A collaboration between the Arts Commission and Art in Public Places is seeking artists within 50 miles of Toledo to design a permanent shade system using the pre-existing 10 columns at UpTown Green Park. The 2.5-acre park, located between 18th and 20th streets off Madison Avenue downtown, previously had a shade screen installed, but that shade screen is no longer. The park serves the surrounding neighborhood residents and was the first to be developed within UpTown. Visit the park’s website here. Â
Three artists will be selected and paid $2,500 to design an artistic shade system for the pre-existing columns and will be required to attend a community engagement meeting with neighborhood residents and stakeholders. One winning proposal will then be developed, engineered, and fabricated for installation within the $92,500 commission budget.Â
Criteria for the final selection includes using input from community engagement meetings in the design, remaining within the budget, ability to be built upon review by a structural engineer, and reflects the character of the surrounding neighborhood. Artists will create a concept design package which includes a written concept and plan, drawings that explain the design, an estimate of the cost, draft of fabrication, installation schedule, and a preliminary engineering review. Support will be provided for the three and final selected artists throughout the process.Â
To be eligible, artists must be at least 18 years old, within the early stages of career development, still developing their artistic voice, and resides within 50 miles of Toledo. Artists may be individual or part of a collaboration or collective, but cannot be an institution, LLC, or S corporation. Anyone who has received a $5,000 commission or more from the Art in Public Places program within the past 5 years is also ineligible. Bonus criteria includes experience with architecture, sculpture, and infrastructure design, understands construction materials, and experience creating sculpture and/or 3D art; these criteria are not required.Â
If this project is getting your creative juices flowing, here are your next steps! Candidates need to submit a letter of interest, current CV, visual support materials, an annotated image list, and references. Here’s the link to apply. Deadline for submissions is May 17th, so don’t delay! The winning submission will be announced July 13th.Â
Questions? Contact Nathan Mattimoe, Art in Public Places Director of the Arts Commission at: [email protected]. Need some inspo? Click here for examples of existing shade structures.