Public Art Opportunity

The City of Cambridge is seeking artists to create a major public artwork outside the city’s new Tobin Montessori and Vassal Lane Upper Schools complex, as part of a reconstruction of the educational and community hub at 197 Vassal Lane. We invite you to submit your qualifications—images of past work and biographical information—to be considered for the commission. See details below. (No proposals at this time.)

Update: The deadline has been extended to Dec. 4, 2020, at noon.

Introduction:
The City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is seeking qualifications from artists interested in creating a site-responsive outdoor public artwork for what will be the newly constructed Tobin Montessori and Vassal Lane Upper Schools complex, located at 197 Vassal Lane in northwest Cambridge.

The $650,000 commission must cover all artist’s costs from design through final implementation and installation, including but not limited to artist fee, travel, community meetings and engagement, fabrication, insurance, engineering and other consultants, transportation, installation, and coordination with city staff.

At this stage, we are not asking for proposals, but rather only qualifications in the form of materials that represent an artist’s past work. From this Request for Qualifications (RFQ), four finalists will be selected by an Art Jury. Each finalist will be invited and paid $3,000 to submit concept proposals that are based on site parameters and developed in consultation with city staff and members of the community. Final selection of one artist or team will be made by a Site Committee of stakeholders based on community feedback, proposal presentations, and interviews with the finalists.

Requirements

The city seeks artists with public art experience, which we know can come in various forms. Recognizing that working in the public realm is multi-faceted, we welcome applicants within a broad range of artistic backgrounds, and we encourage artist-led interdisciplinary teams.

Artist Selection Process:
• Artists/teams submit qualifications in the form of images of previous work and biographical information online through Slideroom, an online platform (see below).

• An Art Jury will select 4 finalists.

• DEPENDENT ON COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS: Finalists visit Cambridge for a site visit, meeting with City staff, and community meeting.

• Finalists develop proposals. Each finalist or team will be paid $3,000 for their proposal.

• Community feedback: Proposals will be made available to the public for feedback. FORMAT WILL BE DEPENDENT ON COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS.

• Finalists present proposals to the Site Committee, which will select one artist/team to be awarded the $650,000 commission. COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS MAY REQUIRE VIDEO PRESENTATIONS IN LIEU OF IN-PERSON PRESENTATIONS AND OTHER MODIFICATIONS OF SELECTION PROCESS.

Application Instructions

Please contact us with any questions whatsoever about this project or any part of the submission process. We are here to help! Submit images of past work and biographical information at http://cac.slideroom.com.

If you are not in our artist registry,registration is free and easy: upload digital files of work samples and complete the form for artist’s information. Once you are in our registry you will be considered for the Tobin Montessori and Vassal Lane Upper Schools project as well as for future public art commissions administered by the City of Cambridge.

If you are already in the registry,we recommend that you update your images and information. If you would like to submit updates, please email Hilary Zelson, Public Art Administrator, to access your profile: hzelson@cambridgema.gov. For technical support using Slideroom, please e-mail support@slideroom.com.

For other questions, please contact Hilary Zelson, at hzelson@cambridgema.gov or 617-349-4388.