Request for Proposals

ALA (African Latino Alliance) Collective, City Lights, Washington Gateway Main Street, Friends of Peters Park, and Old Dover Neighborhood Association, in coordination with the Boston Art Commission, invite Boston artists to submit conceptual designs for consideration for a mural in Peters Park in the South End on the Peters Park Art Wall.

Call released: Thursday, January 26, 2017
Deadline: Sunday, February 26, 2017

Eligibility

This RFP is open to all professional artists, artisans, or teams (hereinafter, referred to as "artists"), with experience in public art, site responsive design, project management, and working with youth.

About the Art Wall

In 2016, Mayor Martin J. Walsh launched Boston Creates, Boston's cultural plan. Following the Mayor's leadership in elevating arts and culture in the City of Boston, we are excited to continue the tradition of the Art Wall into the future with a neighborhood project that aims to celebrate and preserve a history of culturally relevant art for the next wave of artists and community youth.

The Peters Park Art Wall was proclaimed a legal graffiti wall in 1986 under Mayor Raymond Flynn in order to decrease vandalism in the South End. Local artists, in partnership with local organizations and businesses, seek to continue the tradition of curating and programming the Art Wall both for the enrichment of the neighborhood as well as the preservation and celebration of this area's diverse cultural history.

For three decades, graffiti artists, community members, and inner-city youth have come to view the Peters Park Graffiti Art Wall as a safe outlet for creative and cultural expression:

"My son plays baseball in the little league based there. Seeing that art at every game helped root us, realizing that part of my culture is proudly represented here. Long live graffiti on this wall."- Franklin Miller (Facebook post, Sept. 2016)

ALA Collective, City Lights, and their network of artists and associates have played a significant role in creating a space where local graffiti writers and other visual artists can showcase their artwork at the Peters Park Graffiti Art Wall, resulting in community events, culturally relevant murals, and a rich history of inner-city youth learning mural painting techniques and life-building skills from progressive graffiti artists.

"Luis: ... then [we] got the opportunity to paint on some prestigious walls. Especially Peters Park in the South End. So many people wanted to paint there. It started with a crew there [ALA Collective], and some type of partnership with a guy at City Lights. He protected us, and when the police took our paint, he went and got it back." (Graffiti Kept Me Alive. Jan. 2015)

ALA Collective, City Lights, Washington Gateway Main Street, Friends of Peters Park, and Old Dover Neighborhood Association, in coordination with the Boston Art Commission, are seeking applications for mural concepts reflecting the traditional and cultural experiences of Boston and the South End community, to replace the existing mural. Selected mural concept to be executed by the submitting artist(s) and a selection of Boston city youth in May 2017.

$10,000 is budgeted for artist fees and materials, with an additional $500 toward payment for youth.

Apply online at: http://bit.ly/2j3Vqzu

Please direct all questions to the Boston Art Commission at BAC@boston.gov.