Calling all artists! Thrive Allen County is seeking public sculpture proposals for our next Art on the Trails project.

Thrive Allen County and The Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission (KCAIC) have partnered to spearhead this public arts initiative. This initiative will offer one artist the unique ability to showcase their original sculpture. The goal of this initiative is to increase tourism, increase physical activity and to bring beauty to Allen County trails. The selected sculpture will be installed on a section of a trail in Allen County, KS.

Eligibility

Thrive Allen County is a community-based organization. This call for artist is open to anyone willing to submit a proposal that can complete the requirements as specified, including the design and delivery of the sculpture. Any designs that include advertising, soliciting, campaigning, or other promotional or commercially-driven entries are ineligible.

Selection Process & Criteria

The winning proposal will be chosen by a community task-force. Criteria will include artistic merit, appropriateness of the sculpture, diversity and artist resume. Artists will be interviewed in the final stage of selection.

Schedule

All proposals are due by 5pm on Jan 7th, 2022 at Thrive Allen County by 5:00pm. Late or incomplete proposals will not be accepted. Proposals can be mailed, emailed or dropped off at Thrive Allen County. Interviews will be held after the due date. The winning proposal will be selected by Jan 28th, 2022 and announced by Feb 4th, 2022.

The artist with the winning proposal must be prepared to have their sculpture installed no later than May 31st, 2022.

Images/Examples of proposals not selected may be picked up at Thrive Allen County by Jan 31st, 2022. Anything not picked up by this date will become the property of Thrive and may be discarded.

Artist Compensation

The chosen artist will be compensated through a payment of $12,000 which is intended as a design fee, and will be paid in increments during the project period. The selected artist will also be given a daily per diem during the project period (up to seven days) for meals and/or lodging, if travel accommodations are required for the project. Project material cost will be reimbursed up to $2,500 by Thrive Allen County in addition to the artist fee.

More Information

The artist agrees that Thrive Allen County may reproduce images of the sculpture for non-commercial, educational, and promotional purposes, and will credit the artist. Please note that during the project the trail will continue to be accessible to the public. During the installation of the sculpture, Thrive will organize community engagement activities such as live-stream social media events, artist meet and greets, and artist interviews. The artwork will remain the property of Thrive Allen County and can be removed at owners discretion.

Please submit the following:

• Sketch or model of desired sculpture piece
• Examples of previous work
• Resume of past work/exhibitions
• Single page with artist contact information, explanation of the design concept, overall dimensions and proposed material with price for materials.

Submit your proposal by email to summer@thriveallencounty.org or in person at Thrive Allen County, 9 S Jefferson, Iola KS 66749.