METRO Solutions Public Art Program

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) is seeking to collaborate with the arts community during design and construction of METRO Solutions, a major transit expansion in the city of Houston, Texas. Artists are invited to submit their qualifications for review. Fees for contracted artists are expected to range from $10,000-$25,000, depending on the number of stations assigned to each.

Over the next six years, METRO is designing and constructing rapid transit expansions on five corridors: the University Corridor, North Corridor, Southeast Corridor, East Corridor, and Uptown Corridor. This includes approximately ten miles of Light Rail Transit and 20 miles of Guided Rapid Transit connecting diverse neighborhoods throughout Houston. The Public Art Program will be tailored to the character of these neighborhoods and based on a collaborative approach with the community. Art will be a major element of variability in transit station design, with the objective that art installations will respect and celebrate the different characteristics of surrounding neighborhoods through a focus on local context.

An expert panel will review qualifications and select approximately 40 artists to present full proposals. A District Selection Committee will then make the final selection of team artists. Selected Team Artists will contract directly with design-build teams of architects, engineers and contractors, and will collaborate in refining art opportunities, preparing technical documentation, attending public meetings as required, and providing technical recommendations for maintenance of artwork. Qualifications must be submitted online through www.callforentry.org by November 30, 2006 at 5:00 pm CST. Submissions consist of: current resume (MS Word .doc or PDF .pdf), a written statement not to exceed 2,000 characters describing the artist's work and qualifications for executing public art projects, and six (6) digital images of relevant work. There is no charge for submission. Application seminars will be held in Houston on November 1, 2 and 6.