The City of Coral Gables requests qualifications from professional working artists for consideration to create an iconic artwork for the City’s new Public Safety Building. Artwork is sought that serves as a memorial to and honors the city’s public safety professionals.

Budget: $250,000

Eligibility: Professional artists residing in the United States

Deadline: July 18, 2018

ABOUT CORAL GABLES

The City of Coral Gables, The City Beautiful, is a progressive, international, coastal and historic City. Coral Gables has a population of 51,000 residents, has a vibrant downtown and is home to the University of Miami. It is proud to be ranked by Forbes.com ninth out of America’s Top 25 Towns to Live Well, and America’s sixth most successful walkable suburb by the Wall Street Journal.

The City of Coral Gables is unique among the communities of Miami-Dade County in that it can trace its beginning to the early 20th century City Beautiful movement. The spirit of the City Beautiful movement was rooted in the notion that if cities were to be the centers of American progress then the infrastructure of those cities should be something that was celebrated. From tree plantings, to a robust street construction program, to key infill investments in the downtown core, the City of Coral Gables carries on that legacy today in its approach to public works and planning.

In the past three decades, the City has experienced healthy growth, which bolstered the economic base. Growth in the commercial sector has brought in new activities for residents, including nighttime entertainment, live music, new retail options, and casual and fine dining. It has also helped maintain low property taxes. Today, Coral Gables is home to approximately 155 multinationals and 26 consulates and trade offices.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The City of Coral Gables is constructing a new, state of the art, Public Safety Building to replace a deteriorating existing Public Safety Administration Building. The new building will function as the City’s Police Headquarters and Administration Department, Fire Department Administration Department, 911 Call Center and First Responders Dispatch Center, EOC Command and Operations, Fire Station 1, City’s Human Resource Department and the City’s IT department.

The site is bound by 3 roads, Alcazar Avenue, Salzedo Street and Minorca Avenue, which provides great accessibility, visibility, and the advantage of being within the urban City core. The proposed new facility will consist of a single building and an adjacent secured parking garage.

The proposed New Public Safety Building will function as an office facility, but also operate 24 hours, 7 days per week as the Police Headquarters and Fire Station 1. The proposed development will comply with all applicable laws and ordinances; including Green Buildings sustainable design practices and LEED Silver certification.

PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITIES

Locations that may be considered for public art integration include the building’s plaza, lobby, and exterior façade.

Public art opportunities* include:

• Plaza enhancement using paving or terrazzo and/or leading into the interior
• Façade treatments
• Free standing sculpture
• Interior lobby installations
• Functional seating
• Shade treatments

*planned in coordination with the design and construction teams. The Arts Advisory Panel encourages artists to be creative with designs, materials, and placement.

SELECTION PROCESS

Members of the City’s Arts Advisory Panel will evaluate artist qualifications as set forth in the Coral Gables Art in Public Places Program. A short-list of artists will be asked to develop design concept proposals for the City with the final selected artist entering into an agreement with the City to fully develop their proposal. Short-listed artists will receive a concept proposal honorarium with a travel stipend to conduct a site visit and meet with project partners.

Qualifying Artist Criteria:

• Meets the definition of professional artist, which is defined as “an individual generally recognized by critics and peers as a professional practitioner of the visual arts, as judged by the quality of that professional practitioner’s body of work, educational background, experience, past public commissions, exhibition record, publications, receipt of honors and awards, training in the arts, and production of artwork.”.
• Demonstrates artistic excellence, innovation and originality as represented in past work and supporting materials.
• Demonstrates interest in and understanding of the project.
• Demonstrates interest and capability in creating public artworks in collaboration with the design team (if applicable) and other project partners.
• Demonstrates experience in successfully completing works of similar scope, scale, budget and complexity, or ability to articulate how he or she would be able to bring the necessary artistic and technical skills to this project.
• Demonstrates ability to communicate effectively with the City of Coral Gables staff, other project partners and the community.
• Demonstrates the potential to work in a public environment and animate public space.
• Demonstrates capacity for working in media and with concepts that are appropriate to the project goals and site.
• Is available to perform the scope of the work in a timely and professional manner.

Third parties, including gallery representatives, are encouraged to submit qualifications on behalf of an artist. Following the RFQ process, concept proposal requests, follow-ups, and contracts will be communicated directly with the artist or their studio designee.

PROJECTED TIMELINE

• Request for Qualifications Released:  June, 2018
• RFQ Submission Deadline:  July 18, 2018
• Qualifications Reviewed / Short Listed Artists:  July 25, 2018
• Short Listed Artists Confirmed & Contracted:  August 1, 2018
• Site Visit:  Week of August 20th
• Concept Proposals Deadline:  September 17, 2018
• Public Comment Period:  September 18 – 24, 2018
• Short Listed Artist Presentations to Arts Advisory Panel:  September 26, 2018
• Finalist Recommendation by Cultural Development Board:  October 2, 2018
• Finalist Recommendation to City Commission:  October, 2018
• Selected Artist Confirmed & Contracted:  October/November, 2018
• Selected Artist 75%-100% Design Complete:  April, 2019
• Fabrication:  July, 2019
• Installation:  August-September, 2019
• Close-out:  Fall, 2019

HOW TO APPLY

On-line applications are being accepted at: www.coralgables.com/publicart