The City of Norfolk and the Art Planning Committee seek to create a pool of qualified artists to design and create large-scale public artwork.

LOCATION/CONTEXT: The City of Norfolk and the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA) have partnered to transform the former Tidewater Gardens public housing community in the St. Paul’s area into a mixed-use, mixed-income community of the future – an economically vibrant, environmentally resilient place where people of all incomes, backgrounds, ages, and cultures can live, learn, work, play, and thrive. Town homes and multi-family homes (714 new housing units - 260 units with direct rental assistance, 238 affordable units that also accept Housing Choice Vouchers, and 216 market-rate apartments), leafy, tree-lined streets, acres of active greenspace and flood mitigation, heritage trails, and public art make up modern, comfortable residential living, just steps away from shopping, dining, and downtown Norfolk, making the new neighborhood the perfect place to call home.

The People First Initiative works with residents to develop individual and family plans that provide support in the areas of housing, economic mobility, education and health and wellness.  Working with a multitude of partners, the transformation aims to always put people first. The redeveloped Tidewater Gardens, now named Kindred by the residents, will celebrate the area’s unique history and culture, while moving Norfolk forward with resilient economic and environmental solutions. For more about the St. Paul’s redevelopment project go to https://stpaulsdistrict.org/.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The City of Norfolk and the Art Planning Committee  are accepting applications to the 2024-2026 Artist Roster. We seek to build an artistically broad range of artists and artist teams to create public art place-making experiences as part of the new St. Paul’s Transformation. Artists of minority populations and traditionally underrepresented populations are particularly encouraged to apply.

The Artist Roster will be a list of artists who pre-qualify to work with the City of Norfolk. It allows for a simplified, inclusive, equitable, and transparent selection process for selecting artists and the commissioning of new, original, and site responsive public art. The Roster will become the main tool for choosing artists for the St Paul’s public art projects.

The Art Planning Committee is aware of the persistent racial inequality in residential housing and social domains. This redevelopment project aims to correct residential segregation by race without losing the important culture of the neighborhoods. The final artworks should have emotional impact, communicate the depth of feeling, meaning, and human understanding of the history and the culture. The selected artists will work closely with the community to understand the history, the changing race relations, the community and what they mean to Norfolk. We want artists who can deeply engage with the projects.

ELIGIBILITY: The Roster is open to individual artists and artist teams or artist collectives. Local artists of color or teams including local artists of color are especially welcome to apply. All artists must be 18 years old or older to apply.

PROJECT SITES: The Art Planning Committee has identified potential sites, themes, and historic narratives for public artwork within St. Paul’s boundaries. The Committee will commission 6-10 site-specific placemaking artworks in the next two years. The Cultural Plan is attached.

Application Requirements

Proposals  must be submitted to https://artist.callforentry.org by 11:59 PM on January 7, 2024. There is no application fee to apply or use the online application system.

The following materials are required:

1.      Statement of Understanding, online agreement of compliance to all State of Virginia codes. By submitting your application, you agree to the Statement of Understanding.

2.      Letter of Interest outline your interest in this project and how you will approach the artwork design and creation. (1000-word max)

3.      Resume or a brief biography, maximum of two (2) pages, outlining your professional accomplishments. If submitting as a team, please include resumes for each team member, with each resume not exceeding two (2) pages.

4.      Artwork Images, selection of up to ten (10) images representing artworks most relevant to the scope of this opportunity. 

5.      References, three (3) professional references, including name, affiliated organization (if appropriate), email address, phone number, and relationship to each reference.

Eligibility Criteria

The Roster is open to individual artists and artist teams or artist collectives. Local artists of color or teams including local artists of color are especially welcome to apply. All artists must be 18 years old or older to apply.