Call for Artists - Downtown Council of Kansas City

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Call for Artists:

Spring 2016 Art in the Loop Vision Plan

The Kansas City Design Center [KCDC] is seeking 2 artists who will serve as urban design studio consultants for an arts related project. About the Project: The Kansas City Design Center in partnership with Art in the Loop will be undertaking the development of a comprehensive vision plan for the development of art installation sites for Art in the Loop. Currently, Art in the Loop installation sites (located primarily in the Central Business District of Kansas City) are chosen on a spontaneous basis. The purpose of the study would be to assess the viability of all potential sites, develop criteria for their selection, make account of all relevant contextual factors that need to be taken into consideration when making the site available to artists, and provide a reference for artists’ concept development. Artist’s Role: Each artist will act as a consultant to the KCDC urban design studio which will operate as a team on the project design execution. Artists will be meeting with the design team for an hour a week, requiring a 15 - 20 total hour commitment, in addition to attending Advisory Committee meetings and project presentations. Ideal candidates will have public art experience and a passion for art in the public realm. A stipend of $1,000 will be provided for each artist; the timeline for this project is January 2016 – May 2016. This project will be led by a volunteer Advisory Committee representing community organizations, the City of Kansas City, and local arts organizations. Interested candidates should email their resume, 5 images/video of relevant work or a website link, and a letter of interest to Art in the Loop Director Ann Holliday by December 15th : [email protected] About Art in the Loop: Art in the Loop’s goal is to activate existing and found public spaces in the Downtown Loop through physical, artistic, and programmatic insertions that engage people and improve the walkability, authenticity, safety, connectivity and uniqueness of the area. These programs/projects may be temporary or permanent and can be implemented in a multiphased approach in a manner to best expedite their implementation. www.artintheloop.com About the KCDC: The Kansas City Design Center (KCDC) is a nationally recognized, interdisciplinary, service learning design program located in downtown Kansas City. The program centers on a graduate level, yearlong, resident urban design studio which operates as an immersive design laboratory focused on Kansas City. The studio addresses critical issues that intersect community needs and cutting edge urban design theory and applied practice. www.kcdesigncenter.org

Art in the Loop Vision Plan

Detailed Project Overview as of 11/30/15 Objective: The project objective is to strengthen a sense of communal identity and belonging by integrating arts into public realm of the city to be shared by all of its citizens. The project will generate a selection of critical art installation/performance sites based on the criteria of neglect, underutilization, topological potential, and population and pedestrian traffic distribution. They will be organized into a coherent system of connected places that will create a new ordering dimension to the pedestrian patterns of the city space. The chosen sites will be activated and made livable through the arts. The art will be integrated into communal life as a catalytic and participatory element rather than a passive display. For that purpose the project will provide a thorough analysis and documentation of all sites and will serve as a working basis for all art installation designs. The selection of the art sites will be vetted through communal and stakeholder participation. Project Description: This plan will outline a strategy to activate public spaces in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri through physical, artistic, and programmatic insertions that engage our audience of Downtown workers, residents and visitors. Our goal is to create more meaningful public spaces for the transit dependent and economically disadvantaged people and others who populate the sidewalks of Downtown Kansas City. Through this plan we will create a process for artists to lend their unique expertise to improve walkability, authenticity, safety, and connectivity in Downtown Kansas City. Major Project Activities: 

Creation of a Comprehensive Vision Plan, which on the scale and extent of the Downtown Kansas City Central Business District (CBD) or Loop, would provide an integrated urban scheme of strategically selected art installation, performance or intervention sites organized into a system of related places. The purpose of this system, in addition to promoting and making art more accessible, would be to create an ordering overlay that enhances the identity of urban environment and aligns with other existing and in progress ordering systems in the downtown area such as wayfinding system development and installation..



Detailed contextual study of each selected art installation, performance or intervention site. The purpose of the study would be to assess the viability of the potential sites, make account of all relevant contextual factors that need to be taken into consideration when making the site available to artists and provide reference for artist’s concept development. The study would include the account of all applicable zoning, building, right of way and safety code issues; alignment with all current and planned city redevelopment initiatives that may affect the present and the future of the site; and inventory the existing infrastructure and site maintenance issues. Additionally the site study will provide a basic urban analysis in terms of accessibility, connectivity and integration into the larger urban system; environmental conditions analysis, orientation, enclosure, and solar exposure; and generate base site technical and design documentation including plans, sections and elevations digital drawings and 3D digital site model.

The project will be organized in three phases: 1. Inventory and analysis of potential art sites (January - February 2016) 2. Development of a comprehensive system plan for art installation sites (March 2016) 3. Analysis of individual sites and technical design documentation preparation. (April - May 2016)

Work on all three project phases will be based on a public input process. The Kansas City Design Center (KCDC) will, in consultation with the Art in the Loop Foundation (AILF), Downtown Council (DTC) and the City of Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO), create a project team, steering committee and stakeholder group and develop mechanisms for their input. It is anticipated that this will be primarily carried out through project presentations, reviews, and design charrettes. The public input meetings will take place twice during the semester, and the project completion will be presented in an open public meeting and an open house exhibit. Audience/Participants/Community The project will enhance the quality of the public realm; promote its use and inhabitability; and by creating a system of related places, stimulate walkability and active urban living habits. By integrating art into public realm the art will be made accessible to a much broader and diverse audience, particularly those to whom it is not readily available due to economic and geographic reasons. Integration into the public realm will make arts meaning and purpose more tangible producing emancipatory and educational effects and enhancing the sense of wellbeing. The premise of the project is that only local artists qualify for the competitive selection for inclusion in the program. As many of them come from diverse cultural, ethnic, and economic backgrounds the identity of their work and the resultant effects on the urban realm will have broader consequence as an integrative, community building quality that binds all citizens into a place of sharing and identifying with a sense of belonging. The intended beneficiary of the project is the pedestrian population of the Downtown Kansas City. While a significant portion of that population is generated by the daily influx of office and service workers into Downtown from the larger urban region; a substantial percentage of the permanent greater downtown area residents live below the poverty line. In addition to that the downtown population includes a considerable transient and/or homeless population. Finally, as Downtown is the hub for the metropolitan area transit system (primarily bus) there is a large population of people who could be defined as transit dependent due to their economic circumstances. We consider all of these users of Downtown to be the final beneficiaries of the project once the plan is developed and subsequently implemented. These diverse beneficiaries will be considered the project stakeholder partners and integrated into the planning process to provide input and guidance. For more information, contact: Ann Holliday, Art in the Loop Foundation, 816-421-1539, [email protected] Vladimir Krstic, Kansas City Design Center, 816-421-5232, [email protected] Sarah Kraly, Kansas City Design Center, 816-421-5232, [email protected]