The Great Streets Initiative is a culmination of many years of City planning and project development to ensure that Burlington residents have a downtown that is a vibrant, walkable, and sustainable urban center. As part of that planning, the Great Streets Initiative developed standards for downtown streets that provide a palette of urban elements that are beautiful, practical, affordable, sustainable, and appropriate for downtown Burlington, including provisions for public art. Other projects informed by the Great Streets Initiative already completed include St. Paul Street (2018), City Hall Park (2020), and Main Street (currently underway).

CityPlace Burlington is a new mixed-use facility planned in the heart of downtown Burlington, Vermont. Located on the site of the former Burlington Town Center, it will be a sustainable development bringing much-needed housing, new street-level retail stores, outdoor public spaces, restaurants, and planned local service businesses to downtown Burlington. The Great Street Initiative: CityPlace Streetscape Project will commission multiple public artworks to be incorporated into the streetscape surrounding the project.

As part of the City of Burlington’s ongoing efforts to foster an inclusive and diverse collection of public art that reflects the diversity of the city, and to assist in lowering the barriers that artists face building a career in this field, the goal of this call to artists is to attract applicants who identify as Black or brown, historically marginalized, disenfranchised individuals, or those who may not have had access to traditional arts education and training and are looking to build project experience in the field of public art to their portfolio.

Project Goals Include

• Address or reflect social/other concerns that are of importance to our community and beyond at this time
• Create a sense of place that speaks to the unique character of Burlington and its residence
• Provide an interactive and engaging experience for pedestrians year-round, day and night
• Unique artistic landmark
• Artists are encouraged to emphasize innovation, sustainability, urban appeal, and Burlington’s unique cultural position in their submissions
• A visual language that is unified, not uniform

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