Utah State University in partnership with the Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management and the Utah Arts & Museums’ Public Art Program requests qualifications from artists and/or artist teams interested in creating site specific artwork(s) for the new Mehdi Heravi Global Teaching & Learning Center at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.

DEADLINE FOR MATERIALS: October 14, 2022

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF WORLD LANGUAGES AND CULTURES
The Utah State University (USU) Department of World Languages and Cultures offers programs in modern languages and literature, and intensive English education.

The mission of the department is to explore thought, expression, and values in a global context. It seeks to increase its students’ abilities to communicate with others, to critically and sensitively investigate multiple means of understanding the human experience. The department helps students achieve the language and cultural proficiency necessary to become active members of the global community. By doing so,
the department prepares its students to meet both career and life goals.

More than 30 faculty and instructors contribute to the department’s programs in modern languages and literature, as well as intensive English education. The department offers a Masters of Second Language Teaching, a certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Bridge Language concurrent enrollment courses for high school students, as well as 7 undergraduate majors, and 12 minors.

The Department also hosts the Intensive English Language Institute, a program that helps international students transition to life at USU through a mix of language courses and cultural activities. The courses and programs offered by the department provide majors and minors with opportunities to achieve understanding by increasing their communicative, interpretive, linguistic and research skills; their ability to function within an increasingly globalized society; and their awareness of ethical, aesthetic, and other values.

More than 1,200 USU students major or minor in language studies, and more than 2,200 students with a range of majors take classes from the Department of World Languages and Cultures. The Mehdi Heravi Global Teaching and Learning Center will offer a destination for these students to develop cultural competencies, language skills, and connections with others—enriching Utah’s workforce and launching students into the next stage of their careers.

MEHDI HERAVI GLOBAL TEACHING AND LEARNING CENTER
The Mehdi Heravi Global Teaching and Learning Center is designed to create real-world understanding for language and culture students through interaction.

The center will include eight cultural hubs, one for each language: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. These hubs will offer a comfortable and inviting space for students to practice their language skills, using specialized books and materials; engage with cultural artifacts; have video meetings with other students from around the world; and experience the foods, music, film, and art of other cultures.

The center will also include a technology suite, in which students will interview their peers, local community members, and visiting scholars. They’ll use specialized equipment to create podcasts, documentaries, and online resources to support cross-cultural understanding.

The center will have a catering kitchen and adjacent event space where, for example, students can make sushi and learn about Japanese food traditions. These opportunities can foster recognition of shared humanity across cultures, as well as appreciation of differences. This space will be used by other USU groups as well, hosting workshops, banquets, presentations, and other events.

The center will meet a range of student needs that are under-met elsewhere on campus. Whether for medical, religious, or financial reasons, many students bring their own food to campus. The student breakroom will enable these students to store and heat food they bring from home. For neurodivergent students, religious students, and students investing in their mental health, the reflection room will offer a calm, quiet space to recharge. The secure bike storage and shower facilities will support students with transportation challenges, as well as active students seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. Study nooks will offer students quiet spaces where they can converse, work on homework, or relax with their peers.

The center will also include offices for the Department of World Languages and Cultures faculty and staff, meeting/conference rooms, language-testing rooms, two large language labs, and a small café in the lobby area.

LOGAN, UTAH
The land now known as Utah was first inhabited by the ancient Pueblo people, sometimes referred to as the Anasazi. Later, the Ute Tribe, which the state is named for, settled in the area centered around the Provo Valley. The state has eight federally recognized Native Nations, the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Indians, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Northwestern Band of Shoshone, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, San Juan Southern Paiute, Skull Valley Band of Goshute, and White Mesa Band of the Ute Mountain Ute. The city of Logan resides on the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Shoshone Nation.

Logan is nestled at the foot of the nearly 10,000-foot high Bear River Mountain Range. Residents consider Logan Canyon a 40-mile community park which leads to 18-mile long Bear Lake, called the Rocky Mountain Caribbean for its azure blue waters. Logan boasts of outstanding fishing, biking, hiking, skiing, camping, and golfing. The city boasts a strong agricultural base - Cache County is Utah’s leading agricultural producer. However, the cultural offerings are excellent with a resident opera company, repertory theatre, several dance companies, and accomplished artists.

