REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Aurora Public Art: Mexican Folk Art Mural Sponsored by the Burlington Northern Foundation And the City of Aurora
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Monday, March 1, 2021 at 12:00 pm
Deadline is Inclusive of ALL Application Materials No late applications will be accepted
Submit via Online Form:
https://bit.ly/ny_mural
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Program Description
The City of Aurora has acquired a grant from the Burlington Northern Foundation to paint a Community Heritage and History Mural on the New York Street BNSF viaduct wall.
The Aurora Public Art Commission (APAC) is inviting multiple artists from the Aurora region to submit full-color proposals of alebrijes, colorful spirit animals from the Mexican Folk Art tradition.
Project Theme
The theme of this mural is a celebration of Mexican Heritage in Aurora, represented by multiple, large-scale alebrijes of varied animals, colors, and patterns.
City Objectives and Background
Public Art consistent with City of Aurora vision to provide individuals, families and businesses an opportunity to thrive in a friendly, safe, and dynamic environment
In 2016, the City of Aurora revised its FoxWalk Overlay District Design Guidelines, Regulations and Procedures to allow and provide guidance for the installation of murals, either public or private, in the downtown. These revisions were done in order to provide a process for murals in the downtown.
Aesthetic Range and Sentiments:
In accordance with Section 3.4 of the FoxWalk Overlay District Design Guidelines, the mural, like a “new development” “is to reflect the same underlying level of architectural quality, imagination, and variety…as the pre-World War II structures” and “will be striking and distinctive in appearance, and clearly not homogeneous.”
Sec. 8.4-5 Murals may not be used to advertise any business, commercial service, products, political, philosophical, or religious points of view. The latter would continue to be regulated as Wall Signs, under Section 4.4-19 of the FoxWalk Overlay District Design Guidelines.
Location Description
The Burlington Northern Railroad viaduct wall along the north side of New York St.; this is a high-traffic, westbound gateway into Downtown Aurora. The project will use a portion of the wall approximately 80’ wide by 15’ high.
Project Description
Multiple Artists shall be selected to paint individual alebrijes for the Project. Preference will be given to Artists who reside in or have a connection to Aurora. The estimated window for installation is August 21 to September 3. Public Art is seeking to have all 2021 murals painted simultaneously, creating a mural festival to maximize marketing and impact of Artists’ work. Murals must be completely installed in time for the ROOTS Aurora festival on September 3. The surface to be painted is poured concrete in fair condition. The City will provide paint and materials for the project. Selected Artists will work as a group with Public Art to arrange a cohesive, dynamic composition of their designs within the shape of the wall. All Participating Artists must sign and submit liability waivers with the City and with BNSF 30 days before commencing the project. The City is responsible for mural maintenance. The City reserves the right to remove or cover the mural; the City will make a reasonable effort to maintain the mural for a minimum of 5 years. Artists retain ownership of their individual designs; all renderings, whether selected or not, are the property of the artist and recognized as original intellectual property. The City will not use the artists’ designs as a means of generating income. The City reserves the right to photograph, film, document, and use images of the mural in marketing materials and other community-oriented applications; all reasonable efforts will be made to credit the Artists. The City reserves the right, pending the quantity or nature of submissions, to terminate or suspend the project until further notice; the City reserves the right to accept less than the maximum number of potential proposals for any reason.
Budget
The Artist stipends are provided by a $5,000 grant from the Burlington Northern Foundation. Stipends will be divided equally between Selected Artists. The City is seeking up to 8 Artists to collaborate on the project. Nova Color, Montana Cans, primer, and anti-graffiti sealant will be provided by the City of Aurora Public Art Department.
Evaluation Criteria
All murals within the City of Aurora are governed by the FoxWalk Overlay Design District guidelines, which are an annexation to the Zoning Ordinance. This RFP is in accordance with municipal ordinance §8.4. The governing portion of Section 8.4. Murals is reprinted for your reference:
8.4-1 Mural proposals for downtown buildings, whether publicly or privately owned, shall be reviewed by the Aurora Public Art Commission (APAC) for initial review and recommendation, prior to a review and recommendation by the Design Review Committee (DRC). The final decision shall be made by the Building, Zoning, and Economic Development (BZE) Committee.
In choosing a proposal, the following criteria will be considered:
Creativity, color, and content: successful designs will be colorful and graphic depictions of alebrijes. Artistic merit of the proposed design’s execution Artistic merit of previous paintings Aurora residency
Furthermore: Reasonable effort will be made to select artists representing gender, ethnicity, race, identity, and dis/ability consistent with the demographics of the City. Content that appears to discriminate against a protected class will not be accepted. Content that appears to promote imminent lawless action and/or hate speech will not be accepted. Content that appears to contain obscenity as defined by Illinois state law will not be accepted.
720 ILCS 5/11-20 (The City of Aurora, Aurora Public Art Commission, the Department of Public Art, and the Public Art Director are committed to ensuring that its programs are free of discrimination, and that individuals of all backgrounds and demographics are afforded equal opportunity to participate. Accordingly, no individual shall be denied the opportunity to participate, nor shall any artwork be denied, based on an individual or applicant’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, order of protection status, marital status, physical or mental disability, military status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or unfavorable discharge from military service. Discrimination based on any of these protected classes is expressly prohibited by these policies and procedures.
In addition, in accordance with this Section, in the judgment of the Director of Public Art and/or the Public Art Commission, artwork appearing to discriminate against a protected class, or which appears to promote imminent lawless action and/or obscenity, the latter of which is defined by 720 ILCS 5/11-20, will not be permitted. Timeline (Dates Subject to Change)
03/01/2021: Complete Applications Due
03/08/2021: Selected Artists Notified
03/09–30/2021: Selected Artists meet virtually to create a Final Group Composition
08/21/2021: Mural Installation Begins
09/03/2021: Mural Installation Complete
EXHIBIT A: APPLICATION
Application for Mexican Folk Art Mural
Applications should be submitted via web form here:__https://bit.ly/ny_mural______
If completing the online form presents undue hardship, you may send all of the following elements in a single email to Public Art Director Jen Evans at [email protected]:
1. Resume (.doc or .pdf) - optional, but recommended 2. Full color image(s) of up to 3 alebrije design(s) 3. A single pdf containing 3-5 images of your previous paintings. Each image should be labelled with sizes and dates. 4. This completed form (Exhibit A)
Artist Name ______
Address______
City/State/Zip ______
Phone Number(s) ______
E-mail ______
Website
______
Potential scheduling conflicts in 8/21-9/3/2021: ______
______
Signature ______Date ______EXHIBIT B: Location
Burlington Northern viaduct wall along New York St., just East of LaSalle St.