Request for Qualifications: Artwork/Poetry Wanted for Storefront Murals

The Arts Council of Indianapolis seeks the existing work of visual artists and literary artists/poets to be reproduced on vinyl murals which will be printed and installed on downtown Indy storefronts.

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

Compensation:  $500

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.

In partnership with the Arts Council of Indianapolis, Downtown Indy and Indiana Sports Corp, have identified several downtown storefronts as sites for the installation of vinyl reproductions of existing visual artworks or poems by central Indiana artists.

There is no conceptual theme for this project. The artwork or poetry submitted does not need to relate to sports or basketball. Note: No specific reference may be made to any venue, team, player, school, the NCAA or its trademarks, logos, or taglines. 

Window dimensions are variable and will be provided after artists are selected.

Eligibility

Artists must be 18 years or older and live in central Indiana (Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Morgan, or Shelby counties).
Artwork/Poetry must be suitable for all audiences.
You must be able to adhere to an aggressive timeline. See below.

Timeline

• February 4, 2021:  Call released
• February 15, 2021, 11:59 p.m.: Deadline for applications
• February 19, 2021: Selected artists/poets notified and agreements sent
• February 26, 2021: Visual artists: Final hi-res images due for vinyl production
• March 8 – 12, 2021: Vinyl installed
• March through December 2021: Artwork/Poetry Vinyl on display. Display dates may vary per storefront location. At the very least, they will be up through mid-April, 2021.

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 promotional use, and to maintain archival documentation of the project.

• The submitting artist must have produced the artwork, and the artist must own the copyright for the images or have permission to use any separately copyrighted images in the design.
• Documentation of any third-party permissions must be in hand at the time of application and available to be provided to the Arts Council prior to production of the vinyl.
• The submitting artist will sign an agreement giving the Arts Council and partners limited rights to use the artwork for the purposes stated in this call.

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.

Compensation

Each selected artist will receive $500 ($250 for participating plus $250 as a licensing fee for the use of the image/poem as part of the project.)

Promotions

• The Arts Council will host a project webpage and will keep it updated with information for the Storefront Project and 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, and partner representatives will identify up to 50 artworks/poems to be reproduced on vinyl and installed on storefronts.

Should the Arts Council receive an insufficient number of entries, we reserve the right to change the process to an invitation process.

Submission Considerations and Instructions

For your work to be considered for the project, follow these instructions:

• Submit ONLY via an online application form, available at https://indyarts.formstack.com/forms/march_projects.
  • This form is accessible on a variety of platforms and through various devices, including cell phones.
  • You will be able to save an unfinished application and return to it later.

Poets/Literary Artists

• The submitted poems may be published or unpublished, as long as they are the original work of the applicant, the applicant owns the rights to the poem, and the applicant has the right to allow third parties to publish the poems.
• Applicants may enter one document (.doc, .docx) containing up to three short poems and/or excerpts.
• Poems may be in any language but must be accompanied by an accurate English translation.
• Poems may have a maximum of 20 lines each.
• A graphic designer hired by the project partners will create the visual layout for selected poems.

Visual Artists

• The submission form will ask you to attach up to five images of existing visual work. JPG/JPEG images are preferred, but TIFF and PNG formats are also accepted.
  • Artists may only propose existing artwork for consideration.
  • For application purposes, images do not need to be high resolution, but the image quality should be set to “high.”  The resolution should be no larger than 72 dpi and the file size for each image should be under 1MB.
  • The suggested orientation of the submitted images is horizontal. NOTE: Selected images may be cropped by the project team/designers to fit window shapes/sizes.
• Tips for submitting images:
  • There is no theme or topic for this project. It does not need to relate to basketball.
  • Artwork should be engaging for both pedestrians and drivers alike.
  • Do not put your name, signature, or website address on the image itself. We will take care of that in the printing process and with appropriate labels and signage.
  • If you use text within your work, know that larger text will read better; also, bright, bold colors behind the text with great contrast between the background and the text letters will be easier to see.

After Selection

• If you are selected for the project, you will be asked to submit high-resolution files within one week, by Friday, February 26th.
• Please do not submit unless you have the ability to meet the aggressive timeline and image resolution requirements. Note: There is no additional compensation offered to re-photograph your artwork at the increased resolutions requested below.
• NOTE: If selected, the artist(s) will need to provide hi-res images scaled for printing.
  • They will need to be either:
    • 75 dpi at 100% scale (meaning the image size is 12ft wide and 10ft tall) – OR –
    • 750 dpi images at 1/10th scale (meaning the images are 12 inches wide and 10 inches tall).

Final Submission Details

• If you find you cannot attach your images/files to the application form, please contact Kate Oberreich, Artist Engagement Coordinator at  koberreich@indyarts.org.
• There is an optional demographic information survey at the end of the form. Answering these questions will help us serve artists better through our programming.
• You must click the “Submit” button to upload your application!
• 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!
• After submission, you will see an onscreen acknowledgement. This will let you know your application has been received.
• You will also receive an email acknowledgement containing your submitted information.

The deadline for submission 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 submission before the deadline!

QUESTIONS?

We are here to help! Contact Lindsey Lord, Director of Artist Services and Gallery 924 at llord@indyarts.org.