Rock Hill Designs: 2014 Call for Entry

Rock Hill Designs is a collaborative effort including the City of Rock Hill, Rock Hill School District 3, Winthrop University, Clinton College, York Technical College, the Arts Council of York County, the Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation's Quality of Life Committee and other interested parties. The Rock Hill Designs Committee is seeking qualifications from artists and designers in creating distinctive, permanent design features within the Woolworth Walkway, which will serve as the connecting corridor between the recently constructed Old Town Market area to the mid-block of Main Street. The selected artist will be part of a design team including the City's selected architect and civil engineer that will incorporate locally inspired themes into the spaces created by the project.

The integrated design features will be located in a new walkway being created on the site of the former Woolworth building on Main Street, Rock Hill, SC. Main Street Rock Hill has a rich civil rights history; the Woolworth & McCrory's lunch counters were the location of the "Friendship Nine" sit-in in 1961 which ultimately resulted in the "Jail No Bail" stance that was replicated in Civil Rights protests across the South. One of the goals of this project is to incorporate this history into a theme of Civil Rights/Social Justice within the spaces that will be created. Possible available areas for the artist to work with include paving surfaces, walls, recessed areas along the new wall, and possible freestanding space.

Up to two artists or artist teams will be chosen by a juried selection panel as finalists and invited to visit Rock Hill and make proposals for artworks that focus on the history, moral and aspirational aspects of the civil rights movement. Finalists will be asked to devise a plan to allow for significant community involvement and a one week artist in residency program with local schools in the process of developing a final design proposal. Each finalist will be offered up to $2,000 in compensation for all expenses related to the development of the proposal. The Rock Hill Designs Committee's anticipated budget for the artist engagement/design portion of this project is $18,000, intended to cover all associated costs for the visioning & design selection process including artist and apprentice fees, materials, travel and convening expenses. The committee is seeking artists and designers with strong communication skills and a proven history of successful public art projects that demonstrate artistic excellence. Artists must be located in the Southeast region only (SC, NC, GA, TN, VA). Submissions will be reviewed based on experience and success in creating public artworks in collaboration with architects, design teams, and diverse community members, and aesthetic merit of past projects. Artists will be notified of their status by phone or email no later than July 14, 2014.