Museums and Cultural Affairs

EL PASO DOWNTOWN ARTS DISTRICT TEMPORARY MURAL

PROJECT
CALL TO ARTISTS - REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Deadline: June 6, 2016
Budget: $3,000 USD
The City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department seeks to
commission an artist or artist team to design and produce a temporary
mural for the Downtown Arts District. This call is open to artists or
artist teams living within a 150 mile radius of Downtown El Paso,
Texas.
El Paso Downtown Arts District
The vision of the El Paso Downtown Arts District is to stimulate the
artistic and cultural life of the region by providing a lively space for
arts and cultural events. The El Paso Downtown Arts District is
comprised of 18 museums, presenting venues, green-spaces, festival
footprints, cultural organizations, historic facilities and tourist
amenities within a 19-block footprint. Additionally, the Downtown Arts
District oversees a competitive funding program called KickstART
Downtown for recurring festivals and events downtown. Further
growth in the Downtown Arts District is projected in 2017 with the
addition of ArtSpace, Inc. an affordable live/workspace for artists.
Project Description
The City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department will
commission an temporary mural competition for the Downtown Arts
District. The mural will be located on W. Missouri Avenue, along the
north facing faade of the El Paso Museum of History. The mural will
be outdoors along Missouri Avenue and viewable to pedestrians and
passing traffic. The mural is intended to serve as a lively and inviting
visual landmark for the Downtown Arts District. The theme must
promote the Downtown Arts District, focus on the arts and El Pasos
cultural heritage.

Tracey Jerome Department Head

400 W. San Antonio Ave., Suite A | El Paso, Texas 79901 | (915) 212-0110

Museums and Cultural Affairs Department

Project Overview
The project is open to any media appropriate for the flat wall surface and site, with
the ability to withstand exposure to the climate and environment for the duration of
one (1) three (3) years.
Appropriate applications include: archival paint including acrylic or aerosol paint.
Mediums should also be easy to remove after the tenure of the mural ends to allow
for the new work to be installed.
Mural Wall dimensions are 30 feet in length and 6 feet in height with a working
surface area of 30 in length by 510 in height; 175 square feet in total. The
selected artist or artist team is responsible for conducting on-site measurements.
The City of El Paso will hold copyright, access, etc. to the rights of the work and all
reproductions.
The design of the project shall comply with the Obscenity Clause Section 10(7)(b)
of the Texas Commission on the Arts Enabling Legislation, which prohibits the Texas
Commission on the Arts and its grantees from knowingly fostering, encouraging,
promoting, or funding any project, production, workshop, and/or program that
includes obscene material as defined in Section 43.21 Penal Code of Texas.
Budget
Total project budget is $3,000 USD and is all-inclusive.
Eligibility Requirements
This project is open to artists/artist teams living within a 150 mile radius of
Downtown El Paso, Texas.
Artists applying for this project must be over the age of eighteen years old.
Students are eligible to apply only as part of an artist team, that is
supervised at all times by a lead artist over the age of eighteen years old.
Recipient must be able to receive payment from the City of El Paso as a legal
vendor.
Artist and/or artist teams whom are awarded the commission are ineligible to
reapply for two years following last commission.

Tracey Jerome Department Head

400 W. San Antonio Ave., Suite A | El Paso, Texas 79901 | (915) 212-0110

Museums and Cultural Affairs Department

Scope of Work
The selected artist or artist team will:

Prepare a visual and written proposal to show schematic and final artwork
proposal. The proposal should include:
o A fully rendered, full color, to-scale depiction of the proposed artwork
o A narrative description of the content, including source material used
to develop the proposal, plus installation requirements including
fabrication and installation methods, medium and materials, and
maintenance requirements
o Timeline of work which should include research time, purchasing of
materials, site visits, and installation
Submit a preliminary budget with the application which should include the
cost of materials
Attend meetings with MCAD staff, presentations, ribbon-cutting ceremony,
and outreach to media.
Fabricate, transport, and install artwork.
Install the mural within a four week time period according to the contractual
timeline.
Coordinate with City Staff, as required.
Establish and submit a working schedule that meets the approval of the
Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.
Clean up at the end of the day throughout the installation process.
Submit a weekly progress report with digital photographs, to be used for
documentation of the process and for social media use.
Contract with the City of El Paso to fulfill the artists services.

Timeline
Submission Deadline: June 6, 2016 cut off at 11:59 pm MST
Artist Selection Panel Review: July 2016
Notification to Selected Artist: July 2016
Project Start Date: August 1, 2016
The above dates are contingent on the agencies schedules and may be changed at
any time.

Tracey Jerome Department Head

400 W. San Antonio Ave., Suite A | El Paso, Texas 79901 | (915) 212-0110

Museums and Cultural Affairs Department

To Apply
All prospective applicants must submit their applications online by visiting:
http://mcad.elpasotexas.gov/opportunities
All applicants must submit a Project Proposal which includes:
o A narrative description of the content, including source material used
to develop the proposal, plus installation requirements including
fabrication and installation methods, medium and materials, and
maintenance requirements.
o Full color, to-scale rendering of the mural proposal. Please submit as a
high quality jpeg. Incomplete or unfinished proposals or sketches will
not be considered.
JPEG Image Compression: Please size each image to be no more
than 1.8 MB in file size. On average, each image will be roughly
1.2. MB. Larger is not necessarily better. Project proposal image
and narrative description may be combined in one pdf file.
Attachments
Letter of Interest: briefly describe your interest and qualifications for this
project.
Current Resume or CV: outline your experience as an artist, one page
minimum.
o Artist teams must submit a resume for each member. Please combine
in one file.
2 images of recently completed mural artwork or large scale artwork (dated
within the last two years).
o Please Include: title of work, dimensions, medium, year of completion,
and a three (2) sentence description
Artist Team Requirements
Artist teams must include a lead artist who will solely enter into a contract
with the City as the vendor associated with the contract.
If available, please include images of work that demonstrate a collaborative
effort to create an artwork by all members of the team.
When applying as a team you are expected to accept the commission as a
team throughout span of the project. Failure to do so may lead to the
cancellation of the contract.
Selection Process and Criteria
Applications will be reviewed and scored by an Artist Selection Panel assembled by
MCAD, which may be comprised of representatives from diverse disciplines,
community perspectives, and field expertise, and are to include a visual art
Tracey Jerome Department Head
400 W. San Antonio Ave., Suite A | El Paso, Texas 79901 | (915) 212-0110

Museums and Cultural Affairs Department

professional. The Artist Selection Panel will review all complete, eligible applications
received by the deadline.
Criteria used to select artists will be:

Artistic quality as demonstrated by the strength of the artists concept and

proposal and demonstrated craftsmanship in previous work
Feasibility of budget and proposal timeline
Immediate availability and ability to work with fluctuating deadlines
Structural and surface soundness in terms of resistance to vandalism and
weather
Meets City codes for accessibility and public safety

Tracey Jerome Department Head

400 W. San Antonio Ave., Suite A | El Paso, Texas 79901 | (915) 212-0110