(R)equest

(F)or

(Q)ualifications

The City of Wichita has prioritized the revitalization of Commerce and St. Francis Streets in downtown Wichita, and provided a robust budget for public art and aesthetic components.

Beginning October 10, 2022, the project team, led by TranSystems with Landscape Architecture by LK Architecture and Public Art Administration by Splice, is seeking local artists to design, fabricate, and install site-specific provocative work that celebrates the district’s grassroots creative legacy while also encouraging its evolution.

The chosen artists will work with the project team and stakeholders to identify potential locations and features for public art and/or functional artist-designed components, with the expectation of exploring unconventional approaches and innovative solutions.

At this point, the team is requesting a document of qualifications from interested artists and creatives which must include the following:

• resume
• relevant work examples (include project name, client, date, and budget)
• proof of EBE/DBE certification if applicable (not required, but worth noting if certified)
• optional: short cover letter. This could briefly outline broad-stroke concepts for the district (please note this is not a Request for Proposals, so no preference will be given to artists who present ideas in their RFQ response–this option is offered for those who may have already given this project some thought and would like to share preliminary reflections), or highlight unique aspects of your practice.

The deadline for RFQ submissions is November 7, 2022. Please submit all responses in pdf format (one combined multi-page pdf file) to info@commercedistrictart.com.

Note: if you are already registered on the Wichita Public Artist Registry then there is no need to send a pdf package in your emailed RFQ response (a response is required regardless–we won’t know you’re interested in this project if you don’t tell us). However, it is highly recommended that you include a cover letter, pointing out which of the projects in your registry entry are the most relevant in this instance and adding further pertinent information as listed above.

The number of artists selected will be determined by the scope of the public art and aesthetic components identified for this project. At this time, the project team has not yet moved through that process. Therefore, please make it clear in your submission the type of work you do and your breadth of expertise so the team can reach out to the most applicable artists once the scope has been resolved. We do not yet have a target date for contacting the artists with whom we’d like to engage, but that date will be published here once a more solid timeline has been established.

To see the criteria that the project team will be using to evaluate all RFQ responses, go to RFQ Evaluation.

For more information or with further questions, email info@commercedistrictart.com.