CALL TO ARTISTS

The City of Sacramento, Office of Arts + Culture, a division of the City of Sacramento Convention and Cultural Services Department in partnership with  the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), invites qualified professional visual artists to submit their qualifications for two (2) interior mural projects: one (1) 226 SF mural located on first floor hall entrance UC Davis reception desk and  one (1)  192 SF mural,  located on first floor common area  of the Aggie Square - Life-Long Learning building . Aggie Square is an innovation hub and knowledge community in Sacramento, California. The project’s developer is Wexford Science & Technology.  UC Davis is the anchor tenant. The funding and contracting for this project are handled entirely through UC Davis. The Office of Arts + Culture is providing general guidance and services for the RFQ, panel selection, and communication with artists for this project. This is the second of three phases of public art RFQ’s for Aggie Square.  

Professional visual artists with experience in studio painting, large scale designs, environmental designs, or murals are encouraged to apply. Artists may apply separately or as a team. Through an open competitive selection process, four finalists (two artists per mural) will be selected and paid a stipend to develop conceptual designs. Once selected, the artists will contract directly with UC Davis to develop a final design and install the artwork on site.  Additional consideration will be given to artists who reside in or have historic, personal, or cultural connections to the land within Sacramento County or Yolo County and who have not been selected in a previous phase to implement a mural at Aggie Square. Studio artists without significant mural or public art experience are still highly encouraged to apply. 

ART BUDGET

The four finalists (two artists per mural) will each receive a $500 stipend to develop their concepts.  The artist selected for each mural (one artist / artist team per mural) will receive the following payment, which is intended to cover all expenses for the mural, including materials, travel, and labor. 

Location 1: LLL Teaching Center (32’6” x 7’0” - approximately 226 SF) - $11,300

Location 2: LLL Public-Facing Space (24’ x 8’0” - approximately 192 SF) - $9,600

Finalists will be assigned to a mural at the panel’s discretion before they begin design concept development. In the online application, applicants must indicate whether they wish to be considered for a particular mural location or select both if they wish to be considered for either location. No one artist or team will be allowed to receive the commissions for both locations. Artists are encouraged to select both walls to have the greatest opportunity for being awarded a commission. 

Funds are directly from the UC Davis project budget and the selected artists will enter into a written agreement with UC Davis for their work. Payment will be made 50% at contract signing with the remaining 50% to be paid upon project completion.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Aggie Square is a mixed-use innovation district located on the UC Davis Sacramento campus. The full project scope includes three lab/office buildings, a standalone building, a mixed-use residential building in addition to a parking garage. The murals will be installed in the Life-Long Learning (LLL) Building. LLL is a total of 254,621 SF. While UC Davis is occupying approximately 60% of the space in these first two commercial buildings, these spaces also include private industry tenants, flexible space for startups, and a significant amount of space for programming and events. 

Aggie Square will serve as a nexus of innovation, creativity, academic research, and community engagement. It can be seen as a place to live, work, learn, discover, and heal. The two murals will be on the ground floor of the LLL building and should reinforce Aggie Square as a place for creative people to pursue their dreams. 

DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTENT FOR SELECTED ARTIST

Once finalists are selected through the RFQ process, murals should be designed to reinforce and honor the region’s eclectic background and consider any, or all, of the natural (rivers, trees, foothills), economic (agriculture, healthcare/bioscience), or cultural (murals, diversity of people, neighborhoods) attributes of the Sacramento region. Designs can look forward in a way that creates a feeling of hope without ignoring the rich history of the past. The goal is for the art to inspire creativity, discovery, healing, and optimism. 

The selected artists will have access to the project’s design and development teams. While the budget is mostly geared toward painted murals, UC Davis will also consider installations beyond painted murals such as vinyl graphics, sculptural wall installations, lighting treatments, etc.  However, the budget for each site is fixed no matter the medium or installation scheme the finalist presents for the conceptual design phase. 

Finalist conceptual design presentations will give the artist an opportunity to explain and clarify the conceptual direction they intend to develop but are not expected to encompass the final design for the artwork. After selection for the project, the selected artists will have approximately two months to meet with stakeholders, meet with other project team members, tour the site, and do further research and design development before presenting their final design for approval. 

ELIGIBILITY 

All eligible applicants must be 18 years or older and be experienced professional visual artists. While not required, applicants are encouraged to demonstrate a history of involvement in collaborative projects and/or public art projects. Applicants are encouraged to share past mural projects they have created and/or worked on.  Artists should clarify the role they played when working in collaborative or team environments. If applying as a team, the panel will be most interested in projects where the team has previously worked together. 

Applicants must have strong ties and/or reside in the Sacramento Valley, namely Sacramento and Yolo counties. A strong tie to the region is an important component of the panel’s selection criteria. The applicant need not reside in the mentioned counties so long as they can demonstrate historical, personal, or cultural ties to the region. 

