Alexandria Art Purchase Awards 3

The City of Alexandria is purchasing original art to add to the City's art collection and to display in City-owned buildings. Artists, art galleries, and art consultants working or residing in Alexandria and the Washington, DC area are encouraged to apply.

This is the third of eight calls in the Alexandria Art Purchase Awards program. Each call will purchase up to $4,000 in artwork. For this call, artwork should focus on one of three themes: "Time and Place," "Neighborhoods and Gathering Places," or "Natural and Urban Systems." The process occurs in three phases: artists submit applications online, selected artwork is displayed at City Hall for three months, and the task force makes purchase recommendations to the Alexandria Commission for the Arts. Each artist chosen for the City Hall exhibition but not given a purchase award will receive an honorarium of $100.

Eligibility: Applicants must be 18 years or older and reside or work in Alexandria or the Washington, DC area. Artists, galleries, and art consultants are eligible to submit original art. All artwork must be original, available for purchase, and made within the last 5 years. Artwork must be ready to hang on a wall. Individual artists can submit up to five works; galleries and consultants can submit up to five works from any combination of two or more represented artists. Pricing must include the frame, though the City reserves the right to negotiate the final price. Applications must include an artist bio (one to two paragraphs), a letter of interest describing how each piece conveys one of the three themes (one to two paragraphs), and a one-page resume. Selection criteria include artistic excellence, artwork conveying a strong sense of one of the three themes, artist bio, letter of interest, resume, appropriateness for display in City public spaces, and cost based on funding availability. Finalists will be notified in early June, deliver artwork in mid-June, and the City Hall exhibition runs July through September. Art Purchase Awards will be announced in mid-October, with artwork pickup in late October 2019.