Parking Garage Artwork Design Competition

The City of Sarasota is sponsoring a design competition for artwork to be installed in a recently constructed downtown parking garage located at 1538 State Street between Orange Avenue and Lemon Avenue. This six-story structure includes retail space on the first floor and features two pedestrian entrances with elevators and stairwells, and concrete atriums open to the ceiling. The City seeks artwork to adorn the elevator/stairwell lobbies, interior floors, atriums, stairwells, and concrete walls within the garage. The artwork should provide a way-finding system to help garage users identify their parked car location, with each floor having a different artistic characteristic such as color, art scene, or design.

Eligibility is limited to artists who reside or have an office/artist studio within a 150 mile radius of the City of Sarasota and have successfully completed projects of similar scale and budget. Submissions must include a written description and illustrations of the proposed artwork, including title, media type, dimensions, weight, and fabrication information. Work samples should consist of 4-10 images. The City's project budget does not exceed $100,000 and covers all costs including design, engineering, production, transport, installation, site preparation, lighting, travel expenses, and required insurance.

The selection process begins with the Public Art Committee reviewing and ranking all submissions at a public meeting. Five finalists will be invited to present proposals in person and will receive $500 honorariums. Finalists must include a site-specific maquette and other visual depictions of the proposed artwork. The Public Art Committee will rank the five proposals and recommend to the City Commission, which grants final approval. More than one artist may be commissioned, with each potentially assigned to individual levels or atriums. The commissioned work becomes part of the City's permanent public art collection. Artists must provide a two-year warranty on materials and craftsmanship. Orientation meetings are scheduled for August 10th and September 7th, 2016 at 9:00 AM at the parking garage. Contact Clifford Smith at [email protected] or 941-365-2200, ext. 4361 to schedule attendance.