City of Alameda Request for Proposals for Physical Public Art

The City of Alameda invites artists and artist teams to submit proposals to create physical public art in the Alameda community. Artwork will be funded through the Alameda Public Art Fund, which was established by the City's 2003 Public Art Ordinance. The Public Art Commission seeks to fund artwork of different scales and lifetimes in a wide variety of locations within the City.

Eligible artwork includes sculpture, painting, mosaics, photography, crafts, mixed media, and electronic arts. Artwork may be permanent, fixed, temporary, or portable. For temporary artwork, the minimum installation period is one week. Eligible artwork must be located in a public place on private property, on land or in a building owned by the City of Alameda, or on government-owned publicly accessible property visible from a public right-of-way. All physical artwork must be located in the City of Alameda. Local artists and artist teams are particularly encouraged to propose and will receive a point preference in the evaluation process.

This RFP includes five award levels: One $150,000 award, one $50,000 award, two $25,000 awards, and one $12,500 award. These amounts include all costs related to design, project management, subcontracts, fabrication, transportation, delivery, storage, installation, liability, insurance, and other associated costs. All applications must include a mandatory 10% contingency. Maintenance and insurance costs for art on public property shall be the responsibility of the public entity accepting the art. For art on private property, maintenance and insurance shall be funded by the property owners.

Proposals must include a letter of interest, concept description, concept design rendering, proposed location with property owner support letter, itemized budget estimate, project schedule, resume, and three to ten work samples. Applications will be pre-screened by City staff for minimum qualifications, then reviewed by the Physical Public Art Selection Panel. For $12,500 and $25,000 award levels, the three highest-ranked applications will be reviewed by the Public Art Commission for recommendation to City Council. For $50,000 and $150,000 award levels, finalists will have 10 weeks to develop original proposals and will receive honoraria of $500 or $1,000 respectively.