Public Art Competition: Theatre Curtain
Glenbow Museum and Art to Public
Deadline for the RFQ: November 26, 2024
Budget: $150,000
Glenbow is transforming the museum’s original Brutalist architecture into a modern, welcoming space, enhancing both physical and experiential aspects of the museum. Glenbow’s new 312,000-square-foot home at the JR Shaw Centre for Arts & Culture opens all eight floors to visitors and includes exhibition, programing and event spaces, as well as a gift shop, theatre and restaurant. A new distinct feature will be the 13,000-square foot rooftop terrace with an all-season pavilion designed by the internationally renowned artist Maya Lin, incorporating a skylight and oculus to filter natural light into the lower floors of the museum.
As part of Glenbow’s commitment to fostering diverse and unique art experiences, the museum is seeking an artist or artist’s team to create a theatre curtain installation. The public art design will beautify, enliven, and activate the north side of the new theatre, enhancing the theatre space where visitors can enjoy live art, performances, and talks. Glenbow encourages all locally and nationally qualified artists and artists’ teams to apply. This is an unencumbered call open to Canadian artists. The successful artist or artists’ team will work with Glenbow, the design firm DIALOG, and the construction team EllisDon.
Theatre Curtain Site Specifics
The commission is for a three-part textile work that will function as a retractile light blocking set of curtains for the main floor theatre. The artwork will be visible from both the theatre’s interior and outside from the street along 9 Avenue SE. This is a high visibility area that will offer theatre patrons opportunities to appreciate the artwork whether the curtains are opened or closed.
Closing date for the RFQ: November 26, 2024, 5pm MT
Required Submission Materials:
- A statement about your interest in public art and how it should engage or respond to its environment and the viewer.
- Annotated image list – twelve (12) images with: date, title, media, and dimensions of past and current work. If the image reflects a public work, include the location of the project and the commissioning agency. Multimedia items (video and/or sound clips) that describe your work may be included as part of the annotated image list but not exclusively so. Links to web-based portfolios are encouraged.
- A selected biography (CV) including current contact information.
- If working as part of a team, a brief resume of each team member and a description of past experiences working together.
- Two (2) or three (3) reviews or news articles about past projects (optional).
- Two (2) professional letters of reference.
Selection Criteria:
- Creativity
- Originality expressed in past work
- Demonstrated strong understanding of scale
- Practical understanding of public art and the ability to see the project to completion
- Proven track record in public art, museum, and gallery work
- National and international profile through reviews of exhibitions, online texts, and other peer assessments
- Interested in addressing the challenges of the site, the building, and a willingness to work with Glenbow and the design and build team DIALOG and EllisDon
- Ability to produce a high-quality work within the project budget
- Professionalism
Schedule (subject to change):
- Deadline for the RFQ: November 26, 2024
- RFQ evaluation: Week of December 2, 2024
- Adjudication long list of candidates: Week of January 13, 2025
- Notification of potential candidates: Week of February 10, 2025
- RFP request sent to candidates: March 3, 2025
- Deadline for RFP: April 28, 2025
- Adjudication of RFP: Week of May 12 – 23, 2025
- Finalist selected: May 26, 2025
Format and Address:
- All documents in your submission must be contained in a folder titled with the name of the artist or artists’ team.
- You may include up to twelve (12) annotated images with corresponding information in the submission.
- Documents may contain support material i.e. links to videos and websites.
- Please keep the file submission to a maximum of 50 MB.
- One submission per artist or artists’ team only: multiple submissions will not be considered.
Glenbow Public Art – Request for Qualifications (RFQ) C/O Art to Public at: info@arttopublic.net
Please visit the link to upload your RFQ file at Art To Public – Glenbow Public Art Commissions
Deadline
Proposals will be accepted until November 26, 2024; 5pm MT.
Responses that do not fully meet the criteria above will not be considered at the sole discretion of Glenbow. It is the respondent’s responsibility to request clarification of any item that is unclear or uncertain within the context of the RFQ package by contacting: Art to Public at: info@arttopublic.net or 403.244.2066; ext. 4.
