CALL DETAIL
Request for Qualifications (RFQ): 
City List of Qualified Public Artists, Saint Paul, Minnesota 2016-2018
Entry Deadline: October 28, 2016

REQUIREMENTS
Work Samples:   6-8
Work Samples Narrative: Description of each image including title, media, year, location of installation, materials, dimensions, and replacement value.
Resume with References: Not to exceed three pages.
Artist Statement: Not to exceed one page/3,000 characters.
References:  3
Complete: Questions and Answers section of this open call.
REQUIRED: Complete and submit the City of Saint Paul Vendor Outreach Questionnaire (VOQ).


OVERVIEW AND GOALS

The City of Saint Paul Public Art Ordinance Program is seeking to establish a new pre-qualified City List of Qualified Public Artists (List) to be referenced for upcoming City plans and capital projects. The List will be referenced by public art project committees; City department project managers; proposers responding to City Request for Proposals (RFPs) for plans that require a public artist team-member; capital project design teams that require a public artist; and/or the City Artist program for artists to join their team.

In particular, the List may be referenced by committees and City project managers seeking artists to create artwork for specific capital projects such as streetscape, trail or infrastructure design; parks and play areas; recreation centers; libraries; fire or police stations; and for other City-owned facilities.

Background

In 2009, the City of Saint Paul passed an ordinance supporting public art. The visionary legislative purpose and intent of the ordinance is clear ... “the city council believes that planning and development decisions should give aesthetic and social value equal weight with any project’s functional and economic values. Public art strengthens public places and enhances and promotes Saint Paul’s identity as a livable and creative city and a desirable place to live, work and visit.”

The ordinance asserts the City’s belief that artists should be involved from the earliest stages of conceptual planning, and continue through project design and implementation. Saint Paul’s ordinance is unique among municipal public art programs nationwide because artists add their perspectives and insights to the City’s plans, as well as create public art for capital projects.

The City of Saint Paul Public Art Ordinance Program information including Guidelines and Technical Manual may be found at: http://www.stpaul.gov/publicart

The Public Art Eligibility Master List and Status Report on this web page identifies current plans and capital projects. Please note that many plans and capital projects have limited budgets.

APPLICATION DEADLINE AND TIMELINE

Open Call Issued: September 21, 2016
Question and Answer Period: September 21- October 10, 2016
Response to Questions and Answers Posted: October 12, 2016
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: OCTOBER  28, 2016
Deadline for Submitting the Vendor Outreach Questionnaire: No later than November 7, 2016
Jury Process: November 2016
Approval Process: By December 16, 2016
Artists Selected are Notified: By December 21, 2016

Artists selected for the List will be included for a two-year period from January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2018.
 

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Please enter or upload  the following onto the CAFÉ online application system:

Artist Statement: Not to exceed one page/3,000 characters in length. Briefly describe your interest and relevant qualifications for being included in the List. Describe your public art experience and approach to working with municipalities and neighborhoods.

Resume and References: Not to exceed three pages in PDF format. Current resume outlining your experience as a public artist and highlighting permanently installed artwork. Full name, position, address, email and phone number of three (3) professional references for each applicant. Indicate their relationship to your project(s) and/or work.

Work Samples: Six (6) to eight (8) images of completed and installed past artworks. If applying as a team, up to eight (8) images can be submitted.

Work Sample Narrative: Title, year, dimensions and media. Additionally, in the description box please indicate location of installation, materials, and replacement value.

Completed VOQ Form: City of Saint Paul Vendor Outreach Questionnaire (VOQ) is REQUIRED by City ordinance to be submitted by all applicants. The form must be received no later than 10 calendar days after the deadline for applications noted above. If the form is not received by November 7, 2016 your application will be disqualified. Please check the VIEW LEGAL AGREEMENT tab below for instructions about completing the VOQ.

SCOPE OF WORK

Opportunities for public artists include, but are not limited to:

PLANS

Collaborations with City staff design professionals, proposers (architecture, engineering or planning firms) responding to City RFPs, and/or the City Artist Program to develop plans for areas of the City, infrastructure projects, building projects, and/or site designs.

Plan activities and tasks may include (but are not limited to):

• Participating as a sub-consultant on a design team led by an architecture, engineering or planning firm; under contract with the design team rather than with the City.
• Entering into contract with the City for professional services.
• Establishing goals, principles and parameters for the integration of public art.
• Defining the approach and “program” for public art.
• Plan may include the creation of public art by the applicant, the applicant and other public artists, or other public artists, now or at a future date.
• Plan may not include the creation of public art.

CAPITAL PROJECTS

Capital projects generally include two phases: 1) design phase, which may involve planning work with the design team as well as the preparation of conceptual and final design proposals; and 2) commission phase for the actual production and installation of public art, frequently in coordination with the site and/or building construction timeline.

Capital project activities and tasks may include (but are not limited to):

• Entering into contract with the City to design, produce and install public art; meeting City requirements for insurance, etc. as stated in Standard Agreement Terms and Conditions attached.
• Working closely with City project managers and associated design teams.
• Generating ideas, concepts and designs for the meaningful integration of public art into capital projects.
• Creating/fabricating/installing innovative and permanent artwork within the established budgets for capital projects.
• Producing repeatable, replicable elements that may be integrated into the building’s architecture, or into sites such as play areas, or linear streetscapes and bikeways.
• Fabricating artwork using permanent and maintainable materials such as cast concrete, ceramic tile, steel, aluminum, or stone that may become part of the architecture or the site.

Details regarding artist’s roles, responsibilities, tasks, and deliverables are described on pages 14-15 and 35-36 of the Public Art Ordinance Program Guidelines available at www.stpaul.gov/publicart
 

EXPERTISE

Please indicate the expertise that is demonstrated in your Artist Statement, Resume and Work Samples by responding to the questions/answers section of this open call.


ARTIST REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

The Public Art Jury convened by the City will review responses to this open call and recommend public artists for the City List.

The Jury includes five-to-seven members:

• Department of Parks and Recreation representative
• Department of Public Works representative
• Other department representative, as necessary
• City Artist program representative
• Two-three arts and design professionals

The Public Art Jury will recommend public artists to the City Department heads or their representatives,who will review and give final approval to the entrants to the City List of Qualified Artists.


ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

• Any professional public artist or public artist team is eligible to apply. If public artists are applying as a team, the team should be declared in the Artist Statement, specifying a team leader to receive notifications.
• The public artist meets the ordinance definition of an “artist,” and is an individual who creates original art and is recognized by professional peers and critics as demonstrated by the public artist’s Work Samples, Resume and References.
• The public artist produces artwork in the categories/types of work cited in the City’s ordinance as “public art” including visual art, performances, installations, events and other temporary work, or is involved in the preservation or restoration of unique architectural features, ornamentation or details. (Please note: Only permanent artwork is funded through capital projects.)
• This call is open to public artists nationwide.
• This opportunity is open to all professional public artists (or teams of artists) regardless of race, color, religion, gender, age, military status, sexual orientation, marital status, or physical or mental disability.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

• The public artist demonstrates the expertise required by the Scope of Work in this RFQ and that is supported in the Artist Statement, Work Samples and Work Samples Narrative, Resume and References.
• The public artist meets eligibility criteria.
• The public artist’s past work, as demonstrated in the Work Samples and determined by the Public Art Jury, is of high quality.
•  During the 2016-2018 time-period, the public artist is available for membership on the City List of Qualified Public Artists.

ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS

1.  Inclusion on the City List of Qualified Public Artists does not guarantee selection for a plan or capital project.
2. Public artists who are selected for membership on the List shall remain on the List for a period of two years. Artists must reapply every two years.
3. Public art project budgets vary, and may range from $1,000 to $200,000. These budgets are inclusive of design, artist fees, travel expenses, fabrication, installation, insurance required by the City, and all other costs associated with public artwork.
4. The City of Saint Paul is allowed and may require the issuance of individual project RFQs or RFPs that seek public artists. Exclusion from or inclusion in the City List of Qualified Public Artists does not make a public artist ineligible to apply for individual project RFQs or RFPs.
5. In some cases, public artists may be selected directly by proposers (city planners, architects, engineers, landscape architects, etc.) responding to a City RFP requiring a public artist as a member of their consultant team for plans, or capital projects. In such cases, public artists will be hired as sub-consultants within these firms; therefore artists will negotiate contracts and payments directly with the firms. 
6. Response to the open call indicates compliance with the Saint Paul Administrative Code, Chapter 24.03, Subdivision 1 regarding financial conflicts-of-interest —“Except as permitted by law, no city official or employee shall be a party to or have a direct financial interest in any sale, lease, or contract with the City.”
7. The City reserves the right to ask for additional information or clarification on the submissions from any or all applicants.
8. Any questions about this open call must be directed in writing to only the City designated official during the question-and-answer period identified in the open call’s timeline.
9. All costs directly or indirectly incurred by applicants in preparing and submitting the application are the sole responsibility of the applicant.

Question #1: Can you advise me as to where to add my work sample narrative, resume and references for the Saint Paul RFQ?

Answer #1:  When uploading images to your CAFÉ portfolio, you enter the title of the work, year, dimensions and media. In the box below which allows additional text, please add the location of installation, materials and replacement value. This information will function as your Work Sample Narrative. Your resume including three references may be uploaded as a PDF where indicated.

Question #2: Are artists required to be on the list to be added to a consultant’s team, or is this to help those who don’t know of any artists to invite?

Answer #2: The List will be referenced by consultants seeking artists for their planning and design teams as well as City project managers and others seeking public artists for capital projects. Consultants may select artists from the List, or other artists known to them, as per the Public Art Ordinance Program Guidelines (see page 17) found at www.stpaul.gov/publicart

Question #3: I am completing my application to be included in your list of qualified public artists.  I have questions about the VOQ (Vendor Outreach Questionnaire) form. What should be listed as project name and event #? Also, how should one respond to the questions at the bottom of the form?

Answer #3: Please reference the following instructions under the VIEW LEGAL AGREEMENT tab on the CAFÉ Call Detail page and also within the application itself. These instructions address your questions: 

Because artists are not applying for specific projects at this time, all must complete the upper portion of the form. On the bottom portion of the form, please check the box next to the paragraph starting “At this time there are no subcontracting opportunities...”  If, however, an artist has other artists or businesses it anticipates it may work with that are local SBEs, MBEs, or WBEs, please list them of those artists or businesses on the table in the column with the heading “Name of Certified Vendor” and put “tentative” next to the name.

Question #4: I can't find the VOQ form to complete. Where is it?

Answer #4: The VOQ form is in PDF format and is clearly marked for downloading within the CAFE application. Please notice section with red text; here's where you'll find it.

Question #5: Can I email you the completed VOQ form?

Answer #5: No; the City of Saint Paul requires a hard copy of the VOQ form. Please mail it to: Regina Flanagan, Public Art Ordinance Administrator, City of Saint Paul, Financial Services Real Estate Design, Section 25 W. Fourth Street, 1000 City Hall Annex, Saint Paul, MN 55102.
 

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria