Kapor Center Building: Façade Art Competition

The Kapor Center for Social Impact seeks a vibrant installation to cover the first floor of their building at 2148 Broadway (at Franklin and 22nd Streets) in Oakland. The building is located on a highly visible stretch of Broadway, two blocks from the Paramount Theater and 19th Street BART station, one block from the major intersection of Broadway and Grand Avenue, and in the heart of overlapping Uptown business and arts districts.

The winning artist will receive a $7,500 artist's fee, and the Kapor Center will cover up to $20,000 in materials for production, working with their list of preferred vendors. The artist is expected to install the work and be available to consult on maintenance for up to 1 year after launch. The installation should be complete and prepared for unveiling by Friday, December 6, 2013. Artists in all career stages who live in the San Francisco Bay Area are welcomed to submit work; priority will be given to entrants who live or work in Oakland.

Submissions should include six slides of previous work, a resume of no more than three pages, and a brief artist statement of no more than one page. The deadline for entries is 11:59 p.m. on October 13th. Stage I entries will be reviewed by Kapor Center staff and an artist consultant. On October 18th, five finalists will be invited to submit ink sketches or formal renderings and will each receive a $150 honorarium. Finalists must submit sketches by November 1st. Stage II entries will be evaluated by a panel including representatives from the Kapor Center, Uptown/Lake Merritt Community Business District, City of Oakland, the artists community, and the building development team. Selection criteria include creativity of design, reflection of the Kapor Center's core values of inclusion and innovation, incorporation of the organization's brand, reflection of Oakland's diverse and vibrant community, and suitability for the building and neighborhood. Designs should account for graffiti repair and deterrence, installation methods (some areas behind glass, some exposed to elements), maintaining access to building interiors, and ease of installation and maintenance. Digital output at high resolution and 50% of actual size is strongly encouraged. The Kapor Center will retain ownership of the final physical art panels; the artist retains ownership of their concept. The Kapor Center requests rights to use installation images in other Kapor Center-related projects and publications with proper credit to the artist.