Artwork Designs for Main Street Marquee in Houston, TX

Submission deadline: Ends on July 9, 2018
Submit online: LINK

On behalf of the Houston Downtown Management District (HDMD), Weingarten Art Group (WAG) invites artists living and working in Texas to submit digitally formatted artwork designs for temporary installation on the Main Street Marquee. The Marquee is a 40 x 60-foot (vertical x horizontal) art space that is affixed to the façade of 901 Main Street in downtown Houston’s Main Street Square. One design will be selected for a September 2018 installation that will be on view for 6 months.

Background of Art Blocks
For Houstonians who use light rail, Main Street Square is often the jumping off point for Downtown destinations. Similarly, Houstonians who work Downtown know Main Street Square as a pedestrian plaza, which affords a change of pace and scenery from the office. Thirteen years after its launch, and in advance of high-profile national events taking place in Houston, Main Street Square received a makeover in 2016. Landscaping and hardscaping have a new look, and most exciting, a series of temporary art installations peppered the blocks between the 900 and 1100 blocks of Main Street.

With the Downtown District at the helm, this public art initiative is called Art Blocks. From lessons learned about public art’s capacity to awaken change in areas that have not yet realized their full potential, Art Blocks strives to enliven Main Street Square. This inaugural project by the Downtown District Public Art

Committee, supported by the professional services of the Weingarten Art Group, included a series of site-specific temporary installations in 2016 by internationally lauded artists and designers such as Patrick Renner with Flying Carpet Creative, Jessica Stockholder and New York-based collective YesYesNo—some making their Houston debut. Four distinct designs by local and regional artists were featured in 2016/2017 on the Main Street Marquee, and two more in 2018.

The temporary installations compliment the permanent public art that call Main Street Square their home, including Floyd Newsum’s vibrant Planter and Stems, an installation that was part of the 2004 streetscape project and restored and reinstalled on the 900 block of Main in March 2016. More information on Art Blocks here.

Art Blocks – Project Goals
Select artists who will:

Realize a project of this scope within budget and deadline. (Practical Goal)
Produce dynamic and accessible public art. (Visual Goal)
Enhance the diversity, connectivity and vitality of Downtown Houston. (Social Goal)
Help achieve our City’s goals of attracting and retaining the best talent in world. (Economic Goal)
Our aim is for Art Blocks to be a key component in making Main Street one of the most sought-after destinations in the City of Houston.

Scope of Work
Each artist may submit up to three digitally formatted works for consideration. One artist will be selected to participate at the Marquee site, and the selected artwork will be printed on 40 x 60- foot vinyl for display on the façade of 901 Main Street. Submissions should be original designs or unique site-specific works for this project and not simply photographs of existing works. No self-images, promotional or commercial advertisement images will be considered. Submissions should represent your work as a visual artist and translate well into a large format display appropriate for the public realm. WAG and HDMD will directly manage fabrication, installation and de-installation.

Eligibility

This opportunity is open to artists residing in Texas.
Artist previously selected for the Marquee Project are excluded from participating in this round.
Artists who previously submitted, but were not chosen are encouraged to re-apply, preferably with new designs.

Budget
Artists whose designs are selected will be paid an honorarium of $2,000 for the use of the artwork. Use of artwork includes the full-scale Marquee installation as well as online and print version for marketing and promotional purposes. All costs for fabrication, installation and de-installation will be paid by HDMD.
Submission Instructions

Cover letter that includes contact information, artist’s website (if any), a brief artist’s statement describing your practice, and a description of why your proposed artwork should be selected for the Main Street Marquee (500 words max).
Resume or company information (2 pages maximum).
Past work examples: 3 jpeg images of completed projects and/or artworks. Please do not submit proposals or sketches.
Up to three digital design files for consideration for Main Street Marquee
File format: jpeg
Size: 400 pixels (vertical) x 600 pixels (horizontal)
Color mode: CMYK
Contact information for at least one professional reference.

All documents should be in at least a 12 point font, single-spaced, with at least a ½” margin.

Please apply no later than Monday, July 9 by 11:59pm CST.

The Committee will take into consideration all of the data herein when making its decisions. Once a selection has been made, artist will be contacted and work directly with WAG to produce high resolution, to-scale versions for print.

Timeline

June 11, 2018 – Request for Submissions (RFS) released
July 9, 2018 – RFS Deadline
July 16, 2018 – Selection, artist notification and schedule of art rotation
August 2018 – Contracting and design finalization
August 2018 – Fabrication
September 2018 – Installation of first rotation

Please submit questions to piper@weingartenartgroup.com no later than 12:00pm on Monday, July 9. Questions will be answered as they are received.

Piper Faust
Project Manager, Weingarten Art Group