The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that the City of Wichita has been approved for a $75,000 ‘Our Town’ award in support of “A City Where I Belong: A Toolkit for Artists.” These placemaking grants support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into local efforts to strengthen and authentically engage communities in order to advance local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes in communities. 

For this project, the City’s Division of Arts and Cultural Services has partnered with Harvester Arts and visiting artist Aaron Asis. COW, HA, and Asis will assemble a cohort of three local artists to analyze and interpret the City’s ‘Percent for Art' program and public art commissioning processes, deploy temporary art engagements that collect feedback from the public, and ultimately incorporate our findings into a public artist toolkit that will expand access and address barriers to enter the public art field for local artists. 

Artists selected for the cohort should expect a 10-15 hour per week commitment. The cohort will meet in person and/or virtually and should be able to be easily reached by phone and email, and be outside for extended periods of time. 

The three local artists that are selected for the cohort will each receive $1000 per month for year 1 (12 months) and $600 per month for year 2 (10 months) and be provided up to $5000 in materials for a temporary public art project they will develop as part of the cohort.

TIMELINE:

Application open: August 3, 2023 

Artist questions due: August 10, 2023, 5 PM CST

Response to questions: August 14, 2023

Applications due: August 21, 2023, 5 PM CST

Notification of finalists: August 25, 2023

Finalist interviews: August 28 - August 31, 2023

Notification of award: September 6, 2023

Application Requirements

Each artist or artist team must submit an entirely digital application. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

1.       Six (6) to ten (10) images or video of your work

2.       Annotated Image List: An annotated image list that includes the title, media, year completed, and dimensions for each corresponding image. The annotated image list may include thumbnails of submitted images but does not replace the need to upload individual image files in fulfillment of number 1 above.

3.       A one (1) page Letter of Interest (LOI) or video of no longer than three (3) minutes telling us about yourself and why you think you’d be a good candidate for this opportunity. 

4.       A two (2) page resume or curriculum vitae (CV). If applying as an artist team, provide a resume or CV for each team member and a list of key team members and their roles/affiliations in one PDF.

QUESTONS:

All inquiries should be emailed to Kristin Beal, Executive Director, Harvester Arts at kristin@harvesterarts.com by August 10, 2023, 5 PM CST.

Eligibility Criteria

Artists from Wichita, Ks and the surrounding area of all backgrounds, cultures, and stages in their careers are encouraged to apply. We are looking to expand access and address barriers to enter the public art field for local artists. 

Visual artists working in all media, including but not limited to, sculpture, mosaic, design, painting, mural making, new media, and installation are encouraged to apply. 

No Prior Public Art Experience Required. 

It is the declared policy and practice of the City of Wichita to extend equal employment opportunities to all qualified persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, age, political affiliation, sexual orientation, disability, or other non-merit factors.