Call for Proposals: Midnight Moment

Presented in collaboration with the Times Square Advertising Coalition, Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment is the world’s largest and longest-running digital public art program. On display nightly and seen by millions of viewers each year, Midnight Moment showcases the work of contemporary artists on the world’s most iconic public canvas – the electronic billboards of Times Square.

Synchronized across 90+ billboards between 41st and 49th Sts every night from 11:57pm-12am, the program features a new artist’s work each month. Midnight Moment is made possible by the dozens of billboard operators who generously donate their advertising space for these 3 minutes each night, 364 nights each year.

Application Instructions

The Midnight Moment Selection Committee seeks proposals that meet these criteria:

• Content must be original works of moving-image art (still images or a series of still images will not be considered).
• Content must be submitted as completed works, not as a work-in-progress.
• Content must be appropriate for programming in a public space.
• The work should be accessible for the diverse and broad public audiences in Times Square.
• Content cannot include any nudity, sex, drugs, violence, religious iconography, overtly political messaging, expletives, etc.
• Content cannot be construable as an advertisement for anything, and cannot include logos.
• Content should work as a silent “video-only” presentation (the billboards do not have the capacity for audio channels).
• Content should be legible at a large scale, and able to be cropped and modified for various aspect ratios to fit the unique dimensions of each participating electronic billboard.

Applicants should consider:

• Visually speaking, successful submissions often contain saturated and/or high contrast colors. Sustained bright white content should be avoided.
• Please note that because each billboard is independently operated, the synchronization is not guaranteed to be 100% perfect. However, these potential inaccuracies are tracked by the Times Square Arts team for each project and are often unnoticeable to the average eye.
• Though a work is approved by the selection committee, the participating billboards reserve the right to decline presentation of a said work on their displays for any reason.
• The Artist must be the owner of the submitted work and is responsible for all licenses and representations.
• World or New York City premieres are appreciated, although new edits and re-imaginings of previous works are also strongly considered.
• Submissions may be proposed in partnership with other cultural institutions and/or to coincide with concurrent exhibitions, performances, etc.
• When proposing works, the Artist should consider Times Square’s uniqueness as a place, and the diversity of its visitors, workers, and residents.
• When reviewing works, the Midnight Moment Selection Committee understands the Times Square Arts mission.
• Times Square Arts values equity and diversity in the breadth of artists, traditions, subjects, ideas, and approaches to artmaking in the Midnight Moment program.

Files for Submission:

Mandatory:
* Horizontal Format Video, 170 seconds (2:50)
* Still Images: 1-3 still images representing the work submitted.
* Images must be 18"x24" at 300dpi: JPG or TIFF
* (No text/logos over images)
Optional:
* Horizontal Format Video (150 seconds, 2:30)
* Vertical Format Video (170 seconds, 2:50)
* Vertical Format Video (150 seconds, 2:30)
* Preview Video of Additional Channels

Please thoroughly review the submission guidelines included below and compile the necessary files for your Application. When ready, rolling submissions for the Midnight Moment program are accepted through the online Slideroom portal found below.

https://timessquare.slideroom.com/#/dashboard/program/52555