Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs through its Art in Public Places Program and Miami-Dade County Department of Public Housing and Community Development, with partners Related Urban with Modis Architects, request qualifications from professional artists and/or artist teams to create artworks for Liberty Square, a nine-block area in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, which will be redeveloped to include new multifamily public housing, affordable and workforce housing, affordable homeownership opportunities, economic development and capital improvements.
Budget: $1,100,000 (for 4-6 commissions; lowest commission value $100,000)
Eligibility: Professional visual artists or artist-led teams based in the US
Deadline: 08/19/2019 10:59 PM Central Time
ABOUT LIBERTY SQUARE
Liberty Square (colloquially referred to as the “Pork & Beans”) is a 753-unit Miami-Dade public housing apartment complex in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Constructed as a part of the New Deal by the Public Works Administration and opening in 1937, it was the first public housing project for blacks in the Southern United States.
As development flourished in South Florida from the early 20th century through the 1920s, restrictive covenants and Jim Crow laws barred black Americans in the Miami area from living outside of Overtown. Overtown, then called “Colored Town”, grew to be one of the most densely populated areas in South Florida. Several city blocks of Overtown homes were dilapidated shotgun houses with no electricity or access to municipal water and sewer, being host to a relatively high incidence of infectious diseases in many areas. Community organizing and advocacy lobbied the new administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the first 100 days for the creation of a new "negro colony" on what was-then the outskirts of the city to alleviate blight and to largely displace blacks from Overtown to spur further private real estate development in Downtown Miami.
The new facility composed of 243 single-family units opened to tenants February 6, 1937. Built just west of the north Miami neighborhoods of Buena Vista and Lemon City, opposition to the proximity of the new apartments to the mostly white communities led to the erection of a 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) wall along West 12th Avenue from North 62nd Street north to 71st Street, most of which was torn down since the 1950s. Construction of I-95 and I-395/State Road 836 (then, the North-South and East-West Expressways, respectively) purged thousands of African Americans from Overtown into other black area communities like the burgeoning Liberty Square and surrounding Liberty City area.
Until the de facto racial segregation in public accommodations and private homeownership practices ended after the enactment of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, Liberty Square became the most densely populated subdivision in the Miami area. Once a largely middle income community, a purge of poor elderly and several welfare-dependent single mother families from Overtown fled to Liberty Square, leading to a black flight of middle and higher-income African Americans to suburban Miami-Dade county and a decline in living standards in the project between the 1960s and the 1980s. Liberty Square and surrounding area were the location of notable Miami area race riots in the years following the Civil Rights Movement.
Public safety and economic opportunity are currently significant concerns at Liberty Square. The Miami-Dade County Department of Public Housing and Community Development seeks to address these issues through a new vision for resident life. This new approach includes Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) design principles, community benefits including substantial job training, employment, educational, and health opportunities, and a range of mixed income housing, including public housing, affordable and attainable housing, and opportunities for home ownership.
The redevelopment plan for Liberty Square is to demolish all existing public housing units, and other non-dwelling structures, and replace them with approximately 1,455 new units including 640 public housing and 815 non-public housing units, community service facilities, education and healthcare facilities, as well as retail and a national grocery store.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The selected artists will design unique artworks that will contribute to the identity of this development and provide unexpected and delightful visual encounters for residents, visitors and passers-by. Opportunities for public art include but are not limited to:
WAYFINDING: $400,000
Each of Liberty Square’s major residential blocks is formed by a gathering of buildings formed around a parking area and green space, with two main entrance/exits. Art in Public Places seeks an artist or artists to create a sense of placemaking, pride and identify for key locations with visual elements that may entail architectural cladding, fencing, hardscape, seating and shading elements, lighting, or free-standing sculptural elements.
CENTRAL COMMUNITY PARK: $250,000
Within the Central Community Park, opportunities for public art include but are not limited to hardscape, seating and shading elements, lighting, bicycle racks, planters, bollard alternates, free-standing sculptural elements, fences, utility covers, playground design.
FREE-STANDING ARTWORKS: $250,000
Art in Public Places seeks to incorporate a number of free-standing sculptures at key locations.
ARTWORKS FOR INTERIOR SPACES: $150,000
Art in Public Places seeks to establish a purchase fund to acquire framed two dimensional artworks or wall-based installations to install within building interiors. It is intended that this fund highlight work by local artists.
COMMUNITY POOL: $100,000
The pool area is located within the central community Park. Suggested opportunities for public art include but are not limited to design for the wall enclosure surrounding the pool area (both inside and facing outward into park), seating and shading elements, and integrated or free-standing elements.
TIMELINE
SELECTION CRITERIA AND PROCESS
Pursuant to the processes of the Art in Public Places Program, a three-member group of art and architectural professionals drawn from the Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) will recommend a shortlist of artists to create full proposals to the Art in Public Places Trust. The primary criteria for shortlist selection will be previous artistic accomplishment as demonstrated in images of completed artwork, public art experience, and/or initial design approach to the project as demonstrated in the artist’s statement. Artists who have not created public art before are warmly invited to apply. If appropriate, the PAC reserves the right to recommend artists who may not have applied to this Call.
Upon being recommended to prepare full proposals, shortlisted artists will receive detailed information regarding the opportunities for public art. Artists will also be invited to attend a site visit and Artist Orientation meeting, and will have the opportunity to meet with the client, including the design & the construction teams, and Art in Public Places staff.
Shortlisted Artists will receive a proposal honorarium commensurate to the number of proposals they present, as well as an allowance for travel-related expenses for personally attending the recommended meetings in Miami-Dade County including the Artist Orientation and final proposal presentation meeting. Artists may choose to present their final proposals via video conference. Art in Public Places staff will be available to support inquiries throughout the process. Note that upon shortlist recommendation, Art in Public Places will contract directly with and communicate solely with the artist and/or his/her designees.
Upon the presentation of proposals, the PAC will again make recommendations for final commissions to the Art in Public Places Trust for their consideration.
WHAT TO SUBMIT
Interested artists are invited to identify medium, dimensions, date, location, client/agency, size, budget, completion date (if applicable), and brief written description for each image submitted. Artists who work in video, sound, installations, and kinetic sculpture may submit a short selection of video, audio or dynamic media file.
Artists are not invited to submit proposal concepts at this time.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Submit materials ONLINE ONLY via Submittable. Submittable is free to create an account and free to apply.
ABOUT ART IN PUBLIC PLACES
One of the first public art programs in the United States, Art in Public Places was established in 1973 with the passage of an ordinance allocating 1.5% of capital costs of new local government buildings for the purchase or commission of artworks in Miami-Dade County.
Art in Public Places strives to commission significant permanent works of public art from local, national, and international contemporary visual artists. The program’s commissions and acquisitions contribute to and reflect the critical dialogues and artistic methodologies of our time, while embracing the unique context of South Florida. Accessioned artworks join an internationally renowned collection of over 700 artworks and are preserved through a lifetime Maintenance and Repair Program.
Art in Public Places is dedicated to enriching the public environment and to preserving and enhancing the artistic and civic pride of Miami-Dade County. Art in Public Places promotes collaboration and commissions that improve the visual quality of public spaces, transforming them from ordinary civic areas to places that can lift the spirit and connect with the community.
QUESTIONS? Contact Amanda Sanfilippo Long, 305-375-5436 or amandas@miamidade.gov
