The City of Boynton Beach, Florida, seeks artists interested in proposing public art for an interactive public art plaza project for the new City of Boynton Beach Town Square, designed for all abilities, ages and demographics to engage and connect.
BUDGET: $97,000
ELIGIBILITY: Professional artists and artist-led teams living in the United States
DEADLINE: Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at 3pm
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Boynton Beach is a vibrant, diverse, and progressive city. As a center of government and culture, the Town Square public/private project provides a focal point to both capture and display the community’s rich diversity. This public art opportunity is in concert with the the City of Boynton Beach’s Town Square redevelopment plan goals.
Town Square is a 16-acre site in downtown Boynton Beach, just east of the I-95 Boynton Beach Blvd. exit. It includes the renovation of the historic Boynton Beach High School into a cultural center, residential, retail spaces, a hotel, public spaces, parks, playgrounds, parking garages, a fire station and a new city hall/library civic center. The project construction for the City’s Town Square, and its public art component will be under the contract of the master developer and management company, Community Facility Partners - Boynton Beach, LLC.
SITE INFORMATION
The plaza where the artwork is to be placed is in a key location in the center of the Town Square, in front of the new City Hall/Library building near a drop off and pick up location and near the open event space. The plaza area is approximately 30’ x 40’.
PUBLIC ART GOALS
The goal of this project is to create and implement an interactive public art plaza project for the City of Boynton Beach’s new Town Square that:
- Stimulates social interaction through movement
- Evokes the senses; sight, sound and touch
- Inspires creativity, exploration and engagement
- Provides a public space where all ages, abilities and demographics can meet and engage
- Is an unexpected fun experience
- Connects to artful experiences throughout the open space
- Has innovative technology elements, such as lighting, sound and kinetics
- Provides activity for groups or single interactions
- Enables safety and security both day and night
The artist/artist team will be responsible for the planning, design, management, fabrication, labor, installation, and hard costs of the public art project. The artist/artist team will coordinate the work with the master developer’s planning and construction team for the project design and construction. Once the artist/artist team is short listed, an opportunity to communicate with the master developer’s planning and construction team will occur to explore the integration of interactive public art into the new plaza.
This project may include collaborating with an emerging public artist. A determination of the projects that will include this component will occur by the shortlisted action in this RFQ process. The public artist will included in the match process with an emerging public artist once a finalist is selected.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- RFQ deadline: Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at 3pm (NOTE: CITY HALL IS CLOSED FOR LABOR DAY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3)
- Selection panel meeting: Thursday, September 13, 2018
- Selection notification: Monday, September 17, 2018
- Finalists interviews: Monday, September 17 - Thursday, October 4, 2018
- Finalists proposal presentations and Arts Commission approval: Thursday, October 11, 2018 6:00 - 9:00pm
- Finalists selection notification: Monday, October 15, 2018
- Artists agreement due: Friday, October 26, 2018
- Project begins: Monday, January 7, 2019
- Installation Date: TBD before February 18, 2020
- Celebration Date: TBD
SELECTION PROCESS
A special selection panel and Arts Commission Board will look for artist/artists teams who bring high level of conceptual ability and innovation to reach the best and most creative solutions to the project. The artists/artists teams will be selected through a Request for Qualification call to artists process. The selection panel will be comprised of twelve members with backgrounds in public art, open space and facility planning and construction. Based on the criteria listed below the panel will select two artists/teams to interview. Finalists will be invited to discuss past approaches, working methods, project approaches and methods with the panel, as well as answer questions related to working on this project. The interviews can be conducted in person or via conference call with audio and video.. The finalists will then produce a proposal for the project. Each selected artist/artist team will be given an honorarium of $1,500.00 to create a proposal for the project. Once submitted the artist/artist team will have an opportunity to present the project proposal concept to the special selection panel/Arts Commission in person or via conference call with audio and video. The selection panel will select one artist/artist team for the project.
The panel reserves the right to make no selection from the submitted applications or final interviews.
SELECTION CRITERIA
- Artistic Excellence and strong conceptual skills: It is important that the artist/artist team is able to create a well-constructed plan and proposal that meets the projects goals.
- Strong verbal, written and graphic communication skills: Good people management and communication skills are required to be able to translate the projects purpose, stakeholder communication and artistic concept to a sound and workable project plan.
- Previous experience: The artist/artist team should demonstrate experience with working with a team of professionals and show strengths in public art planing development, integration of public art into an active construction project, knowledge of interactive public art projects that demonstrate the above criteria and project goals.
- Accessibility and Availability: This is a fast paced project. An integral part of this project is the artist/artist team's reasonable availability to perform the tasks to compete the project.
WHAT TO SUBMIT
- Statement of interest: in 300 words or less explain why the artist/artist team is interested in the project, how the artist/artist team work is appropriate for this opportunity, and interactive public art past experience.
- Artist/artist team contact information, including address, phone, email, website address and social media links with a 300 word limit biography.
- Documentation of a maximum of three past projects that best illustrate qualifications for this public art project opportunity.
- Examples should include a brief description of the project: location, commissioning agency with contacts, fabrication materials, dimensions, installation, budget and project reference contact information. Include a brief description as to how the public art is relevant to this call.
- Information should be provided in the following digital formats: On a CD (or portable drive) provide ALL FILES DIGITALLY. Include separate images - dimensions minimum 4 inch, maximum 10 inch with common aspect ratio sizes preferred. JPEG or PNG 150 DPI min, 300 DPI maximum. Save JPEG as maximum size. PDF file format is also acceptable. Identify and label each image and file to coordinate with printed materials. Text files can be provided as word document, rtf, or pages document with file formats saved on the digital portable drive. Printed images can be made directly from computer or color copied.
- All work samples should be clearly labeled with artist/artist team and telephone number.
- Submit five complete sets of printed information of all images (each separate on a 8” x 10” size paper), past public art projects, their description and contact information, project description, artists bio and contact information. Set can be printed directly from computer or color copied.
- Sample of past project proposal document: Include one conceptualized interactive public art proposal planning document for a past project that demonstrated how the project was proposed and presented for final acceptance of the public art opportunity. The proposal should include meaning and purpose of project, commissioning agency and location, materials and project specification for proposed fabrication and detailed budget. If public art project was a component of a larger project that the artist/team contributed to in design and placemaking, include a description of process and participants.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Mail, ship, or hand-deliver CD/portable media and paper copies to arrive BY TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2018 AT 3:00 P.M. to:
Debby Coles-Dobay, Public Art Manager
City of Boynton Beach Public Art
100 E. Boynton Beach Blvd., Boynton Beach, FL 33425
QUESTIONS? Contact Debby Coles-Dobay at (561) 742-6026 or by email, colesdobayd@bbfl.us
