 70 CowParade exhibits worldwide including New York City, London, Tokyo, Atlanta and Kansas City.

Taipei will be the 65th city to host a cow parade.

But more importantly, CowParade is meant to benefit charity. At the conclusion of each event, the cows are herded up and many are auctioned, with a substantial portion of the proceeds benefiting local charitable organizations.

The international events have already raised more than US$25 million for charities.

Please contact organizers directly at (02) 2707-3110 or go to www.cowparade-taipei.com for information about submitting design proposals.