AIPP Mission

The Art in Public Places program enriches New Mexico communities through innovative and diverse public art. Since its inception in 1986, the program has placed more than 3,000 works of art in all of New Mexico’s 33 counties. Our goal is to reflect the diversity of the arts in New Mexico, the Southwest, and the nation while building a dynamic public art collection for the State of New Mexico.

Through a fair and open public process New Mexico Arts facilitates the sale of artwork for public spaces with purchase initiatives, site-specific commission projects, artwork loans, and temporary installations that offer in-depth community engagement and artist development.

Project Intent

New Mexico Arts and the Local Selection Committee for Devasthali Hall seek an artist or artist team to create a site-specific commission project to be situated on a landscaped area south and west of Devasthali Hall. Photographs and plans of the area are provided for reference. The exterior space invites the opportunity to create a connection point and unifying location for multiple university disciplines through an environment where students, faculty, staff, and visitors to NMSU may gather. Projects that engage the natural environment, the exterior architecture, and use the grounds to create a sense of place are encouraged, especially those responding to the mission of Devasthali Hall, the Department of Art, and the University Art Museum as centers of innovation, creativity, and freedom of expression. Artists are encouraged to explore conceptual designs inspired by the landscape (always sunny in Southern New Mexico; the need for shelter/shade; and transparency and porosity), landscape architecture, environmental art, and placemaking and monumental art. The committee would like a work that creates a sense of place with the potential to serve as an iconic landmark, gateway or signpost to welcome visitors to Devasthali Hall.

The committee would like artists to consider the following:

• The project engages the natural environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors to NMSU and Las Cruces.
• Landscape and environmental elements will be considered.
• Placemaking or Monumental works will be considered.
• Artworks should consider New Mexico’s extreme environmental conditions (sun, high desert, dry conditions) and the potential for artwork located near drip irrigation, etc.
• Artworks that incorporate water features or elements will not be considered. 

Media must be durable, low maintenance, permanent, safe for both children and adults and be ADA compliant. At the selected artist’s expense the artwork may require certification by an electrical, civil and/or structural engineer licensed to practice in the State of New Mexico, and review by a professional fine art conservator. Additional permits may be required for the project.

Eligibility

The request for qualifications is open to all artists or artist teams working in the United States. Artists submitting qualifications should demonstrate a level of experience and professionalism that is commensurate with the project scope and budget.

AIPP regulations state that 1% funds may not be spent for artwork created for an institution or agency by an employee of the institution or agency. Qualifications submitted by and on behalf of current employees or family of current employees of NMSU will not be considered. Applicants may be required to provide verifiable proof of current employment at the discretion of AIPP Program staff. Past employees are eligible to submit proposals, but may not become employed by NMSU for the duration of the project.

Institutional information

New Mexico State University's (NMSU) Las Cruces Campus is located at the southern boundary of Las Cruces at the intersection of I-10 and I-25, two important highways in the western United States. Separated by I-25, the campus consists of 900 acres to the west of the route with an additional 2,500 acres to the east. Enrollment is more than 15,000 students from 49 states and 89 foreign countries. NMSU is a NASA Space Grant College and is home to the very first Honors College in New Mexico. A Hispanic-serving institution, NMSU serves a multicultural population of students and community members across the state at five campuses, a satellite learning center in Albuquerque, cooperative extension offices located in each of New Mexico's 33 counties, and 12 agriculture research and science centers, and offers distance learning programs.

Devasthali Hall

Devasthali Hall is named for Ammu and Rama Devasthali who championed the project and are recognized as transformational community leaders with passion for the arts. They were instrumental in demonstrating the need the new facility and helped raise private donations, as well as leveraging additional gifts and significant public support for the project. The new building houses the Department of Art and the University Art Museum, a state-of-the-art facility for students and the community. 

Department of Art

Within the scope of the university’s land-grant mission, the Department of Art uses the unique geographic location to serve and reflect diverse border communities, support learning that combines innovative and hybrid techniques, critical and cultural theory, contemporary exhibitions, and art historical inquiry. Capitalizing on the specialties and research agendas of the faculty, they provide an environment and platform for aesthetic and critical engagement through the application of studio and art historical methodologies. The curriculum fosters learning through experimental immersion in collaborative and cross-disciplinary activity.

