City of Minneapolis Seeks Artist for Consolidated Office Building

The City of Minneapolis invites experienced public artists to apply to collaborate with the design team for the Consolidated Office Building to identify several public art opportunities to be integrated into the future building and to design one signature artwork. The building will be at 501 Fourth Ave. S. and will co-locate City employees and public services currently in several sites throughout downtown Minneapolis. The design team for the Consolidated Office building includes the Minneapolis firm MSR (Meyer, Scherer, & Rockcastle), working in partnership with the international firm Henning Larsen.

This is the first of two or more calls for artists for the City of Minneapolis Consolidated Office Building. Future calls will include a number of specific public art commissions. Artists who have interest in creating individual artworks or who have no experience collaborating with  architectural design teams are encouraged to apply for the future call(s) in 2018.

Deadline:  Tuesday, December 12, 4 p.m., CST

Budget:  $90,000 for design (appx. 400-450 hours); $300,000 for fabrication/installation (to be contracted later)

Eligibility:  Practicing artists with professional artistic resumes and experience working with architectural design teams, with the availability for extensive travel to Minneapolis.

About The Consolidated Office Building Public Art Project
The City is seeking an experienced artist/artist team to work with the project design team to collaborate with the design team for the Consolidated Office Building for phase one of this public art project. Phase two has two aspects:

a) Identifying several public art opportunities to be integrated into the future building to be included in a future call(s) for seeking artists with a range of experience, working in a range of media and who are able to create work that will inspire the many diverse communities of the City.

b) Designing one signature artwork to be integrated into the building (at 40-50% design), and be contracted separately for the final design and fabrication of that work.

Possible art opportunities include, but are not limited to, the façade, exterior spaces, floors, walls, ceilings, staircases, railings, lighting and opportunities to interactively engage the visiting public. Goals of the public art project include:

• Create a public space that is inviting, pleasant and compelling for visiting businesses and residents
• Reflect the culture and diversity of the city through history and storytelling.
• Reflect the mission of public service, the City's commitment to transparency and educate the public about the City services.
• Support a work environment that promotes wellness, a diversity of work styles, collaboration, and innovation.
• Be thoughtfully integrated into the architectural identity and design, materials, and palette.
• Be contemporary, yet timelessly elegant, and meaningful.
• Enhance the focal points, entrances, plazas and wayfinding systems.
• Celebrate the sustainability goals of this project and the facility.
• Be durable and maintainable in Minneapolis' climate and urban environment.

Budget
The total budget for this phase one--design assistance--of this public art project is $90,000.  The fabrication budget for the signature artwork is outside the scope of this work and will be contracted for separately. It has not yet been finalized but is estimated to be approximately $300,000. The total public art budget for the project is currently estimated to be approximately $1.5 to 2 million.

Artist's Responsibilities
Artists/artist teams will collaborate with the design team, project staff and steering committee. This is estimated at approximately 400-450 hours of work. Responsibilities include:

Design and Engagement:

• Working closely and in person with design team members for the project.
• Identifying public art opportunities within the building project for additional commissions.
• Designing a signature artwork. (Final design, fabrication and installation will be via a separate contract.)
• Developing and refining these opportunities and artistic concepts and designs with input from committees, boards, and community groups.
• Developing designs that comply with all codes and functional requirements, are constructed of durable materials, and require little repair or maintenance.
• Developing final drawings, models, presentation materials, and other visual and written items.
• Providing documents for the purpose of the City obtaining approvals from all of the appropriate entities.
• Participating in an ongoing design review and modification process with input from the staff and appropriate City committees.
• Presenting concepts and designs to committees, boards, community groups, and others with input from City staff and consultants.
• Participating in final project unveiling and celebration.

Communications and Administration:

• Providing ongoing regular updates to City staff and project managers including regular and consistent email communications.
• Working closely and coordinating with the consultants and contractors that will be designing and constructing the project.
• Developing and maintaining cost estimates and a final budget.
• Communicating completed phases of the project and requesting payment.
• Participating in interviews and public appearances as coordinated by the City.
• Aligning communications and outreach with City staff, project team members and others.

