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CALL TO ARTISTS

The City of Sacramento, Office of Arts + Culture (OAC), a division of the City of Sacramento Convention and Cultural Services (CCS) Department, invites professional Artists, illustrators, and graphic Designers to submit their qualifications for the design of an exterior 5000 sq. ft. vinyl mural at Sutter’s Landing Regional Park (SLRP).  Artists may apply separately or as a team. 

With funding from the State of California and the City of Sacramento, the Sacramento  OAC Art in Public Places (APP) program has been tasked with management of a new vinyl wrap mural project at SLRP. The ideal and envisioned vinyl mural design will be focused on highlighting the natural habitat and history around the American River watershed and surrounding river environment to become a teaching tool and inspiration station for park visitors. 

A dedicated group of stakeholder volunteers will work with the selected artist to provide information and support through the design process. The mural wall surface is approximately 25’ x 200’ of corrugated metal, which is part of the Baler Building on the SLRP grounds. The vinyl mural design will need to cover the entire wall and include a small section in the upper right with signage about the skatepark (currently located in the Baler Building). APP will separately hire a vinyl wrap company to print and install the artist designed vinyl mural.

Professional artists, illustrators, and graphic designers with experience in large scale designs, environmental designs, or illustrations are encouraged to apply. Through an open competitive selection process, an artist will be selected to develop the design for this monumental vinyl mural. Additional consideration will be given to artists who have prior experience with or connections to the American River and Sacramento area. 

ART BUDGET

The selected artist will receive a total of $10,000 to design and submit digitally all aspects of the mural design. Funds are from both city and state sources, and the selected artist will enter into a purchase of artwork agreement with the City of Sacramento. Printing and installation costs for the vinyl mural are not the responsibility of the artist. APP will handle all aspects of printing and installation through a competitive bidding process with qualified vendors. However, it is expected that as a component of the artist’s qualifications, the artist will be able to submit the artwork to APP as print ready. 

PROJECT BACKGROUND

SLRP is located along an unpopulated stretch of the American River. This former landfill site is now home to a park along a levee with abundant wildlife and river related activities. On the waterside of the levee is a natural beach area, full of wildlife and access to the American River. One component of this city owned park is the Art and Skate Park located inside a corrugated metal building close to the city corporation yard inside the park. The skate park has a large wall that faces visitors as they enter this section of the park. With money secured from a grant from the CA State Legislature, the City of Sacramento will make a number of improvements to the park infrastructure. Among other improvements, these include a concession stand that will also rent equipment for river activities and a new exterior vinyl mural on the side of the Art and Skate Park located in the Baler Building. 

DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTENT FOR SELECTED ARTIST

As a component of the grant received from the State of CA, the eventual mural design should address images and content highlighting the American River watershed, its wildlife, Native American history, ecology, flora, and fauna. Additionally, the project stakeholders will be available to the artist to assist with providing possible images or content that may be used in the mural design. The goal is to create a monumental vinyl mural that may be a teaching tool and discussion opportunity for school groups, environmental advocacy groups, and other visitors to the park. 

The artist may develop their design using any number of techniques including but not limited to painting, drawing, photomontage, or other digital graphic representations. Any original created artwork will remain the property of the artist, but the artist will be required to provide high resolution digital files to be submitted for printing. The artist will be responsible for preparing these files either by photographing their design or using other methods to submit the design in a digital format. A separate contractor will be hired to print and install the vinyl mural. Artists are not required to have experience working with preparing digital files for large scale printing but demonstrating that type of prior experience in the application materials is a plus. 

ELIGIBILITY 

All eligible applicants must be 18 years old or older and be experienced professional artists, illustrators, or graphic designers. Artists Teams should have proven experience that demonstrates past projects where the team has worked collaboratively. There are no geographic limitations on who may apply; however, given the opportunities to explore the surroundings at SLRP and work directly and in person with stakeholders, artists located within the Sacramento Valley region will be provided some preference in the selection criteria. 

HOW TO APPLY AND PROJECT GUIDELINES 

Artists may apply for the Sutter’s Landing Regional Park Vinyl Mural Design by filling out the online application on submittable.com and submitting it with required supporting materials. The entire submission must be completed on Submittable at https://sacmetroarts.submittable.com/submit . There is no application fee to apply or to use Submittable. To apply register a username and password and follow the instructions. The call is listed as SLRP Vinyl Mural Design RFQ. City staff will review the applications for eligibility and advance eligible applications to a diverse panel of community member stakeholders, artists, art administrators, and curators who will review all complete submissions and interview at least three finalists prior to choosing an artist for the commission. APP staff will facilitate the panel’s review. 

Within the application materials, artists will be required to submit an up to 250-word statement of interest about their approach to illustration and design projects and how they anticipate working with stakeholders and developing their design through direct painting methods, photo montage, or other graphic techniques. 

Artists will submit up to 10 image files of their past artwork, specifically focusing on illustrations, representations of environmental or natural subject matter, and any large-scale graphic projects that show images and specific subject matter content at a pedestrian or monumental scale.  APP staff are available to assist artists with the application process.  Incomplete applications will not be considered. Requirements for project submission all done through the Submittable platform are: 

· Online Application submitted through Submittable

· Artist Statement (1-page maximum) 

· 10 files of artist’s original work  

· Resume (2-page maximum) 

· Statement of interest for proposed project (250 word maximum)

· 3 Professional References (name, phone, address, email) 

PANEL REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS

The selection panel will review and score applications based on a series of criteria that will help them decide which artist will receive the commission. Panelists will evaluate artists based on the criterion shown below (60 Points Total) as evidenced by subcategory questions described in the Scoring Rubric (available to applicants in the Information packet). 

Panelists are only reviewing past artwork and qualifications. No proposed designs for this project are to be submitted or reviewed during the RFQ application process. The areas of panel review of artists’ past work samples are: 

· Originality (20 points)

· Technical Skill (20 points)

· Public Art and Illustration Experience (20 points)

INFORMATION PACKET AND INFORMATION SESSION

The information packet may be downloaded here and includes some basic information about the project and site at the SLRP as well as the Scoring Rubric that the selection panel will use to score all qualified applicants. It is expected that artists will engage in some of their own research and are not limited to these materials provided. During this RFQ process, the information packet includes the following; although, additional items may be added as they become available:

· Scoring Rubric for Applicants

· Photos of wall and 3-D draft renderings of park improvements

· Resource packet with links to photos and information about American River watershed

An online information session will be held on Wednesday June 28 from 530-630 pm. The zoom link is: https://cityofsacramento-org.zoom.us/j/85851299193 . This will be an opportunity to ask questions about SLRP, the application process, the goals for the vinyl mural design, and hear more about the project from city staff and project stakeholders.  The session will be recorded and will be uploaded to the Information packet folder. 

PRELIMINARY PROJECT TIMELINE 

June 2023 -- Launch RFQ

June 28, 2023 -- Information Session via Zoom (Recorded)

July 24, 2023 -- Deadline for submission to RFQ

August 2023 -- Selection Panel meets to select 3 finalists for interviews

August 2023 -- Interviews conducted, and artist selected/notified for commission

September 2023 -- Contract and supplier paperwork completed 

October 2023 -- Artist begins meetings with stakeholders and design development

April 2024 -- Artist presents Final Design concept.

May 2024 -- Final Design approved – installation timeline set.

June 2024 -- Installation of Vinyl Mural 

June 2024 -- Dedication Event 

QUESTIONS

Donald Gensler, Project Manager, Office of Arts + Culture, Art in Public Places, dgensler@cityofsacramento.org or call 916-808-8493.