Santa Monica Seeks Artists for Future Projects

Santa Monica Cultural Affairs invites local, regional, national, and international artist/teams to submit qualifications for a prequalified artist roster.  The artist roster is a curated shortlist that will be adjudicated quarterly and will serve as a resource for public art selection panels, City departments outside of Cultural Affairs, external organizations, and private entities.

The roster may be used either in combination with an open call or invitational or as the sole resource for identifying appropriate artists/teams for a project. All entities using the Cultural Affairs’ prequalified roster will be strongly encouraged to budget artists’ fees when planning potential projects.

There are six categories of specialization artists/teams can submit for consideration. Artists/teams can apply to be considered in all six categories:

  • Public Art (permanent & temporary) – for artists/ teams that enrich and enliven the urban environment with an art practice that responds directly to a specific environment/communities and possess the appropriate durability for the specified lifespan of the project.
  • Social/Civic Practice – for artists/teams that focus on engagement through personal interaction and social discourse, which facilitates collaboration between artists, heritage holders and communities. The City of Santa Monica often has multiple planning processes going on at any given time; this category will serve as a resource for artist-driven community engagement that occurs within City Planning.
  • Media Arts – for artists/teams that focus on work that is either produced, modified, and transmitted by means of digital technologies, such as video/photography, monitor/LED screens, projections, virtual reality, augmented reality, sound installations, and locative media.
  • Murals – for artist/teams with a range of artistic styles and techniques that design and paint large-scale works for architectural features, walls, and/or art on construction fencing.
  • Design – for artist/teams with design practices that can be integrated into a wide range of projects including, landscape design, graphic design, industrial design, furniture design, exhibition design, lighting design, and documentation video/photography.
  • Infrastructure Art – for artists/teams that are interested in integrating art onto City infrastructures, such as utility boxes, alley doorways, or other infrastructures. Upcoming opportunities in this category are for an ‘Adopt-a-Box’ pilot program for Utility Boxes and an ‘Artist Alley’ project that is being led by Downtown Santa Monica (DTSM).

ELIGIBILITY
This request for qualifications is open to all artists, social practitioners, designers, architects, heritage holders, or teams engaged with public art, site responsive design, and community engaged design practices. All artist/teams, 18 years of age or older, of every race, color, religion, national origin, gender identification, military status, sexual orientation, marital status, and physical ability are encouraged to apply. City of Santa Monica Commission members or City of Santa Monica Employees are not eligible to apply for inclusion in this roster.

SELECTION PROCESS & CRITERIA
Request for Qualifications (RFQ) will be accepted on a rolling basis and will be reviewed four times a year.  Selection Committees will be comprised of representatives from the City and local arts professionals with subject expertise based on the individual categories. Submissions will be reviewed using the following criteria:

  • The body of work shows a strong quality and clear artistic perspective
  • The body of work presents unique perspectives and/or innovative methods
  • There is a demonstrated ability to execute their concepts
  • The body of work, process, or the artists’ statement demonstrates an interest in civic awareness, activism, or cultural equity.

Selected artists/teams will be on the roster for a term of two years. Artists will be notified four months before their two-year term limit and can complete a short form to confirm their desire to either remain on the roster – with the option to update their portfolio – or to be removed from the roster. Artists that are selected for a City project may continue to apply to any of the other City administered public art projects/ cultural programs for the duration that they are on the roster. Artists not selected for the roster may apply to open calls for other City managed public art projects. Artists that are selected for City projects will be asked to submit a Santa Monica Business license application packet.

DEADLINES
We will be accepting submissions on a rolling basis, and they will be reviewed four times a year. However, materials must be submitted by the dates below to be reviewed within one of the review cycles. The quarterly deadlines are:

  • March 29th 2019, by 10:59 PM PST/ 11:59 PM MST.
  • June 28th 2019 by 10:59 PM PST/ 11:59 PM MST.
  • September 30th 2019, by 10:59 PM PST/ 11:59 PM MST.
  • December 31, 2019 by 10:59 PM PST/ 11:59 PM MST.

APPLICATION MATERIALS
The application submission must include all of the information and materials described below.

  1. Artists/Teams Statement of Interest (500-word limit) Succinctly describe the artists’/ team’s art practice, specifically addressing how your practice, through a particular conceptual, aesthetic, or material direction, integrates or engages civic space.
  2. Resume(s) (limited to 2-pages per person and uploaded as a single PDF) Resumes should outline applicable professional accomplishments or life experience. Please include three professional references with contact information. For team applications, include 2-page resumes for each member of the team and denote specific strengths and responsibilities of the team member.
  3. A brief description of general capacity/interest for commissions (300-word limit) Submit a brief description of general types of projects (e.g., budget range, scale, timeline and types of stakeholders/clients) selected artists/teams would be interested in being approached to work on. We understand that many factors come into play when considering a project and that you may decline an invitation for any reason.
  4.  Past work examples (10 files, uploaded as JPEG/PNG/ MOV/MP4 files) Upload past work examples that illustrate the artist’s/team’s creative ability. These examples are the primary way of evaluating the quality of the artist’s/team’s work. Instructions on how to format images to CaFÉ™ specifications may be found here. Assistance in using the CaFÉ™ system is available during regular business hours by calling 303-629-1166 or 888-562-7232, or via email at cafe@westaf.org.

Please Note:

  • Only electronic submissions via CaFE™ will be accepted.
  • If artists/teams are submitting multiple applications for consideration in different categories, successive applications may be identical or similar for different categories, to best demonstrate the artist’s/team’s practice.
  • Teams should submit only one collaboratively created submission per category.
  • Do not submit project proposals at this stage; this is a short list.
  • There is no application fee.

QUESTIONS?
Email Chris Guerra, chris.guerra@smgov.net, with “Artist Roster – Question” in the subject line.