REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS: Durham SmART Initiative - Parking Garage Art Wrap

The Durham Arts Council, partnering with the North Carolina Arts Council, is seeking artists or artist-led teams for Project 1 of the Durham SmART Vision Plan. This project focuses on designing and fabricating monumental art banners to wrap the exterior south and southeast façades of a large City parking garage located between the American Tobacco and City Center Districts. The project budget is $40,000–$50,000 for design and oversight of fabrication. Custom hardware, mesh fabric, printing, and installation are funded separately. Contemporary lighting to enliven the nighttime experience should be considered by artists and would be funded as a second phase.

Durham is part of the North Carolina Arts Council's SmART Initiative, which demonstrates how arts-driven economic development transforms communities. The parking garage façade is positioned as an art site to create a strong visual link between the American Tobacco Campus and City Center Main Street, encouraging pedestrians toward other arts venues and contributing to economic growth in the downtown corridor.

Submission materials must include: a statement of interest, professional resume, 10 visual images of related art and design projects with an annotated image list, and three current references with contact information. Applicants must be age 18 or older and are eligible regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identification, military status, sexual orientation, marital status, or physical ability. Prior experience with similar project concepts and materials is recommended. Selection criteria include artistic excellence and originality, timeless concepts related to context and community, relevance of artworks over time, and imaginative art solutions that expand the creativity of place making. Three finalists will be invited to visit Durham for interviews. The project timeline runs from February 2017 through April 2018.