Students develop their artistic aesthetic and professional growth through engagement with a variety of approaches to individual research practice. Students' research includes critique and discourse related to the context of both historical and contemporary issues, and the development of new strategies of inquiry into contemporary culture and knowledge. As artists, historians, and conservators, provide a space for active engagement with varied disciplines in local, national and international communities.

University Art Museum

The University Art Museum’s (UAM) mission is to serve as an academic environment for the critical analysis of visual art while making culturally relevant and conceptual practice accessible to the University and surrounding regional and border communities. The UAM actively acquires and stewards a permanent collection of contemporary visual art, houses the country’s largest collection of Mexican retablos, and facilitates educational programming to align with the teaching missions of the Department of Art and New Mexico State University. The UAM’s overarching purpose is to provide enriching and informative experiences through participatory engagements with artists and contemporary and historical visual art. To accomplish these goals for their under-served area, they involve the full regional community in their educational programming, which range from exhibitions, performances and lectures, to catalogs and scholarly publications. They actively work to establish the importance and significance of the visual arts relative to the diverse human values present in the broader community.

The UAM aligns their exhibitions and programming with the contemporary and interdisciplinary teaching missions of the NMSU Department of Art faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and the entire New Mexico State University community. The UAM curates original exhibitions; and is the steward more than 4,200 works in the university’s permanent collection. The collection includes the country’s largest collection of Mexican retablos (devotional paintings on tin), contemporary and modern photographs, paintings, prints and graphics, book art, and small scale sculpture and metals. The UAM provides curatorial and exhibition management experience for graduate and undergraduate students.

With new and expanded facilities, a growing permanent art collection, and exceptional educational programming that facilitates creative economy opportunities, the UAM actively aligns itself with the mission of NMSU to serve the diverse needs of the state through comprehensive art-based programs of education, research, extension and outreach, and public service.

Site Information

For photographs and plans of the area, please visit Site Details.

Project Amount

$190,500 is available for the project, this includes finalist presentation fees and travel expenses. The amount includes all fees and expenses associated with the project, e.g., materials, equipment, labor, permits, engineering documents, insurance, taxes, travel, installation, shipping, identification plaque, and written and professional photographic documentation of the completed project. There is no additional funding.

Any New Mexico Construction Industries Division (CID) required work must be completed by a licensed contractor with permit drawings per 14.6.4 NMAC, and is the responsibility of the artist to determine, hire, contract and fund.

Selection Process and Criteria

The Local Selection Committee is made up of representatives from the owner and user agencies of the facility, the project architect, an artist, and arts professionals. In some cases representatives from the student body serve on the committee. Under the guidance of an AIPP Project Coordinator, the committee is responsible for prospectus development, submission review, finalist selection, and determining the artist or artist team to be awarded the commission project.

Artists may research the project using any resource with the exception of discussion with individual members of the Local Selection Committee or the New Mexico Arts Commission.

The selection criteria shall include, but is not limited to:

• The professional qualifications of the artist(s) demonstrated by the supporting materials.
• Demonstrated ability to undertake projects of the described scope.
• Artistic quality and superior craftsmanship demonstrated in submitted images.
• Suitability of submission to project intent and site.

Artwork that reflects a wide range of cultural, ethnic, and artistic diversity will be considered.

Up to five finalists will be invited to submit a formal proposal for the project. Finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium for a written proposal and maquette of the proposed artwork. One site visit will be required of each finalist to include a personal presentation of the artwork proposal to the Local Selection Committee.  All maquettes, samples and written proposals will become the property of New Mexico State University.

Additionally, each finalist/team will receive a travel stipend based on mapped mileage according to the following schedule:

• $250 for travel and lodging between 50 – 300 miles one-way.
• $450 for travel and lodging between 301 – 800 miles one-way.
• $900 for travel and lodging 801 miles and over one-way.

