Wake County, North Carolina seeks to commission a professional artist to create site-specific exterior art work to be placed at the new Southeast County Park.

Budget: $120,000
Eligibility: Professional artists
Deadline: 09/16/2019 1:00 PM Central Time

Project Description
Based on the park master plan (see “Site History” below), the project provides opportunities to incorporate multiple public art pieces throughout the site. The public art pieces may be interactive and educational as well as visual and should be consistent with the park mission statement and core principles. As the schematic design is just beginning, this provides the selected artist the opportunity to be engaged with the design team, throughout much of the design process.

If commissioned, the successful Artist shall be responsible for the following:

1. Perform all services and furnishing supplies, material, and equipment as necessary for the design, permitting, execution, fabrication, transportation, and installation of the Work at the Site. This includes participation in coordination meetings as necessary with the design team.
2. Submit to Wake County detailed drawings of the commissioned Work in order to carry out architectural and engineering design reviews and to certify compliance of the Work with applicable statutes and ordinances.
3. Strictly adhere to and manage the approved project, budget, and schedule.
4. Provide an Operations and Maintenance guideline to the County for their respective art piece.
5. Bear the entire risk of loss or damage to the Work during design, fabrication, packing, shipping, and installation.
6. Provide and maintain insurance to cover claims for damages for personal injury, bodily injury (including wrongful death), and property damage. The artist shall require all subcontractors to provide and maintain insurance. A complete list of insurance requirements will be provided to project finalist.
7. In general, the County shall own the physical works of art, and copyrights shall be retained by the artist, with reproduction rights allowed the County for appropriate promotional and educational purposes. Legal title and copyrights in any work of public art funded in whole or in part by direct County funding, shall be spelled out in a mutually agreeable contract between the County and the artist.

Site History
Wake County has recently completed a Master Plan for a new county park facility in southeast Wake County. Design and construction of Southeast County Park is the first project priority of the Parks Recreation Open Space and Greenways bond, which was approved by voters in the Fall of 2018. Southeast County Park will be the first county park in this geographic area of Wake County.

Through a robust community engagement planning process, the master plan was developed which includes a wide variety of site and building amenities, more specifically focused on natural resources and environmental education.

The draft master site plan, mission statement, program themes, and architectural concept plans are available at this link: http://www.wakegov.com/parks/southeast/Pages/default.aspx

Artwork Goals
The public art pieces may be interactive and educational as well as visual and should be consistent with the park mission statement and core principles.

• Southeast County Park aims to provide a universally inclusive recreational amenity to the residents of Wake County and all visitors with the following core principles:
• Protect, restore and enhance the ecological diversity of the site from forest to floodplain and the beneficial functions of the underlying natural living systems
• Elevate the historical and cultural significance of the land to strengthen the connection of people to the local community
• Promote human health and wellness through outdoor recreation and building connections of people to the natural environment
• The park is to be a model for resiliency and stewardship fostering flora and fauna preservation, habitat restoration aligned with community access, exploration and celebration

Artwork Location Description
Southeast County Park is located at 3355 NC Highway 42 Willow Spring, North Carolina 27592. The park contains roughly 300 acres that includes agricultural fields, upland forest, forested slopes, wetlands and floodplains. There are steep bluffs in the northern section of the property that overlook Middle Creek, which bisects the property.

The majority of the amenities within the park have been located within the existing fields between NC 42 and the forested edge. The park center is located at the transition of the fields to the forest. The concentration of amenities into a central activity space in the front of the park encourages a connection of people to the community and allows the existing forested areas, bluffs and streams to be explored while preserving the sensitive habitat zones.

The Park Center is located at the transition of fields to forest, which is one of the several ecotones that exist with Southeast County Park. By integrating the Park Center at the fringe of two overlapping ecological communities, the buildings become not just a destination, but a starting point for further exploration.

To revive the character of the old NC42 farm road and to preserve the agricultural character along NC42, a community garden gathering / event space is planned in connection with the existing barn and adjacent agricultural fields.

Timeline

• Post RFQ: August 13, 2019
• Written Inquiries must be received in writing via email by: September 3, 2019
• Reponses to Inquiries: September 6, 2019
• Submissions are due by: 2:00PM (EST) September 16, 2019
• Finalist(s) selected and notified for Site Visit: Week of October 14, 2019
• Finalist(s) Interviews: October 28-November 8, 2019
• Commission awarded: November 18, 2019
• Park design:  through December 2020
• Park construction: early 2021-mid 2022

Selection Process
A Selection Committee of eleven (11) individuals, will select the artist that best meets the requirements, based on the information contained in their response to the Request for Qualifications.

The intent of the process is to flow as efficiently as possibly while following the dates indicated in Section IV. After submission deadline, selection committee will review each submission and will narrow the pool of applicants to three (3) finalists.

Each of the three (3) finalists will be provided a stipend of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) to facilitate travel to Raleigh, North Carolina with the intent of familiarizing the finalist to the park site. Site visits will terminate with the Selection Committee interviewing each of the three finalists. Once interviews are completed, Wake County will select an artist. An initial design contract will be awarded to the selected artist. Upon completion and approval of the design, a final fabrication contract will be issued to the artist for completion of the scope of work outlined in Section III, and further defined in the fabrication contract.

Selection Criteria
In the selection of a finalist, the Selection Committee will review and consider the following:

• The conceptual basis for the Artist’s body of work as defined in the written statement.
• The technical and aesthetic quality of the artist’s past work as represented in the image submissions.
• Artist’s experience successfully designing, fabricating, administering, and completing public art projects and/or custom architectural elements on time and in budget.
• Artist’s experience successfully completing prior work in accordance with the Owner’s schedule and budget.
• Artist’s experience working collaboratively with a project team, including Owner, Landscape Architect, Architect and General Contractor
• The artist’s education and training.
• The quality and comprehensiveness of the submission package.

What to Submit

Submission shall include the following:

1. Cover sheet. Include the Artist’s name, address, telephone, email, website (if applicable) to receive all project information or any official correspondence relating to the project. Please reference the project name, Wake County Public Art for Southeast County Park, on all correspondence.
2. Artist Resume & References, no longer than 2 pages and including additional team member(s) or subconsultant(s) resumes. Include a list of public art projects completed during the past 10 years, selected public art projects, awards, current gallery affiliations, and grants/fellowships.
3. Digital images of Past Work. Submit 8 images featuring select examples of previous public art projects with particular emphasis on works of a similar scope or utilizing similar techniques. Each image shall be numbered and include title, date of completion / installation, budget, media, dimensions, location, and a brief description of the work.
4. Artist Statement, no longer than 2 pages. Describe the conceptual basis for your body of work. In a separate paragraph, explain your experience working and coordinating with landscape architectural/architectural/engineering teams when incorporating art into a site and facility.

NOTE: Wake County reserves the right to request additional information from each individual artist.

How to Submit

• Submit materials in a single PDF file (label PDF file as follows: (Last Name-First Name-Middle Initial) no larger than 15MB, VIA EMAIL to SEParkArtRFQ@wakegov.com
• Submit materials to arrive no later than 2:00 PM (EST) on Monday, September 16, 2019.  Incomplete applications, and any applications submitted after the deadline will be deemed ineligible and not be considered.

QUESTIONS? Contact Eric Staehle, 919-856-6369 or eric.staehle@wakegov.com