Call Detail
Public Art Residency at Lillian Feinstein Senior Center
https://artculturetourism.com/category/act-public-art/

Entry Deadline: 8/31/21
Application Closed
Work Sample Requirements
Images | Minimum:Min. 3, Maximum:Max. 5
Video | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 5
Total Samples | Minimum:Min. 3, Maximum:Max. 5
Call Type: Public Art
Eligibility: Local
State: Rhode Island

Summary

 The City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism (ACT), Mayor’s Office for Senior Services, and the Lillian Feinstein Senior Center invite RI-based muralists to install an original permanent mural.

The awarded artist or artist team will begin a residency in late September 2021 and will work with the Lillian Feinstein Senior Center for up to six weeks or until the mural is installed.

Applicants must be 18 years or older and hold a current Rhode Island home or studio address to be eligible to apply. Providence residents and/or artists with previous lived experience in Providence will be preferred.

The total project budget is $20,000, of which $10,200 will be directly allocated to the artist or artist team. Please see budget section below for more information. 

Eligible artist or artist teams may submit their artist statement, resume/CV,  and three to five examples of relevant projects.

The application deadline is August 31, 2021.

Questions about this call to artists must be submitted in writing by August 20, 2021. Write to Gina Rodriguez-Drix, ACT Cultural Affairs Manager at grodriguez@providenceri.gov with the subject line “Residency at Lillian Feinstein Senior Center”. An FAQ will be posted on August 25, 2021 at  https://artculturetourism.com/category/act-public-art/.

Program Goals:

ACT Public Art’s residency program places artists in City facilities and offices to engage directly with residents and staff. Through these residencies, artists develop projects that infuse artistic practices and artists’ creative problem solving into residents’ lives and the everyday operations of the City. 

The goals of the Public Art Residency at the Lillian Feinstein Senior Center are:

  •  Celebrate the diversity of the neighborhood and connectedness
  • Honor what center members and neighbors have gone through over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Celebrate Latinx presence in the neighborhood
  • Provide an intergenerational and interactive arts experience and grandparents and grandchildren alike
  • Capture the essence of the theme “it takes a village”.

Site and Location

The Lillian Feinstein Senior Center is located at 1085 Chalkstone Avenue, Providence RI 02908.

The façade to be painted faces a multi-use parking lot with full visibility from the street.

The artist will facilitate engagement activities to determine the content for the permanent work. This will require careful consideration between the artist, center members, and key residents.

Most engagement activities should occur indoors at the Senior Center and outdoors in the Center parking lot. All engagement activities are expected to be aligned with current federal, state, and local COVID-19 safety protocols.  

Many members of the center and immediate neighbors are of Latinx descent. The artist can expect to lead communications activities in both English and in Spanish. The City of Providence will be able to provide interpretation at large group events and activities such as the mural unveiling, while the artist will be responsible for ensuring smaller-scale engagement is accessible to Spanish speakers. 

The awarded artist(s)-in-residence will be provided with a small desk and storage space on site for materials and supplies and will be offered meeting space as necessary through coordination with Center staff.

Project Budget

The total project budget for this installation is $20,000, inclusive of the artist fee, engagement and co-design costs, materials, equipment, and installation. A materials budget will be provided to the host site while Providence Art, Culture + Tourism will retain a portion to allocate towards equipment or staging rentals. The remaining funds will be allocated to the artist based upon the contractual payment schedule. The artist may choose to allocate funds to supporting artists, assistants, interpreters, and / or to stipend community members in addition to the cost of doing business. The following breakdown serves as a guide:

Artist Fees: 20% of total budget

$4,000.00

Provided directly to the artist

Fabrication and Install: 80% of total budget

$16,000.00

Retained across project partners

 

 

 

Materials

 $4900.00

Retained by partnering agency

Heavy equipment and/or staging

$4900.00

Retained by Providence Art, Culture Tourism

Services and support

ex: insurance, subcontractors, engagement costs

$6200.00

Provided directly to the artist

(The awarded artist(s)-in-residence will define their needs and provide a line item break down in their engagement proposal and installation plan).