Copyright and Ownership:

• Providing the City with copyright privileges to make two-dimensional reproductions for non-profit use, such as brochures, publicity and web-site publications.
• Providing the City the right to use any documentation of the project submitted including site plans, images of engagement, fabrication, installation, etc.
• If the artwork is integrated into the site in a way that it cannot be removed without destroying a portion of the site infrastructure, waiving their rights according to appropraite sections of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990

Documentation:

• Providing the City with documentation of the project, including designs, written descriptions and presentations.

Project Timeline

• November 9, 2017: Call for Artists Posted
• November 28, 2017: Artist Informational Meeting, 4 p.m., CST, Northeast Library, 2200 Central Ave. N.E., Minneapolis, MN 55418
• December 1, 2017: Deadline for Submitting Questions to mary.altman@minneapolismn.gov
  
• December 5, 2017: Posting of Materials from Informational Meeting and Questions and Answers on Website
• December 12, 2017: Deadline for Submissions, 4 p.m., CST
• Week of December 28, 2017: Finalists Notified
• Week of January 8, 2018: Finalists Interviews and Selection
• February 2018: Begin Work with Design Team
• Fall 2020: Building Open to the Public

Who is Eligible to Apply
The project is open to public artists who are able to travel to work with the design team in person and have the availability to work with the team over the course of several visits to the team's offices and to the City of Minneapolis.  -Current City staff and Minneapolis Arts Commissioners are not eligible.  Artists may apply individually or as teams. While there's no restriction to the number of participating members, smaller teams are recommended. Teams should be adequately sized to ensure simplicity in project management and communications. A lead contact must be identified and stated upon application. Note that the entire team will receive the same size design fee as a single artist. All members of the proposed team have previous experience and show evidence of working together as a team on at least one public art project.  Artists applying must be readily available during the timeline, especially during the winter/spring of 2018.  Artists currently under contract with the City for other public art projects must be performing according to the scope of services and schedules for those projects.  This project is seeking artists/artist teams who are practicing artists with professional artistic resumes. Architectural, engineering and design firms, galleries, fabricators, organizations, and public art consultants/project managers are not eligible to apply or to be part of the applying team.

Required Qualifications

• Excellent recognized body of timeless artistic work, including public artwork and large-scale projects.
• Passion for the local context and civic government, services, employees and constituents.
• Strong experience in collaborating with design professionals and willingness to become embedded in the design process alongside architects, designers, engineers, and consultants.
• Ability to consider possible art opportunities in the context of scale, uses, materials, and users.
• Familiarity with fast track processes and ability to meet timelines and maintain a sense of detail.
• Ability to understand architectural drawings and work within architectural drawing methods.

Due Date
All proposals are due Tuesday, December 12, 4pm. CST.

How to Apply: Proposals should be emailed to RFP.Responses@minneapolismn.gov. Please note that this mailbox has a limit of 10MB, and you will most likely need to email a link to your full application at a document storage website, such as Dropbox or send multiple emails.

What to Submit

Artwork Samples: Submit ten images as jpegs. It is recommended that your images be roughly 1920 x 1920 pixels and no more than 1.8 MB in file size.  Images that do not meet the required formats may not be considered.  Videos or websites will not be reviewed during the first round. (Finalists will be able to submit videos.)

Written Materials:  Proposal packets should be submitted in 8 1/2 x 11 pdf format. Please include:

• Cover sheet: A completed copy of the Cover Sheet Form available at http://www.minneapolismn.gov/finance/procurement/rfp
• Written Description: A written description of up to two pages that addresses:
  • Why you are interested and what excites you most about the project
  • Your previous experience collaborating with a design team
  • If you are an artist team, your experience working together in the past, and which artist will be the lead contact for your team
  • Other commitments and time frames during which you would be unavailable.
• Resume: A current resume(s) of all of the artists involved, including information on background and ability to conduct the tasks listed. Up to two pages per artist.
• Image List: A completed copy of the Image List Form available at http://www.minneapolismn.gov/finance/procurement/rfp
• References: The names, addresses, and daytime phone numbers of three references who can speak about your ability as an artist and, a collaborator, and if relevant, as a team.

Questions
All questions regarding this proposal should be submitted in email to: mary.altman@minneapolismn.gov by November 28, 4pm CST. All questions and answers will be compiled and posted online as an addendum to this Call for Artists. Do not contact other contractors or City staff working on this project.