Artists or artist teams short-listed as finalists for the project will be required to enter into a Finalist Presentation Contract with the State of New Mexico. Please see a sample Finalist Presentation Contract provided on the New Mexico Arts website.

The artist or artist team that is awarded the commission project will be required to enter into a Professional Services Contract with the State of New Mexico.  Please see a sample Professional Services Contract provided on the New Mexico Arts website.

Submission Requirements

Please read the following information carefully as incomplete or late submissions will not be accepted. Any supplemental material beyond what is requested will not be considered by the review committee. Failure to provide any of the published requirements will result in disqualification from the call. All materials must be submitted according to the specifications outlined on CaFE. Please note that only one application per artist will be considered.

• A succinct letter of interest no longer than three (3) paragraphs that addresses the needs of the project. Please explain what excites you about the opportunity, how you may approach the project if selected as a finalist, and outline your professional qualifications.
• A current chronological resume or curriculum vitae demonstrating relevant work experience, particularly public art or privately funded commission projects. Please note that a biography or an autobiography will not fulfill the resume requirement.
• Ten images or videos (or a combination) of previously completed work. Provide complete image citations including; artwork title, medium, height, width and depth, price or value, year of completion, and project description to include budget and commissioning agency. (Please see the Image Preparation Page on CaFÉ for information on formatting your images and links to other useful resources.) By default, CaFÉ organizes submission images alphabetically. If you wish to present the images to the committee in a different order, you must prioritize the images before submitting an application.

• June 2020 – Project Announced
• August 3, 2020 – Submission Deadline 
• September 2020 – Notification of Finalists
• January 2021 – Finalist Presentations
• January 2023 – Artwork completed and installed

New Mexico Pay Equity Initiative

Effective July 1, 2010, businesses seeking new contracts with any Executive Branch state agency will be required to comply with the requirements of Executive Order #2009-049 to aid in identifying and combating pay inequity and job segregation in the State of New Mexico, as a condition of being awarded a contract.

For all contracts solicited on or after July 1, 2010 and before October 1, 2010: If the offeror has ten (10) or more employees or eight (8) or more employees in the same job classification, offeror must agree to complete and submit the required reporting form (PE10-249 or PE250), depending on their size at the time) within thirty (30) calendar days of the contract award.

For contracts that extend beyond one (1) calendar year, or are extended beyond one (1) calendar year, offeror must agree to complete and submit the required reporting form annually within thirty (30) calendar days of the annual contract anniversary date and, if more than 180 calendar days has elapsed since submittal of the last report, at the completion of the contract.

Should offeror not meet the size requirements for reporting at contract award but subsequently grows such that they meet or exceed the size requirements for reporting, offeror must agree to provide required report within ninety (90) calendar days of the meeting or exceeding the size requirement.

Offeror must also agree to levy these reporting requirements on any subcontractor(s) performing more than 10% of the dollar value of this contract if said subcontractor(s) meets, or grows to meet, the stated employee size thresholds during the term of the contract. Offeror must further agree that, should one or more subcontractor not meet the size requirement for reporting at contract award but subsequently grows such that they meet or exceed the size requirement for reporting, offeror will submit the required report, for each such subcontractor, within ninety (90) calendar days of that subcontractor meeting or exceeding the size requirement.

Submission Deadline

The submission deadline is 11:59 PM (Mountain Standard Time MST) August 3, 2020. New Mexico Arts will provide technical assistance through 4:00 PM on August 3, 2020.

Questions

Please direct project questions to Anna Blyth, Public Art Project Coordinator, at 505-827-6490, anna.blyth@state.nm.us.

Artists, who wish to visit the NMSU campus to help with the preparation of their artwork proposals, please contact NMSU Project Director, Heather Watenpaugh, 575-646-1360, or hzw@nmsu.edu.

If you would like your submission materials reviewed by AIPP staff, please make an appointment no less than two weeks prior to the submission deadline. Technical assistance needs increase during the final two weeks of the call; therefore we cannot guarantee a review of materials during the last days of the call. Assistance is offered on a first-come first-served basis.

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria