LOS ANGELES LAUNCHES FIRST PUBLIC ART BIENNIAL – SUMMER  2016
PUBLIC ART DIVISION – Request for Qualifications (RFQ) DEADLINE: MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2015
In June 2015, the City of Los Angeles was selected as one of four cities to receive up to $1 million as part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge, a new program to support temporary public art projects that celebrate creativity, enhance urban identity, encourage public-private partnerships and drive economic development. LA’s winning project, CURRENT:LA Water, will establish the City’s first Public Art Biennial for Los Angeles.
Developed by the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Public Art Division, CURRENT:LA is an ongoing, biannual initiative that aims to establish a new paradigm for public art in Los Angeles, one that is transformative and contributes to the creation of social capital and public discourse on shared issues locally, nationally, and globally. CURRENT:LA seeks to maximize the unique capacity for temporary public art to create dialogue and help us understand and respond to these shared issues. The inaugural presentation of CURRENT, taking place in late summer 2016 for one month, will respond to the issue of water. Led by DCA’s Public Art Division, the initiative will utilize public sites located throughout LA to present temporary public art and public programs that generate civic discourse on the issue of water, and allied topics such as infrastructure, drought, ecology, and conservation, among others.
DESCRIPTION OF OPPORTUNITY
Through this Request for Qualifications (RFQ), DCA is seeking submissions from nonprofit organizations, individual artists and artist teams interested in developing and executing free public programs that will offer LA’s diverse residents and visitors a range of unique opportunities for engagement with water-related issue(s) and/or the temporary public art projects commissioned from other artists/teams as part of CURRENT:LA Water. Each public program selected to receive a funding award as a result of this RFQ will be presented at a site located within the City of Los Angeles for a maximum duration/timeframe of one (1) month. The public programs selected for CURRENT:LA Water may include a variety of pop-up programming approaches such as workshops, discussions, film/video screenings, mobile activities, perfor- mances, readings, speakers and/or symposia.
CRITERIA
Successful respondents to this RFQ must demonstrate the professional and creative capacity to plan and execute innovative public programs for audiences and/or participants that reflect the diverse populations of Los Angeles, and have experience in providing public programs that: are conceptually strong; successfully connect individuals and communities to broader social issues and/or ideas; utilize thoughtful and creative strategies for audience development, outreach, and engagement; incorporate modes of accessibility across varied cultural, geographic and/or demographic landscapes; and incorporate a solid understanding and/or relationship to site context. Team submissions should demonstrate these qualifications for the team’s work together on past and/or ongoing projects, as well as the qualifications and roles for individual members of the team. All respondents must be available to attend multiple meetings with DCA, City contractors, other City agencies, the public and others as required.
ELIGIBILITY
This RFQ is open to nonprofit organizations in any field, individual artists, and artist teams based in the County of Los Angeles. Respondents selected as finalists through this RFQ will be eligible to receive but will not be guaranteed funding awards for the public programs to be presented as part of CURRENT:LA Water. If selected to receive a funding award, members specified for the project team of a nonprofit organization or an artist team may not change prior to  the presentation of the commissioned public program. Nonprofit organizations, artists and artist teams pre-qualified for other DCA-administered public art opportunities, or active grantees of DCA, are not prevented from responding to this RFQ. Employees of the City of Los Angeles are ineligible to apply.
PROJECT BUDGETS
The maximum funding award for each commissioned public program will be $10,000. Funding awards will be based on all-inclusive public program budgets that cover all expenses including but not limited to program development, audience development and outreach, production and presentation, as well as any presentations, approvals, subcontracted services and/or City permits that may be required. CURRENT:LA Water is funded by DCA and Bloomberg Philanthropies through its Public Art Challenge initiative.
DEADLINE
Proposal submissions are due by Monday, December 14, 2015. Late submissions will not be accepted and incomplete submissions will not be reviewed.
SELECTION PROCESS
A Curatorial Committee of Los Angeles-based professional curators will review qualifications submitted by all respondents to this RFQ and select a shortlist of finalists based upon the stated criteria. Finalists will be eligible to develop proposals and/or present concepts for public programs. Subsequently, based upon finalist interviews and review of finalist proposals and/or conceptual presentations, the Committee will select at least ten (10) nonprofit organizations, artists and/or artist teams to receive funding awards to provide public programs as part of CURRENT:LA Water. Any respondent not selected to receive a funding award through this RFQ will remain eligible to submit programs to be considered for in-kind, Citywide cross-marketing support from DCA as part of CURRENT:LA Water through a separate call for calendars that will be issued in January 2016.
POTENTIAL PROJECT SITES
Although respondents may visit and research the ten (10) sites included on the preliminary list of CURRENT:LA Water sites, an updated list of sites will be provided to finalists and commissioned public programs will be assigned to sites at the time of funding awards. Any site-related inquiries must be directed to DCA only, not to onsite staff or other City agencies or officials.
HOW TO APPLY
Weddington Park / South…………………………………………………. Studio City
Sunnynook River Park………………………………………………… Atwater Village
Sepulveda Basin…………………………………………………………………….Encino
Hansen Dam……………………………………………………………………….Pacoima
Norman O. Houston Park……………………………………………………Crenshaw
South Los Angeles Wetland Park………………………………………. South Park
Jim Gilliam Park…………………………………………………………………Crenshaw
Ballona Freshwater Marsh……………………………………………..Playa del Rey
Bell Canyon Park………………………………………………………………. West Hills
Banning’s Landing Community Center………………………………..Wilmington
Complete proposals must be submitted via SlideRoom <culturela.slideroom.com> and include:
- CONTACT INFORMATION for nonprofit organization project team member(s), artist, or artist team member(s);
- LETTER OF INTEREST [max 3000 characters] in being part of CURRENT:LA Water;
- PROGRAMMING APPROACH [max 6000 characters] introducing the respondent, creative and/or organizational focus, any standard methodologies, examples of past programs with total budgets noted, typical engagement strategies and, if applicable, indicate any specific relationship or understanding of any preliminary CURRENT:LA site(s);
- BIO(s) / RÉSUMÉ(s) / CV(s) [file upload(s)] bio for each member of a nonprofit organization’s project team, or resume/CV for an individual artist or each member of an artist team; and
- PAST PROJECT DOCUMENTATION / MEDIA ITEMS [max fifteen (15) file uploads] of images, video and/or audio, with annotation for each file including title of the documented program, programming frequency and duration, any materials and/or artworks utilized, general description of the program, location and budget, and project client if applicable; teams are encouraged to include programs executed by the
RIGHTS + RESPONSIBILITIES
DCA reserves the right to decline all applications to this RFQ, and/or cancel this RFQ at any time. This RFQ is subject to the City’s Campaign Finance, Contractor Responsibility, Equal Benefits, Equal Opportunity, Living Wage, Minority/Women Business Enterprise and Slavery Disclosure Ordinances, and any other ordinances in effect in the City of Los Angeles.
ABOUT DCA
DCA manages the City of LA’s public art programs. DCA supports the creativity of local artists by funding and partnering with the City’s arts and cultural communities. The City demonstrates an ongoing commitment to arts and culture through DCA’s ongoing activities, including community arts programming, cultural grants, marketing, public arts and youth arts and education programs, to stimulate and foster the creation of arts and cultural experiences throughout the diverse neighborhoods of LA.
QUESTIONS?
Contact DCA’s Public Art Division: call 213-202-5544 or email Maryam Hosseinzadeh <maryam.hosseinzadeh@lacity.org> or Paul Pescador <paul.pescador@lacity.org>.
This RFQ is available online.