a. Purpose and Goals

Presented as a pilot program by the Fort Wayne Public Art Commission, SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! will empower neighborhoods to develop and activate their unique identities through public art. The program creates opportunities for inclusion, engagement, education, and dialogue between neighborhood residents through a deeply participatory program. Neighborhood association leaders and residents will be invited to express their identity and story with public art, first through temporary installations produced by residents with guidance from the Artist; and second with a permanent piece commissioned by the neighborhood and Public Art Commission. The temporary and permanent installations represent two distinct phases of the SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! program.

Phase 1: Neighborhood Engagement & Temporary Art Installations - Neighborhood residents engage in a series of temporary public art activities to discover and develop their unique identity. Activities are hosted collaboratively by the neighborhood association, the Artist / Neighborhood Art Consultant, and a representative from the SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! Steering Committee.

Phase 2: Public Art Installation - The neighborhood association and SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! Steering Committee commission permanent public art that reflects and activates the neighborhood’s unique identity.

Additional goals for SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! include:

• Enhance the visual environment of public spaces for residents and visitors;
• Align neighborhood residents around a common purpose and commitment to public art;
• Promote distinctive and diverse artwork that communicates the neighborhood’s sense of spirit, identity, and pride; and
• Commemorate the City’s collective memory and history.

b. Opportunity for Artists

This Request for Proposals is limited to work in Phase 1 of the SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! pilot program. The emphasis for Phase 1 is on neighborhood engagement and temporary art installations rather than artistic skill. It is more important that the selected Artist has demonstrated experience working productively with diverse groups of people in the ideation, creation, and installation stages of projects. Community engagement is the objective for the entire process rather than being limited to idea input at the beginning. The selected Artist will work with individual neighborhood association leaders to select a set of engagement activities that align with resident interests and aspirations for temporary art installations.

It is important that the Artist provides options and is flexible in organizing activities that will engage neighborhood residents in the production of temporary art installations. The selected Artist can anticipate working with participating neighborhoods in the following ways.

• Co-host a workshop with participating neighborhood association leaders.
• Regular communication with individual neighborhood association leaders.
• A minimum of three full neighborhood engagement events for each participating neighborhood.

The participating neighborhoods are working to improve their organizational capacity and impact. They may be emerging from a period of inactive dormancy, reorganizing with a fresh slate of leadership, or becoming active for the first time. The SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! program is intended to deliver a series of activities that will provide productive organizing energy for residents to become involved with the creative process and installations of the temporary art created in Phase 1 of the program.

c. Timeline

SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! Pilot Program: August 2023 – December, 2025
Artist Consultant Responsibilities: August 2023 – August 2024

• August 2023 – Neighborhood block parties (in person)
• September - October, 2023 – Workshop (date to be determined)
• January - March 2024 – Neighborhood engagement activities planning
• April - August 2024 – Neighborhood engagement activities / temporary art installations

d. Deliverables

Neighborhood art engagement activities (minimum of three per neighborhood). The Artist will prepare a project summary that will be endorsed by the neighborhood association and be submitted to the Public Art Commission upon the completion of Phase 1. This packet should include documentation of:

• The creative process and information collection methods that were utilized in each neighborhood.
• Identifying concepts that guided the temporary art installations.
• Visual documentation (video, photography, other) of the engagement activities and temporary art installations.
• Guidance for permanent artwork that is informed by the neighborhood engagement process.
All deliverables, art, and intellectual property will be considered property of the City of Fort Wayne.

e. Budget

$10,000 will be the compensation to the artist for developing the community engagement program in coordination with the neighborhood association leaders. Proposals may include an additional $5,000 per neighborhood for engagement activities and temporary art installations.

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must be 18 or older. Candidates must also be able to demonstrate previous experience that is based on using face-to-face community engagement to gather data and input for projects or temporary art installations. Showing the ability to incorporate design and creative expression with the information and data gathered is very important. Being a trained professional artist, although very beneficial, is not necessarily the deciding factor for selecting a candidate. The ideal candidate will demonstrate experience working with neighborhood association leaders in a flexible, open, and collaborative manner

Please see commission document for full project information and application instructions.