Art & Lived Experience: Housing Insecurity

Adams County, Colorado seeks to commission a professional artist with lived experience of housing insecurity to facilitate a community-engaged artmaking series with residents experiencing homelessness and create an interior artwork inspired by the program series to be displayed at the Adams County Government Center. This two-phase project is a collaboration between the selected artist, the Adams County Community Safety & Well-Being Department (CSWB) and the Parks, Open Space & Cultural Arts Department (POSCA).

Phase 1 (75% of project): The selected artist will facilitate artmaking at Homeless Reduction community engagement events including resource fairs, mobile services, and Crisis Response Unit office hours. The artist will shadow and meet with CSWB staff from December 2022 through February 2023 to develop a community engagement program, then regularly attend community engagement events from March 2023 through May 2023. Phase 2 (25% of project): The selected artist will create an interior artwork informed by their experience with Adams County residents, to be displayed at the Adams County Government Center with the goal of sparking conversation about homelessness and housing insecurity.

Project budget is $25,000 inclusive of all costs including artist fees, materials, transportation, and insurance. Payment is structured as 25% upon contract signing, 25% upon completion of the community engagement plan, 25% upon completion of the community engagement period, and 25% upon installation of the commissioned artwork. Semi-finalists (2-3) will receive a $750 honorarium to create a project-specific proposal. This project is open to professional artists local to Colorado. Application deadline: October 23, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. MDT via CaFÉ online application system. No application fee. Required submissions: artist statement addressing your interest in the project, lived experience with housing insecurity, and experience working with vulnerable populations; project portfolio PDF with past community-engaged artmaking projects; and artwork samples PDF with 10-15 images of select artwork.