Call to Artists For Paid Public Art Program

It is strongly recommend applicants read through the entire application and prepare all files, including renaming file names to the correct format, and drafting descriptions, statements and other information in advance to make the process more efficient.

GENERAL INFORMATION: The Gaithersburg Cultural Arts Advisory Committee (CAAC) seeks to promote artistic expression within our community, creative excellence from artists of all media, and incorporate artwork into the built and natural environment.  It is with this dedication that the CAAC invites artists to submit their qualifications to be considered for public art projects within our Art in Public Places Program (AIPP).  Artists will need to have experience creating public artworks, working with the community on public art projects, and ideally, as part of public art projects with adults and/or youth applicants should have arts education experience. The committee is interested in different types of media and approaches to art, including sculpture, murals, environmental artwork, etc.  Budgets for upcoming projects are in the range from $2,500 to $50,000 all-inclusive of design, creation and installation of artwork.

Residency Requirement: Applicants must reside and/or work in the greater Washington area – Maryland, Virginia or Washington, DC.

Selection Process: Public Art Selection Committees consist of project stakeholders, City of Gaithersburg representatives, Cultural Arts Advisory Committee representatives, art professionals and community members.  An initial committee will review qualification applications and make recommendations for potential pre-qualified applicants for upcoming projects.  As planned projects are implemented, a project-specific selection committee will review the pre-qualified applicants and select up to three artists to provide a proposal for the project.  The artists selected will be provided a small stipend to develop their proposal. The finalists will be forwarded to the Cultural Arts Advisory Committee for review and approval, with larger projects going before the City Council for final approval.

Point of Contact: Public art staff will be the point of contact for artists during all phases of the application process, as well as agreement and project implementation.  Staff may be reached via email at [email protected].

PROJECTS: The City of Gaithersburg is currently seeking public artists to work on several public art projects with the AIPP program. There are currently three planned for 2023 – 2024, with additional phases or projects planned over the next two years.  Artists that are selected from the qualifications review may have opportunities to develop proposals for these projects.

Community Murals (up to $50,000 for overall project, individual murals vary): The City has initiated a multi-year project working with youth and seniors to create murals throughout the City. To be considered for this project, an artist must be able to demonstrate previous work creating large scale painted murals in public spaces. Collaboration with youth and seniors on the creation of design concepts, as well as the execution of the pieces will be a requirement of the project.

Trail Markers (up to $25,000 for overall project, individual trail markers vary): The City has also established a multi-year project creating artistic, sculptural trail markers within our City parks.  To be considered for this project, artists must demonstrate their ability to create large scale three-dimensional art that can withstand the environmental elements and adhere to safety and maintenance requirements. In addition, the artist must also be able to engage the community, particularly youth, in the design and creation of the works.  In phase one of this project, we successfully commissioned an artist to work with Linkages to Learning, a school-based collaboration program which provides accessible services to at-risk children and their families to provide two one-week summer art camps for middle school age youth, creating one set of trail markers during each week.

The Basics – Community Engagement Project at Walder Park (up to $47,000 for the project): In collaboration with the Montgomery County Collaborations Council, the selected artist will create an interactive three-dimensional exterior sculptural public art project employing the educational principles of The Basics, a public health strategy that raises awareness about early childhood development and builds capacity throughout the community for engaging families around five science-based parenting and caregiving tenets that support social, emotional, and cognitive development of young children.

The five tenets are:
-Maximize Love and Manage Stress
-Count, Group and Compare
-Talk, Sing, and Point
-Explore through Movement and Play
-Read and Discuss Stories

The sculptural work, to be placed in a public park, will be safe for interaction by children and families and able to withstand environmental elements. APPLY HERE. Applications due by Friday, March 17.

Featured photo shows artist and MoCo native Katie Giganti in front of her mural at Quince Orchard Plaza.