Request for Proposals:

Art in Public Places | Sahuarita, AZ Interactive Community-Led Art Installation

Funded by the Town of Sahuarita, in partnership with the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance

Overview / Project Intent:
The Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance is partnering with the Town of Sahuarita to select a series of artist-designed installations or community-led projects in the months of either April, May or June 2021.    

This Call to Artist is meant to be interpreted broadly.  Examples can include community-led murals, literary arts projects, performing arts, sculptural elements, photography, or any other medium or project that can include interaction with a diverse population. 

We are looking for highly interactive, community-driven, collaborative works of art that are accessible to the public and civic in scope. We will also consider the utilization of performing art projects that have an interactive component.

Likely projects would include a combination of virtual and discoverable elements to safely engage attendees in arts and culture experiences in response to COVID-19 and restricted public gatherings.

What are Interactive Art Projects?
“Interactive art” can mean different things depending on the context. We are looking for some of the following features:
● Art that requires human interaction to complete the piece, without physical touch,
● Art that involves the community and the audience in its creation in a safe manner, presentation, and display,
● Art that prompts the viewer to act,
● Art that can be approached, touched, heard or experienced, as well as viewed.
● Art that prompts people to interact with one another
● Art that responds to participants and its environment
● Art that causes the viewer to reflect on the larger community
● Art that challenges the viewers’ traditional perspective on art

We are open to your ideas. If your work is collaborative and participatory, regardless of the medium, please feel free to apply or email with questions.

Eligibility
Individual artists, teams or collectives are eligible to apply.  The installation is open to all artists working in Arizona, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, military status, sexual orientation, marital status, or physical or mental disability.

What can I expect if I am awarded an honorarium?
A total of 2-3 awarded artists will receive up to $2,500-$5,000 per project.  Artists will receive their first funding in March 2021 and are expected to complete their project within the proposed, agreed-upon timeline.  The payment schedule for each honorarium is specific to the project. Each artist is responsible for obtaining liability insurance for the presentation of the project in the Town of Sahuarita Municipal Complex. SAACA is committed to working with each artist to arrive at a schedule that best suits the needs of the artist and the project including insurance needs. Generally, honorariums are awarded in two payments over the course of the project, with the first payment sent on the signing of an agreement and a second payment being contingent on a report of the project’s progress.

Honorariums awards such as this are usually considered taxable income to the recipient, at least in any amount more than the project’s costs. We will send both you and the IRS a form 1099 MISC documenting the honorarium payments.

Submission Instructions
If your project fits our criteria, please follow these instructions to be considered for funding. Artists may submit up to two (2) proposals via Formstack using the below link. Full proposals will be requested if selected as a finalist. Please submit the following information:

● Contact info (name, email, phone number, address)
● General information about the project
● A brief physical description of the project including space requirements
● A brief statement of how the project fits the mission and criteria
● One to three images showing how the project will appear (a rough sketch is fine at this stage)
● Some information about the funding you are seeking and a budget draft (this is a rough idea of cost)
● (Optional) Listing of other resources or in-kind contributions towards your project.