Local artists get opportunity to enhance Downtown garage
May 26 deadline to submit proposals
Springing off the success of last year’s “garage makeover,” the City of Jacksonville’s The Art in Public Places program, along with the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and the Office of Public Parking announced last month a state-wide call to artists for the Water Street Parking Garage Enhancement Project.
The Water Street Parking Garage, located at 541 Water Street, is a seven-level structure of over 70,000 square feet per level with the capacity to house nearly 1,500 vehicles. Five strategically located sites have been identified to create distinctive 2D and 3D installations. The primary goal of the outdoor installations is to integrate public art and infrastructure enhancements into the redesign to further enhance public perception about the ease, availability and affordability of parking Downtown.
In 2013, a similar call was issued to paint the stairwells of the Yates Garage Towers. The winners of that competition were from St. Augustine and Neptune Beach.
Professional artist teams will enhance the façade and exterior of the facility and surrounding streetscape through the addition of design elements, artwork, video panels, or creative lighting to develop a more customer-friendly appearance and an improved pedestrian environment with automobile accessibility. Artists must demonstrate the ability to translate artistic concepts into materials that are appropriate for public space, taking into consideration maintenance, safety and longevity.
Florida artist teams may submit concepts for all eligible project sites considering the specific parameters and goals established for each. An art selection panel of local art, design and community professionals will create a team constructed from the selected winning designs. Special preference will be given to artists from the First Coast five-county area (Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Baker or Nassau). Professional artists and artist teams must demonstrate experience in large-scale outdoor art projects. Supporting material must illustrate collaboration between architects, designers and/or engineers.
Selection criteria are based on artistic excellence, sustainability, related artist experience, level of community engagement, improvement of the pedestrian environment, and the design’s function as an identifier into the Spark District, a zone targeted for revitalization through the arts, as spearheaded by the Cultural Council. For more details or to apply, visit their website at CulturalCouncil.org/WaterStreetGarage. Deadline to submit a proposal is May 26, 2014.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading... 
