Site Description and Background: 
Earlier this year, a new, 53,000 square-foot McKay Bay Transfer Station supplements the existing facility to accommodate the increased waste generated by Tampa’s development and growth. The new complex includes a Citizen's Drop-Off Area, 30,000 square foot tipping floor, which doubles the existing site's storage capacity and 5,600 square foot employee building, complete with offices, conference room, a new breakroom, and employee restrooms.  This new facility offers an area at approximately 143’ x 48’ for a commissioned artwork.

The Transfer Station is a building or processing site for the temporary deposition, consolidation, and aggregation of waste. From here waste can be divided, sorted, and taken to the correct disposal location: whether it is the Waste-to-Energy Facility or offsite recycling service to recover materials such as metals.

Some items from the Transfer Station are sent to the McKay Bay Waste-To-Energy Facility provides a reliable, more environmentally conscious method of managing the City of Tampa's 360,000+ tons of municipal solid waste that citizens generate each year. The energy created in burning this waste is converted into enough electrical power to supply electrical needs for up to 15,000 Tampa homes per month.   In addition to recovering energy from municipal solid waste, Tampa has a materials recycling program for recovering glass, plastic, aluminum, paper, and yard waste.  

Photos of site can be found at the end of this document and link to the site’s web site is: https://www.tampa.gov/solid-waste/info/mckay-bay  

Project Description:  
The proposed location for the artwork is the western exterior façade of a newly constructed wall providing an area of approximately 143’ x 48’ for a commissioned artwork.

Establishing Sustainability and Resilience is one of Mayor Jane Castor’s Transforming Tampa’s Tomorrow (T3) strategic goals. As part of this goal, it is a mission of the City of Tampa to build a clean energy future and to conserve natural resources and is of particular interest to educate the community on the impact of the public’s actions on the environment.  Artists whose work builds public awareness about environmental issues are encouraged to apply. The artist for this project is expected to manage all aspects of design, fabrication, installation, budget, and work with city staff and architectural plans for the site. This opportunity for public art is open to a variety of mediums; there may be an opportunity for artists to use existing materials from the 
 

Application Requirements

Application Requirements:

1. Contact Information, including website

2. Work Samples – up to ten images or video work samples depicting works of art relevant to the opportunities outlined in this RFQ.

3. Work Sample Descriptions – You may upload a document describing the work submitted samples or complete the fields in the work sample uploads. Please state your name on any documents that are uploaded, and label file LastName_FirstName For each work sample, provide information from the list below that is relevant to your work sample.
  - Title
  - Date Completed
  - Materials
  - Name of Collaborators / Team Members
  - Location of Artwork
  - Description of Artwork
  - Commissioning Agency
  - Cost
  - Website to learn more about commissioned Artwork
  - Vimeo or YouTube link, if relevant

4. Resume - a current professional resume (limit to three pages), emphasizing professional Public Art experience and/or experience in working with public agencies.  Please label file, i.e., LastName_FirstName_Resume 

5. Letter of Interest – in the letter, describe why these opportunities are appealing to you and relevant to your work. Include your experience with public art, your experience working with or creating art in diverse communities and placemaking. Letter should not exceed 3,000 characters

Artist teams may submit up to ten work samples total for the team, resumes for each member, and a joint letter that details the information requested in (4) above. The letter must also state previous experience of members of the artist teams collaborating with each other.

Do not submit a proposal for a concept with your application. Artist who submit proposals will be disqualified and their submission will not be reviewed. Proposals are defined as a physical description of an artwork for the site and/or a visual illustration of an artwork for the site.

Questions pertaining to application process may be emailed to: arts@tampagov.net 
 

Budget:

The project budget has a range of $150,000-$200,000; this amount is to cover all expenses including design, fabrication, installation, travel, insurance, etc.  The Artist is expected to meet project budget and schedule. 

Artist Selection Process:

The Art Selection Committee, comprised of a Public Art Committee representative, visual arts expert, and stakeholders relevant to the project (Solid Waste Staff) will conduct a blind review of the images submitted. The committee will then review artist resumes, and their statements regarding how they would approach this project. The committee may opt to choose a finalist directly or select multiple finalists to submit refined proposals. The artist/s will work with the committee if any adjustments to the concept/proposal are needed.

Working Project Schedule                                                    

Call to Artists deadline: Monday, December 19, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. EST  

Artist selected: 1st Quarter 2023

Design concepts finalized: April/May 2023

Contract/Fabrication: Summer/Fall 2023

Target Installation date: Winter 2023/2024

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility:

Open to visual artists with experience executing their ideas from concept to completion and working in the public realm with public agencies.  The artist will be working closely with the City’s Arts & Cultural Affairs Division, and Solid Waste Department.