Artists Wanted to Create “Court Murals” 

Request for Qualifications:: Artists Wanted to Create “Court Murals” 

Applications Due: Monday, February 15, 2021 11:59 p.m.

Commission Fee:  $6,000

Project Description

The NCAA will stage the entire 2021 men’s basketball championship in Indiana, with the majority of the tournament’s 67 games taking place in Indianapolis. As Indianapolis prepares to host one of the largest college sports events in our history, all of Downtown will be turned into an exciting, welcoming site for the players, media, and local community to enjoy being safely together to experience the excitement around this unprecedented event.

Four central locations have been identified as sites for dimensional, interactive basketball-court-themed murals to serve as colorful and vibrant backdrops for visitors exploring downtown Indianapolis. Each 10’ x 10’ x 10’ “court” will have a hand-painted mural on the ground plus a coordinating printed vinyl backdrop. There will be no functional basketball goal element to the mural.  Court designs should reference shapes and other visual elements of basketball courts, creating a fun and unique way to memorialize participation in this special event. NOTE: This work should thematically reference the visual elements of a basketball court, but no specific reference may be made to any venue, team, player, school, the NCAA or its trademarks, logos, or taglines.

The Arts Council of Indianapolis is looking for four artists (or teams of artists) to design these murals: one mural per artist/team. The artist/team will paint the ground plane element themselves, while the artist’s design for the backdrop will be printed and installed by the Arts Council. The vertical vinyl element design may be created digitally, or may be a hand drawn or painted work that can be translated into a digital image for production.

The mural/backdrop combination is required to last a minimum of 4 weeks, but the banner element may remain installed (in the same location or others) for up to one year.  The ground plane element must be able to hold up to normal foot traffic for four weeks. Artists will be asked to thoroughly paint the ground surface with high quality products.

Eligibility

• Visual artists 18 years of age or older, living in Marion, Hendricks, Hancock, Shelby, Hamilton, Boone, Morgan, or Johnson Counties are eligible to apply.
• Team applications are welcome; teams will split the commission fee among themselves.
• This project is on a very aggressive schedule; please review the dates below to ensure you can meet the timeline if you are selected!

Project Timeline

• February 5, 2021:  Call released
• February 15, 2021, 11:59 p.m.: Deadline for applications
• February 19, 2021: Selected artists/teams notified and agreements sent
• February 26, 2021: Design first draft due
• March 1, 2021: Final designs due for vinyl backdrop production
• March 8-12, 2021: Onsite painting and backdrop installation (weather and site dependent)
• April 10-15, 2021: Earliest removal of painted “court” on ground plane (weather and site dependent)
• As late as December 31, 2021: Removal or relocation of painted court and vinyl backdrop

Commission Fee/Compensation

The commission fee is $6,000 and includes the following:

• Design of the ground plane and backdrop imagery (each 10’ x 10’)
• Preparation of backdrop design for digital production
• Painting of ground plane design
• License to reproduce the mural for banner production and documentation of the project
• License to publish images of the mural in event materials such as publications and websites

The artist will not have any responsibility for cleaning/preparing or sealing the ground plane location, removing the ground plane artwork at the end of the project, or for production of the vinyl backdrop element of the mural. The Arts Council will manage these elements using other vendors.

Paint materials are to be purchased by the artist from the commission fee.

Brushes, airbrushes, etc. to complete the painting work are to be purchased/rented from the commission fee or otherwise provided by the artist as necessary.

Copyrights

Full copyright to the artwork will be retained by the artist at all times. The artist will be required to license the Arts Council to produce and reproduce images of the artwork for vinyl banner creation and for promotional use, and to maintain archival documentation of the project.

The Arts Council is not responsible for any third-party infringement of the artist’s copyright or for protecting the intellectual property rights of participating artists. To learn more about how to protect yourself and your public artworks, visit the Arts Council’s Artist Resource Directory.

Promotions

• The Arts Council will host a project webpage and will keep it updated with information for the court murals project, and will link each entry to the artist's page on the IndyArtsGuide Artist Directory. If you do not have an Artist Directory page, please create one.
• The Arts Council will produce a publicly distributed paper directory of temporary downtown public art projects
• Our partners and the Arts Council will jointly promote the work through both traditional and social media channels.
• Artists are encouraged to promote their own work through their own promotional and social media outlets.

Selection Process

Arts Council staff, members of the Men’s Final Four Local Organizing Committee, the Arts Council’s Public Art Selection Committee, and partner representatives will identify the four artists/teams to create the court murals.

Should the Arts Council receive an insufficient number of entries, we reserve the right to invite artists/teams to create court murals.

How to Apply

Apply online at https://indyarts.formstack.com/forms/march_projects. You will be able to start your application and come back to it later. This form is accessible on a variety of platforms and through various devices, including cell phones.

You will need to provide:

• Your legal name, and any preferred artist names you work under
• Your contact information (land mail address, email address, and phone number; social media handles optional)
• Names of any proposed collaborators or team members
• Brief artistic background information
• Images of your past work
  • If you have a website, you can provide a link to it so we can review your work
  • Instagram or other social media account links you provide should be dedicated to showcasing your artwork--please do not link to your personal social media!
  • If you do not have a website, please attach up to 10 examples of your past work to the application form.
    • Attachments can be individual JPG/JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIF, or PSD  images (maximum 1 MB per example, maximum resolution 72dpi) or PDF documents, or PDF documents containing multiple images.
• OPTIONAL: If you have an idea for the mural, you can describe it. Do not include any sketches or any designs at this time!
• OPTIONAL: You may provide your demographic information to help us ensure equity in our programming.

The application deadline is Monday, February 15 at 11:59 p.m. 

The application will automatically close at that time.

• Applications still unfinished at this time will not be uploaded.
• Allow plenty of time to complete your application before the deadline!
• PRO TIP: if you plan to start your application and come back later, wait until you are ready to press “submit” before you add any attachments. Otherwise you will find they have vanished when you come back!

Questions?  

Contact Julia Moore, Director of Public Art, jmoore@indyarts.org or (317) 624-2556