City of Seattle: Seattle Presents Gallery Series - Dialogue in Art: Exhibitions on Homelessness

The Office of Arts & Culture is seeking to commission four artists or artist teams to develop and coordinate a social practice/community engaged project that addresses homelessness, gentrification, and/or displacement. The project culminates in a two-month exhibition in the Seattle Presents Gallery space between February and September 2017. Artists are asked to think expansively about what shelter and stability mean to diverse people and populations and to examine the systemic causes of homelessness.

The project operates in two phases. Phase One is a research and development period where artists work with ARTS project managers, service organizations, homeless populations, and/or other artists to develop a body of work for exhibition. Artists receive a $1,000 commission for approximately 30 hours of work and must submit photographic and written documentation upon completion. Phase Two involves evolving the first phase into a two-month exhibition featuring a visually dynamic "Storefront" style installation in the Seattle Presents Gallery. All artists will provide a "Lunchtime Lecture" discussing their exhibition's intent and fostering dialogue with attendees. The gallery is open to the public for a minimum of six hours per week. Artists receive a $500 commission for Phase Two. Total compensation for each selected artist or artist team is $1,500.

Eligibility is open to professional artists residing in Washington state. Applicants must submit 16 images of past work, an image identification list, a letter of interest, a concept proposal (not to exceed 2,000 characters), and a résumé. Selection is based on artistic merit, appropriateness for the public setting, strength and artistic vision of past work, creativity of approach, exhibition proposal, résumé, and experience working in a community setting. Artists will be notified of selection decisions by late November 2016. Contact Elisheba Johnson at [email protected] or 206-684-0182 with questions.