City of Toronto Call to Artists for Expression of Interest (EOI)

Artist Required for Park Design Team and Integrated Public Artwork in North York Arts Park

PROJECT PROFILE

The North York Arts Park is a small park currently in development in Ward 23. The park will have an 'art of sound'theme and will include a small uncovered outdoor performance venue, suitable for chamber concerts and readings.
Cultural Services, Parks, Forestry & Recreation, the Councillor's Office and Toronto Arts Council are collaborating on the development of the park located between Princess and Hillcrest Avenues. The design of the new park will be led by landscape architects from The Planning Partnership, in consultation with the City of Toronto's project management team. The final park design is anticipated for mid 2014. Park construction is expected to be completed by the fall of 2015.

Under a separate Expression of Interest (EOI), the City will commission a free-standing artwork for the park, to be installed by the fall of 2015.

Cultural Services, City of Toronto is holding a two-stage open national public art competition to select an artist to work as a member of the park design team to develop integrated artwork for the park. It is anticipated that the integrated artwork will be constructed by the park contractor. However, it is possible that the selected artist and park design team will determine that the artwork should be constructed by the selected artist.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS – STAGE 1

Cultural Services invites artists to respond to this Expression of Interest (EOI) by submitting the following:

Curriculum Vitae (max. 4 pages)
Artist's statement outlining interest in the project and experience, in printed text form (max. 1 page)
Maximum 10 digital images of recent, relevant work in jpeg format saved to a PC compatible CD-R, labeled with your name or to a USB readable memory stick

  • each image maximum of 1024 x 768 pixels or 1MB file size
  • RGB or grayscale mode files only (no CMYK)
  • title each image with a number and name of artist

An Image Information Sheet that describes each image with number; name of artist; title; date; medium; dimensions
Please be sure the number on this list matches the number of the jpeg image
If return of submission is desired, include a stamped, self-addressed envelope

Note: Artists are NOT to submit concept proposals.

Deadline: 12pm on Friday, March 21, 2014

Send via mail, courier or hand-delivered to the address below. Submissions by email are NOT accepted.
Cultural Services
City of Toronto
City Hall, 100 Queen Street West
East Tower, 9th Floor
Toronto, ON, M5H 2N2
Attention: Janet Wardleworth

SELECTION PROCESS – STAGE 1, REVIEW OF PAST WORK

An independent selection panel comprised of practicing arts professionals and community representatives, as well as a member of the park design team, will review Stage 1 submissions. The selection panel will identify a short list of 3 to 5 artists to be interviewed for Stage 2.

SELECTION PROCESS – STAGE 2, ARTIST INTERVIEWS

The selection panel will interview artists selected from Stage 1. Selected artists will present relevant past work to the selection panel. Short-listed artists will be paid an honorarium of $250.00 to attend the interview. The selection panel will then determine an artist to work with the park design team.
The staff of Cultural Services, in cooperation with Parks, Forestry and Recreation, administers the public art project.

Sample Interview - Points of Discussion

Artists to give presentations/overviews of their work and qualifications, including any newer projects.
1. Integrated Artworks - provide examples of integrated artworks previously completed.
2. Multidisciplinary Teams - outline experiences and approaches to working within multidisciplinary teams.
3. Collaborative Projects - summarize strategies for working on collaborative projects.
4. Diverse Audiences - give examples of past projects that have successfully engaged diverse and changing audiences.
5. Project Schedule - outline availability to work collaboratively with the park design team.
6. Maintenance - provide examples of approaches that require minimal maintenance for integrated artwork.

ARTIST SCOPE OF WORK

The selected artists or team of artists will be contracted to provide design and consulting services for the North York Arts Park project. Artists will collaborate with the park design team for the design of an integrated artwork or artworks and provide consultation throughout the fabrication and installation of artwork. This will include the preparation of detailed drawings and construction documents, on-going monitoring and review throughout fabrication and supervision during installation.
Artists should note that, due to the collaborative nature of this project, frequent meetings and regular communication with the park design team will be required. No additional travel budget is available. Artists will be required to attend, in person, a minimum of four (4) meetings with the park design team, a minimum of two (2) meetings on site at the place of art installation and a minimum of two (2) meetings for the purposes of presenting their proposal to the public and/or to an art review committee.
The artist's scope of work will include all stages of the development and installation of the artwork(s) from conception to completion including but not limited to:
Work with the park design team to achieve accepted concept(s) within the schedule set for the park, as further defined as follows:

  • Attend an introduction meeting with the City of Toronto and the park design team (to review project scope and protocols, schedules, submissions, communications and contractual requirements.
  • Work with the park design team to develop an art concept for integration into the design of the park.
  • Meet with the park design team to present preliminary art concept(s) for review.
  • Develop preliminary art concept(s) more fully, based on input and working with the park design team.
  • Present developed art concept for approval, including preliminary graphics.
  • Present the developed art concept(s) at a public open house, scheduled for July 25, 2014. The developed art concept(s) will be produced by the artist in the form of presentation panels describing the approved art concept(s). Design of panel format will be done in consultation with the park design team and the City of Toronto.
  • Conduct technical research and provide samples of the proposed technique of integrating the artwork.
  • Complete the development of art concept(s) including production of all artwork images and selection of materials to allow presentation of the final concept proposal for approval.
  • Meet with park design team for review and approval of final art concept(s).
  • Continue to consult with park design team to ensure art concept(s) are fully documented into contract documents which shall be produced by the park design team. Support the park design team in review of artwork installation (quality assurance).
  • Submit a maintenance manual for the artwork(s).

BUDGET

Selected artist retained through this contract with the City of Toronto will develop an art concept that will utilize the opportunities presented within the preliminary allocated budget. Artists will be paid a design fee of $50,000.00 (plus HST) to develop their artwork concept to a sufficient level so that it can be priced and built by a third party contractor. The budget for the integrated artwork, not including the artist design fee, is $390,000.00 (plus HST). Please note, the artwork budget stated is in addition to base costs for each park element that will be treated as an integrated public artwork. The base costs will be identified through the public art concept development process.