Central Subway Public Art Program

CALL FOR ARTISTS

APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 30, 2008 at 5:00 PM PST

APPLICATION PROCESS
Application forms are available through CaFÉ, an online artist application service. Interested artists will apply directly online to the CaFÉ system at www.callforentry.org.

The purpose of this Call for Artists is to expand the Central Subway Artist Pool established in 2005. This call is open to artists practicing in the visual arts and to artists who are new to public art as well as those with more comprehensive public art experience.

ABOUT THE CENTRAL SUBWAY PROJECT
The Central Subway will extend light rail service in a subway running under Fourth and Stockton Streets through the South of Market, Union Square and Chinatown neighborhoods. It will operate as an extension of the Third Street light rail line which opened for full service in April 2007. Scheduled to open in 2016, the transit system will include three subway stations, one above-ground platform, and an underground pedestrian concourse between the new Union Square/Market Street Station and the existing BART/Muni Powell Street Station. The three subway stations will be located in Chinatown, at Union Square/Market Street, and near the Moscone Convention Center on Fourth Street. The above-ground platform will be located at Fourth and Brannan Streets. The Arts Commission is currently working with local communities and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to develop a comprehensive arts program to reflect the rich culture and history of the neighborhoods in which this new transit system will be located.

CENTRAL SUBWAY PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITIES
Several locations for artwork will be identified at each Central Subway station and its adjacent vicinity. The Arts Commission anticipates multiple phases of site identification and artist selection in the Central Subway project throughout the rest of this year. Additional sites may also be identified for the placement of artworks to be commissioned at a subsequent phase in the process.
 
Artists working in all visual art media will be considered for a variety of art opportunities, including, but not limited to, large wall and ceiling surfaces, glass elevator exteriors, large open spaces for hanging elements, and opportunities on the entryway, mezzanine, concourse, and platform levels, and some areas adjacent to the stations.

All permanent artworks commissioned must be fabricated from permanent, vandal-resistant materials and must not have any special maintenance requirements.

ELIGIBILITY
This Call for Artists, which is intended to supplement the existing Central Subway Artist Pool established in 2005, is open to all practicing, professional artists residing in the United States. Artists residing in the Bay Area are encouraged to apply. Both local and out-of-state artists will be commissioned to design original artworks for each station.

BUDGET
The total budget for artwork to be commissioned for the Central Subway has not yet been finalized. However, it is anticipated that there will be several million dollars allocated for multiple public artworks at three underground subway stations, one above-ground platform, an underground pedestrian concourse, and adjacent vicinities. Specific budgets have not yet been established for each station.

SITE DESCRIPTIONS
Chinatown Station This underground station will be located in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown District and within walking distance from the Financial District. It is a colorful and vibrant part of our city, characterized by dense vehicle and pedestrian activity and a mix of retail, restaurants, and residences.

Union Square/Market Street Station This underground station will be located at Union Square, which is known as San Francisco’s premier retail and downtown hotel district. It is also one block from the Powell Street cable car line, which connects to Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman’s Wharf.

Moscone Station This underground station will be located on Fourth Street in the immediate vicinity of the Moscone Convention Center. This neighborhood continues to have a diverse cultural history, both industrial and residential, and most recently features a variety of arts institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Zeum Museum, Cameraworks, Bindlestiff, and the Jewish and Mexican Museums, among others.

Above-ground platform This platform at Fourth and Brannan Streets, which is expected to have the same canopy design as the completed T-Third Light Rail platforms, is in a rapidly developing South of Market area near the Caltrain Station, the AT&T Ballpark, and new residential and office facilities.

A few potential sites for artwork are shown in color in the images below:

Preliminary concept designs with a high concrete wall (left) and a glass elevator (right).

Preliminary concept designs with open space for hanging works (left) and wall space that extends above the platform (right).

SELECTION PROCESS
After the application deadline, submitted materials will be screened by the Arts Commission Public Art staff before presentation to a Central Subway Artist Pool Selection Panel comprised of arts professionals, members of the public, and representatives from each of the following: the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and the San Francisco Arts Commission. This panel will select additional Artist Pool members based upon the artist applicant's past work and qualifications. The new Artist Pool members will be combined with the pool of artists originally selected in 2005 to create an expanded Central Subway Artist Pool. An artist selection panel will be established for each station to select finalists for that station. Finalists will be asked to either participate in interviews and/or develop specific proposals. Multiple phases of site identification and artist selection for the Central Subway Public Art Program are anticipated to occur over the next year.

