arts in the parks: call for visual artists

The City of Tempe is seeking an experienced visual artist or artist collective to create a participatory art piece that is site specific to 8 Arts in the Parks events occurring between September 23 to November 7, 2024.

The installation must integrate or address illumination to ensure that the piece remains visible in both daylight and darkness for events spanning from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. This artwork should be vibrant, dynamic, and engaging to encourage community exploration and creative collaboration. The artwork must incorporate components that can be touched, arranged, or modified by attendees of all ages over the course of the event(s).

Possible approaches could include but are not limited to artist made objects that the attendees are encouraged to alter or construct with, or artworks designed with movable parts, interactive elements, or mechanisms that allows park visitors to become active participants in shaping the visual and sensory experience within the park. Successful candidates are expected to attend Arts in the Parks events and meetings related to this project. Artists with an interest in responding to and collaborating with community are encouraged to apply.

Park locations are in Tempe, Arizona: Indian Bend, Scudder, Corbell, Mary and Moses Green, Meyer, Optimist, Clark, and Daumler.

Expectations

• Attend up to four in person or virtual meetings about progress.
• Design, fabricate, transport, and store a community collaborative artwork that is illuminated, colorful, vibrant, and encourages participation from event attendees of all ages.
• Facilitate community engagement with artwork at 8 weeknight Arts in the Parks events. Event hours are from 5:30 PM-7:30 PM.
• Artists must be fully self-sufficient in transporting, setting up, and storing artworks for and in-between Arts in the Parks events.
• Access to power or water utilities is not available in these parks. If the artwork necessitates these elements, it becomes the artist's responsibility to make appropriate arrangements or find suitable alternatives.

Restrictions

This commission will not fund:

• Augmented reality experiences and/or artworks that rely on personal cell phones
• Community murals
• Artworks that are 100% projection as it needs to be visible in both daylight and darkness.
• Artwork cannot physically attach to the ground, or any existing structures within the park.

Timeline

• Mid-May – Finalists are notified. A stipend of $300 is provided to each finalist to develop a proposal that fits this call.
• Beginning of June– Proposal presentations and interviews. Artist selected and notified.
• June–Sept - Planning/Fabrication/Meetings
• Sept 23rd-Nov 7th- Arts in the Parks weeknight events from 5:30 PM-7:30 PM.