COMMITTEE STATEMENT
The Mehdi Heravi Global Teaching and Learning Center will help students gain the communication expertise and cultural confidence to be leaders in their professions and communities. The basic mission of the new facility is to provide state-of-the-art education and research space for faculty and students. It is the intent of the Art Selection Committee to commission a public artwork that will reflect the interests of this diverse, developing community. The artwork should be accessible to the public and enhance both the student and employee experience of the space.

For inspiration, we share below the Visioning Principles developed by the stakeholder team involved in the building’s design:
• Key Words: Empathy + Understanding + Compassion + Connection + Peace
• Cultural Connections: A flourishing, lively space that celebrates shared humanity in individual cultural variation
• A Place for All: A welcoming, inviting place for the international community
• Advanced Learning and Research: A place to cultivate new knowledge, inclusive of both students and faculty
• Respect for the Context of the Quad: Understand the views, materiality, architectural language, rhythm of the surrounding historic facades, thresholds and transitions between the building and the landscape.

Proposed work should reflect and complement the visioning principles and the mission of the building. Please review the building plans and illustrations carefully and consider both interior and exterior spaces, and the unique possibilities afforded by the building’s design. The Committee has identified several areas that may be suitable for an artist’s interpretation but will remain open to other areas as envisioned by the finalist artists.

These identified areas include:

• Air space above the main entry into the building
• The east courtyard between Ray B. West and the Mehdi Heravi Global Teaching and Learning Center
• The west end of the building nearest to Old Main

BUDGET
$115,000 is available for all related expenses of this Public Art commission(s) including (but not limited to) artist fees, engineering, fabrication, insurance, shipping, travel, installation, documentation, etc.

DEADLINE
Complete application packages must be RECEIVED on or before October 14, 2022 by 11:59p.m. MDT 

SELECTION PROCESS AND SCHEDULE
The Selection Committee will review all properly submitted qualifications from which a short list of semi-finalists will be selected. Semi-finalists will be asked to present a full proposal to the committee on December 8, 2022 to include concept, budget, and timeline. All semi-finalists will be awarded an honorarium to help defray the costs of the development of the proposal. The honorarium will be applied toward the commission amount for the artist(s) awarded the commission(s). The USU Mehdi Heravi Global Teaching and Learning Center Art Selection Committee reserves the right to withhold the award of a commission or re-release the call for entries.
Schedule:
October 14, 2022, 11:59pm MDT – Deadline for receipt of preliminary materials
October 20, 2022 – Committee Review
December 8, 2022 – Finalists interviews and presentations
Spring 2024 – Project substantial completion

ARTIST SELECTION COMMITTEE
Lucas Davis - Project Manager, Division of Facilities Construction Management
Kelly Christofferson - Architect, Facilities Planning, Design, and Construction, USU
Nancy Hanks - Assistant to the President, USU
Becky Hawkins - Project Architect, Method Studio
Liz Yonashiro* - Project Architect, Method Studio
Matt Wallace* - Project Architect, Method Studio
Katie Lee-Koven - Executive Director, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art
Natalie Archibald Smoot - Assistant to the Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Rebecca Walton - Associate Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
 

*non-voting committee members

Application Requirements

Interested artists may submit applications online via CallForEntry.org 
Register at www.callforentry.org and follow the directions for registration and submitting material for this Public Art Request for Qualifications. 
The application process will prompt you for all necessary documents and information. This includes up to 10 images and/or up to 1 movie file of previous work, a CV or resume, and a Letter of Interest explaining your interest in the project and how your work might relate to the project. 
 

Eligibility Criteria

Resident US citizen or legal resident artists / artist teams. Utah artists and artists of a historically underrepresented population are strongly encouraged to apply. Art Selection Committee members, staff and Board of Utah Arts & Museums, and employees of Method Studio are not eligible to apply for this commission.