All selection panel, committee, and commission meetings are open to the public.

Artist Pool Selection Criteria

Artists and/or artist teams will be selected for interviews based on:

• Artistic excellence and innovation as evidenced in previous projects and exhibitions;
• Appropriateness of the applicant's medium, style, and previous experience as they relate to the project goals and setting;
• Experience with projects of a similar scale and scope for those artists interested in creating large-scale architecturally integrated artworks;
• Quality of recently completed projects, including adherence to schedules, deadlines, project requirements, and budgets
• Results of reference checks; and
• Availability to actively participate in the Central Subway design and implementation schedule.

Arts Commission staff will work with those selected finalists who have limited public art experience to designate appropriate materials and fabrication methods for translating their artwork into a permanent medium.

Preliminary Project Schedule
This schedule is subject to change. Note that all panel selection meetings are open to the public.

Week of February 25th: Call for Artists. Application forms are available through CaFÉ, an online artist application service. Interested artists will apply directly online to CaFÉ at www.callforentry.org.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008: Deadline for submission of artist applications to CaFÉ.

June 2008: Central Subway Artist Pool Selection Panel convenes to select a second pool of artist candidates for various Central Subway art projects.

July 2008 through early 2009: Station artist selection panels will convene in two or three phases to select artists for numerous art opportunities at each station. Artist candidates short-listed by the panels will be interviewed and/or paid to prepare a proposal for a specific art opportunity.

2010: Currently anticipated date of the commencement of Central Subway construction.

2016: Currently anticipated date of the commencement of Central Subway service.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Please call or send an e-mail to Mary Chou, Public Art Program, at (415) 252-3215 or mary.chou@sfgov.org. Artists interested in other new public art commissions are encouraged to visit the program’s website at www.sfartscommission.org/pubart/projects; or call the Public Art Program Hotline at (415) 252-2589. Information is updated whenever new opportunities arise.

PUBLIC ART PROGRAM POLICIES

Acceptance of Proposals

The Arts Commission reserves the right to reject all applications and subsequent design proposals.

Maquette Policy

In the event that artists are asked to develop a maquette or other design materials for the proposal, the following policy shall apply. The Arts Commission shall:

1. At its sole discretion, have the unconditional right to own maquettes or other design materials produced as part of this selection and/or commission process.
2. Be given credit upon display and/or reproduction of any maquette or proposal commissioned, whether selected for implementation or not.
3. Require that all concepts, proposals and/or maquettes submitted are original and unique.

Equal Benefits Ordinance

The City and County of San Francisco, in its effort to provide equality of opportunity and equality of benefits, requires that all entities receiving public monies comply with Sections 12B and 12D of the Administrative Code, relative to provision of equal benefits to registered domestic partners and demonstration of good faith efforts to hire minority-owned, women-owned and San Francisco based subcontractors.

Americans with Disabilities Act

The selected artist(s) will be required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements in addition to related federal, state and local codes and will be encouraged to develop artwork(s) sensitive to programmatic as well as physical accessibility issues in cooperation with the Arts Commission and disabled communities.

Environmental Regulation

Due to the environmental sensitivity of the site and its protection under the regulations of the California Environmental Quality Act, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the selected artist(s) will be required to comply with applicable environmental regulations. The selected artist(s) will be encouraged to develop artwork(s) sensitive to the unique natural resources of the site in cooperation with the Arts Commission and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Required Forms

The artist(s) selected and approved by the Arts Commission shall be asked to enter into contract with the City and County of San Francisco for the entire duration of the project. Depending on the specific scope of the project, prior to the issuance and throughout the duration of the contract, the artist(s) may be required to maintain a San Francisco business tax license and various types of insurance, including Automobile Liability, General Liability, Fine Arts, and other insurance as required by the City.

All information contained herein does not constitute either an expressed or implied contract and these provisions are subject to change.