Call to Artists: Nineteenth Amendment Centennial Public Art Project
8/15/2019 • 5 years ago
The information on this page may be outdated as it was published 5 years ago.
CALL TO ARTISTS: Request for Qualifications
The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
The City of Cambridge invites artists to submit qualifications for a $300,000 public art commission to commemorate the passage, in August 1920, of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted women the right to vote and resulted in the largest one-time addition to the American electorate, yet also left most women of color without access to the ballot box. A successful project will acknowledge the amendment’s complex history, its ongoing work in the shaping of American democracy, and the role of Cambridge women in the women’s suffrage movement.
Cambridge Arts, the official arts agency for the city, is managing the artist selection process. To be considered for this commission, submit your qualifications online to the Cambridge Arts artist registry by 5:00 p.m., September 30, 2019. Details below.
From the Request for Qualifications (RFQ), three or four finalists will be selected by the Art Jury and paid to develop concept proposals for a permanent installation based on criteria and guidelines established by the Committee and in consultation with city staff. All finalists’ proposals will be displayed for a period of public feedback. Final selection of one proposal will be made by a selection committee of stakeholders based on the finalists’ in-person presentations and interviews. The City will announce the selected proposal at a centennial celebration in August 2020, after which implementation of the selected proposal will begin.
The City is seeking qualifications from artists with demonstrated public art experience. The $300,000 commission must cover all services from detailed design development through final installation/implementation, including but not limited to artist fee, travel, community meetings, research, engineering, fabrication, insurance, transportation, installation, and coordination with consultants and City staff.
BACKGROUND:
Massachusetts was at the forefront of the fight for women’s suffrage, with the first National Women’s Rights Convention held in Worcester in 1850. Cambridge women of all backgrounds petitioned, organized, marched, campaigned, and persisted throughout the decades of the movement. Their efforts over three generations were animated by high passions and embedded with paradoxes which have carried forward to this day. The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment did not end the national struggle for full and equitable enfranchisement, due to racist citizenship laws as well as organized disenfranchisement laws and activities, but it was an important step along the way.
The City of Cambridge seeks qualifications from artists who not only can speak to the importance of this complicated history as it played out in the lives of Cambridge women, but who also can create a public artwork that acknowledges the unfinished business of voting rights and engages the visitor in the ideas propelling the movement forward. We encourage artists who are interested in creating an innovative and socially engaged interpretation of history through a contemporary lens.
THE SITE:
The site for the project will be determined by the Nineteenth Amendment Centennial Committee and will be confirmed for the 3-4 finalists selected from the RFQ process. Potential sites are all outdoor public open spaces and include:
1. Tubman Square (bounded by Kinnaird, River, and Pleasant Streets)
2. Joan Lorentz Park (an area in front of the Main Cambridge Public Library at 449 Broadway)
3. Cambridge Common (bounded by Massachusetts Avenue, Garden Street, and Waterhouse Street)
THE ARTIST SELECTION PROCESS:
1. Artists submit qualifications in the form of images of previous work and biographical information through the Slideroom online platform (see below).
2. The Art Jury selects 3-4 finalists.
3. Finalists meet in Cambridge for a site visit and community meeting.
4. Finalists develop proposals, including meetings with city staff and stakeholders; each finalist is paid $2,000 for their proposal.
5. All proposals are displayed for viewing and gathering feedback from the public.
6. Finalists present proposals in person to the Selection Committee, which will select one artist/team to be awarded the commission.
TIMELINE:
September 30, 2019...Deadline for submissions of qualifications
Early November 2019...Finalists selected
November 2019 - March 2020...Proposal Development
March 2020...Final proposals due
April - May 2020...Proposals displayed; public feedback
June 2020...Final Selection of one proposal
August 2020...Public announcement of proposal
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR QUALIFICATIONS:
Submit images of past work and biographical information at
http://cac.slideroom.com.
If you are not in our artist registry, registration is free and easy – upload digital files of work samples and complete the form for artist information. Once you are in our registry you will be considered for the Nineteenth Amendment Centennial project as well as for future public art commissions administered by the City of Cambridge.
If you are already in the registry, we recommend that you update your images and information. If you would like to submit updates, please email Lillian Hsu, Director of Public Art and Exhibitions, to access your profile:
lhsu@cambridgema.gov. For technical support using Slideroom, please e-mail
support@slideroom.com. For other questions, please contact Lillian Hsu, at
lhsu@cambridgema.gov or 617-349-4389.
Cambridge Arts is a city agency that funds, promotes, and presents high-quality, communitybased arts programs for the benefit of artists, residents, and visitors in Cambridge. Active since 1974, Cambridge Arts is one of the most dynamic local arts agencies in the country. As a public nonprofit, Cambridge Arts receives funding from local government, private foundations, corporate sponsors and individual donors. Cambridge Arts exists to ensure that the arts remain vital for all people living, working and visiting in Cambridge.
Cambridge Arts embraces a vision that welcomes and supports everyone. Believing that a multiplicity of perspectives is essential to a strong society, we are committed, both in our policies and practices, to building participation in and awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the arts and all cultures. In our ongoing work to address cultural and historical inequities, we strive to be a community anchor that reflects the entire Cambridge community and expands access, opportunities, and inclusion in every form of creative expression. We value diverse voices and people of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, abilities, gender identities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic situations, religions, citizenship statuses, and family configurations.
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