Covington Landmark Art Installation

About the Open Call

The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center (Carnegie) and The Center for Great Neighborhoods (CGN) seek proposals for a new landmark public art installation to anchor Covington’s newest development, a 500-million-dollar mixed-use project in the heart of the downtown riverfront area. The Covington Central Riverfront (CCR) site, a 23 acre site that was once home to an IRS processing facility, is being transformed into a neighborhood with a restored street grid, office, residential, retail, and public spaces. The City of Covington has committed to this redevelopment, which includes a restored street grid, a variety of developers, a mix of contemporary architectural styles, commitment to Covington developers, minority and women owned participation, market rate housing, 50–100-year life cycle of buildings, flexible public green spaces, pedestrian and bicycle oriented designs, office space with high paying jobs, and locally owned retailers, restaurants, and bars. Committed developments include: the Salmon P. Chase School of Law, the Northern Kentucky campus of the University of Kentucky’s four-year School of Medicine, expansion of the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, 16 townhomes, 257 market-rate apartments, 7,700 square feet of retail space, and a parking structure. Proposals should respond to one or more of three prompts: Material (use remnants from the IRS building), History (incorporate the larger history of the CCR site or Covington), and Community (create a proposal that highlights Covington’s identity and engages its residents). The project is expected to be a permanent, outdoor, three-dimensional object. Artists are responsible for fabrication and transportation. The winning proposal will be installed between November 15-30.

What is Offered

Selected finalists will receive a $500 stipend to develop more detailed plans and budgets. The winning artist/collective will receive an artist honorarium of $5,000 in addition to project management, fabrication support, on-site signage, publicity and promotion, opening events, site preparation, permitting, and installation support.

Requirements

This is an Open Call to all Artists who can respond to the brief. Preference will be given to Artists living or working in Covington, surrounding areas, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, or with strong ties to the region. Preference will also be given to Artists who have demonstrated a track record of designing, fabricating, or project managing public sculptures at similar scale to this project. Individual Artists or Artist Collectives may only submit one proposal each. If an artist submits one proposal as an individual, they may also submit one proposal as part of a group or collective. Proposals must make sense within the city of Covington, support community values, and activate space thoughtfully. The work is expected to be a permanent, outdoor, three-dimensional object. Proposals should include preliminary budgets of up to $25,000 covering research, materials, fabrication, labor, insurance during fabrication, installation planning, and transportation. The artist is responsible for fabricating or managing fabrication and providing a transportation plan via an insured carrier. A maintenance schedule for 10 years should be included. Proposals should not include elements dangerous to motorists or obstruct egress.

How to Apply

Artists must submit a proposal including first and last name (artist moniker), email address, phone number, address, professional website, personal connection to Covington/Northern Kentucky/the region, general artist statement (max 500 words), description of proposed work and how it responds to prompts (max 1000 words), description of what the work will add to the Covington community (max 1000 words), description of materials, fabrication, and maintenance (max 1000 words), description of installation method (max 1000 words), Resume/CV, preliminary budget, prior work samples (up to 10 images), and drawings/renderings/illustrations of the proposed sculpture (up to 10 images). Finalists will receive a $500 stipend to develop more detailed plans and budgets.