To receive payments from UC Davis, finalists and selected artists must be able to complete paperwork and meet insurance requirements necessary to become enrolled as an independent contractor. 

HOW TO APPLY AND PROJECT GUIDELINES 

Artists may apply for the Aggie Square Murals Phase 2 RFQ by filling out the online application on Submittable.com and submitting it with required supporting materials. The entire submission must be completed on Submittable at https://saccityarts.submittable.com/submit. Applications submitted any other way will not be considered. There is no application fee to apply or to use Submittable. To apply, register a username and password and follow the instructions.  For registration, please use an email address that you monitor. All initial correspondence and updates will be through your Submittable account, not the contact info you list in your application. City staff are available for assistance with the application process, and all applicants with questions about the application are encouraged to attend or watch the recorded Information Session (details below). 

City staff will review the applications for eligibility and advance eligible applications to a diverse panel of community and development stakeholders, artists, art administrators, and curators who will review all complete submissions and select four finalists to present conceptual designs. APP staff will facilitate the panel’s review. 

As part of the online Submittable application, artists will be required to submit the following materials for consideration. Artist teams should submit only one application and identify one team member as the main contact. Incomplete applications will not be accepted:

· Professional Resume:  Detailing experience, past projects, along with any relevant skills and qualifications. (2 page maximum; teams may submit a 1 page maximum per team member)

· Portfolio of Past Artwork:  Highlighting examples of the artist’s public art and/or mural projects. (10 image files)

· Image Description List: Providing the Title, medium, location (if applicable), and commissioning body (if applicable). If artwork was part of a team or collaboration effort, role artist played must be indicated. 

· Artist Statement:  Clarifying the artist’s inspirations or interests as shown through the artist’s creative practice and provided sample artwork. (1 page maximum; teams must submit a statement that discusses their work and creative practice as a team)

· Statement of Interest:  Explaining the artist’s interests in the location options and overall project opportunity. (250 word maximum)

· Location Statement:  Demonstrating the applicant’s ties to the Sacramento Valley region. (150 word maximum)

· 3 Professional References:  From past clients or collaborators (name, title, phone, and email)

PANEL REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS

The selection panel is inclusive of a diverse set of individuals with differing cultural, racial, and professional backgrounds.  The selection panel will review and score applications based on a series of objective criteria that will help them decide which artists will receive an invitation to prepare and present a conceptual design. Panelists will evaluate artists based on the criterion shown below (60 Points Total) as evidenced by subcategory questions described in the Scoring Rubric (available to applicants in the online Information packet). 

Panelists are only reviewing past artwork and qualifications. No proposed designs for this project are to be submitted or reviewed during the RFQ application process. The areas of panel review of artists’ past work samples are: 

· Originality (20 points)

· Technical Skill (20 points)

· Public Art Experience (20 points)

INFORMATION PACKET FOLDER AND INFORMATION SESSION

The information packet folder may be downloaded here: Phase 2 Information Packet - Aggie Square. The folder includes some basic information about the project and locations as well as the Scoring Rubric that the selection panel will use to score all qualified applicants. Once selected for the commission, finalists will be provided additional support materials and opportunities to meet with stakeholders in order to prepare and complete their final design presentation. During this RFQ process, the information packet includes the following; although, additional items may be added as they become available:

· Scoring Rubric for Applicants – Aggie Square Murals Phase 2

· RFQ – Aggie Square Murals Phase 2 - PDF format 

· Visuals – Locations for Murals at Aggie Square Phase 2

An online information session will be held on September 11, 2024 from 600 pm - 700 pm PST. Register for the zoom information session HERE.  This will be an opportunity to ask questions about the Aggie Square development project, the application process, the goals for the site locations, hear more about the project from city staff and project stakeholders and learn about the necessary paperwork and processes for selected artists to receive payment from UC Davis.  The session will be recorded and will be uploaded to the Information packet folder. 

PRELIMINARY PROJECT TIMELINE 

8/19/24    Call to Artists Launches

9/11/24     OAC facilitates online Information Session (recorded)

10/07/24  Call to Artists Ends

12/03/24  Finalists notified 

12/05/24  All Applicants Notified 

1/08/25    Finalist Presentations to Selection Panel via zoom

1/13/25     Chosen Artists notified / Contracting with UCD / Stakeholder discussions

2/10/25    Final Design approved by UCD / Artist sets install schedule and may begin on-site

4/21/25   Final Deadline for all work to be completed and installed

QUESTIONS

Donald Gensler, Manager, Office of Arts and Culture, Art in Public Places, dgensler@cityofsacramento.org or call 916-808-8493.