Eligibility

  • Applicant must be 18 years or older and hold a current Rhode Island home or studio address to be eligible to apply. Providence residents and/or artists and cultural workers with previous lived experience in Providence will be preferred.
  • This call is open to muralists only. Artists that can demonstrate an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary arts practice, traditional and indigenous artforms or intercultural modalities as a means of an engagement strategy will be preferred.
  • This call is open to individual artists or artist teams.
  • Applicant must have demonstrated experience with a portfolio consisting of at least one and up to five outdoor murals.
  •  Applicants must be able to demonstrate their experience as an artist with social practice with a portfolio consisting of at least one successful art-based program including but not limited to instruction, fabrication of public art and / or the production of a performance.
  • Preference will be given to artists who demonstrate cultural competency and previous experience working in intercultural modalities that foster innovation, diversity, and relevance with new and intergenerational audiences.
  • Spanish speakers preferred.
  • Applicants must be able to attend a virtual interview on either September 13 or 14, 2021 for selection purposes.

Art Selection Method

Artists will be selected through a competitive, two-tiered process. Qualified artists may submit their Artist Statement, Resume/CV, and three to five examples of relevant projects by August 31, 2021.  Applicants must apply online through Call for Entry.

Round One: Selecting Finalists

The Art Selection Panel will review complete applications and score qualifications, limiting the selection pool to no more than five artists.

Round Two: Interviewing Finalists

Up to five finalists will then be invited to a virtual or in-person interview with the art selection panel. Finalists will be asked to briefly present their approach towards engaging with center members and staff, neighbors, and others to develop the design concept. Finalists should be prepared to speak about their engagement methods, multilingual capacity and /or plan for engaging in English and Spanish, and ways to support an installation process that is intergenerationally inclusive.

Recommendation

After the interviews, the Art Selection Panel will recommend an awarded artist(s)-in-residence to the Art in City Life Commission for approval.

The Department of Art, Culture + Tourism will publicly announce the commissioned artist in residence no later than October 1, 2021.

Art Selection Panel 

The Art Selection Panel will be comprised of seven members including:

  •  Art in City Life Commissioner
  • Mayor's Office of Senior Services, staff or designee
  • Two Members of the Senior Center
  • Senior Center staff representative
  • Professional muralist
  • Walgreens employee or designee (immediate neighbor / parking lot owner)

Selection Criteria

Finalists will be selected based on the following criteria:

  • Relationship of the artist’s method of engagement to the context of the Program Goals stated above.
  • Artistic excellence and innovation, as evidenced by previous work.
  • Ability to manage budgets and complete projects on time, as evidenced by previous work.
  •  Interest and excitement in working with members of the Senior Center and neighborhood residents to co-design and co-install the mural.

Artist Scope of Work

Upon award notification and acceptance, the artist shall sign a contract with the City for the activities outlined below:

  • Participate in regularly scheduled check-ins with staff from the Lillian Feinstein Senior Center, Department of Art Culture + Tourism, and other relevant stakeholders.
  • Immerse themselves with the center’s community and develop and lead strategies and activities to facilitate the mural co-design process.
  • Engagement activities may include workshops, artist talks, art lessons, live art-making, events or surveys.
  • The co-design process must prioritize center members, neighborhood residents, the majority of whom are Spanish speaking. It is essential the muralist must be either fluent in Spanish or be able to demonstrate how they will utilize their project budget to ensure fluent Spanish speakers are always present.
  • Within one week of the start of the residency the artist shall submit for approval a project proposal and budget.
  • The proposal must outline the artist’s plan for engagement strategies, co-design and installation.
  • The project budget must be organized by line item within the allowed expenses listed in the Budget section above. The artist may list materials to be procured by the partnering agency and Providence Art, Culture, + Tourism.
  • The artist shall spend at least one week working directly with center members and stakeholders to co-design the original artwork.
  • Install and execute the mural, which may include necessary wall preparation.
  • To the extent possible, the installation should be inclusive, interactive, and intergenerationally accessible so that center members and neighbors may participate safely.
  • Participate in an unveiling and dedication ceremony with the community.
  •  Provide the City with a maintenance plan.

At the close of the residency (November 2021) the artist is required to gift the permanent mural to the City. The mural shall become part of the ACT Public Art Collection, and the City will reserve the right to maintain, restore, and de-commission the work within the stipulations of the contract with the artist. 
 

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria