City of LA Department of Cultural Affairs

Request for Qualifications: Festival/Cultural & Performing Arts Producers (Los Angeles, CA)

RFQ for Festival/Cultural & Performing Arts Producers

The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Arts Development Fee Program and new Performing Arts Division, believe that the performing arts can play an important role in reshaping attitudes, countering cultural stereotypes, preserving and teaching the appreciation of different cultures, fostering community pride and affirming the artistic contributions of the City’s diverse communities.
To this end, the Department of Cultural Affairs is seeking to establish a pre-qualified list of experienced and talented festival, cultural and performing arts event producers/programmers. This Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is open to professional festival, cultural and performing arts producers, presenters and arts and community-based organizations who possess the knowledge, creative and technical expertise, and administrative capacity to oversee small to large-scale events. The Department is interested in working with both emerging and established individuals, organizations, teams, and collectives to realize and produce festivals, cultural and performing arts events throughout the City of Los Angeles.
CRITERIA
The successful festival, cultural and performing arts event producers/programmers must demonstrate their experience with developing and producing festivals, or presenting a variety of world-class performing arts events including, music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinary projects; or working with diverse community partners on  cultural event planning, logistics, and implementation including: creating a process for enlisting community participation and support when appropriate; securing all relevant city permits; coordinating logistics for vendors; coordinating festival and/or event install and de-install needs such as ticketing, security, booths, tents, fencing, generators, toilets, trash, signage, inspections, parking and audience logistics/ flow, and any other required logistics.
The festival, cultural, or performing arts event producer/programmer will also be responsible for marketing and outreach of the event in collaboration with DCA’s Marketing Division and respective Council Office when appropriate. The selected producers must be available to attend planning and coordination meetings with City agencies and relevant parties as required.  Producer/Programmers should have experience in working within traditional performing arts venues, along public streets, parks, and other non-traditional public locations.
BUDGET
Budgets will vary, based on the event, and must be inclusive of all costs associated with the production of the event. Funding for the project may be through the Arts Development Fee Trust Fund and/or other art programs administered by the Department of Cultural Affairs in conjunction with another department of Council Office.
ELIGIBILITY
This RFQ is open to professional and experienced festival, cultural event and performing arts event producers/programmers that operate in the County of Los Angeles. Employees of the City of Los Angeles are ineligible to apply.
SELECTION PROCESS
A selection committee, comprised of, but not limited to, independent arts professionals and representatives of the Department of Cultural Affairs will convene to review the applications received in response to this RFQ. Upon review of all submissions, the committee will select producers/programmers to comprise the 2017 pre-qualified list, which will remain active for two (2) years from the date of the selection panel. Once selected, pre-qualified producers will be eligible for consideration of a project as individual projects are initiated by DCA.
HOW TO APPLY
All applications must be submitted electronically via Slide Room. The deadline to apply is Friday, December 30, 2016 at 11:59 PM. Incomplete and late applications will be deemed ineligible and not be considered.
A complete application must include:

CONTACT INFORMATION Including name, business name (if applicable), physical address, mailing address, telephone and email.  Please identify one person to be DCA’s primary contact, and include the direct contact information for them.  
STATEMENT OF INTEREST (PDF or DOC format only, 2 pages max) for producing a festival, cultural or performing arts event including your organizational capacity.
CURRICULUM VITAE (PDF or DOC format only, 4 pages max); Please submit a CV for each staff person on the team.  
TEN (10) IMAGES (JPG format only, 72 DPI min + 5 MB max per file)  of a festival, cultural or performing arts event that you have produced before; image files must be labeled sequentially (i.e. 01, 02, 03…) and include information such as the name of the event, year, approximate attendance, the client, budget and location. Please do not submit more than 10 images total.  

*Additional material included that is not requested by DCA will not be reviewed.
RIGHTS + RESPONSIBILITIES
DCA reserves the right to decline all applications to this RFQ, and/or cancel this RFQ, or any roster of pre-qualified artists, at any time. This RFQ is subject to the City’s Campaign Finance, Contractor Responsibility, Equal Benefits, Equal Opportunity, Living Wage, Minority / Women Business Enterprise and Slavery Disclosure Ordinances, as well as any other ordinances in effect in the City of Los Angeles.  

About DCA

The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) manages the City of Los Angeles Public Art and Performing Arts Programs. DCA supports the creativity of local artists by funding and partnering with the City’s arts and cultural communities. The City demonstrates an ongoing commitment to arts and culture through DCA’s ongoing activities, including community arts programming, cultural grants, marketing, public art, and youth arts and education programs, to stimulate and foster the creation of arts and cultural experiences throughout the diverse neighborhoods of LA.

Questions
Please contact Tania Picasso, Arts Manager, at 213 202-5525 or Ben Johnson, Director of Performing Arts, at 213-202-550

Call for artists; Residency: City of Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)

The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs is now accepting proposals for its 2017-18 Artist in Residence (AIR) and City of LA (COLA) Master Artist Fellowship grants programs. 

The Artist in Residence RFP seeks community-based/teaching artists to coordinate multi-week participatory workshops culminating in group presentations in non-arts venues such as social service agencies. Artist In Residence Guidelines can be found here

The COLA Fellowship Program honors an assortment of Los Angeles' best contemporary artists. The awards allow accomplished artists to create new work while DCA organizes a museum exhibition, performing arts showcase, and an online catalog to document and market the selected artists and their new works as one cross-section of the exciting Los Angeles art scene. Guidelines can be found here

The submission deadline for both programs will be Friday, October 28, 2016

Opportunity: Current:LA

CITY of LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT of CULTURAL AFFAIRS

LOS ANGELES LAUNCHES FIRST PUBLIC ART BIENNIAL – SUMMER 2016

PUBLIC ART DIVISION - Request for Proposals (RFP)

DEADLINE: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015

CURRENT: LA WATER

CALL FOR ARTISTS

 

BACKGROUND

Developed by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), CURRENT:LA is an ongoing, biannual temporary art initiative that aims to establish a new paradigm for public art in LA, one that is transformative and contributes to the creation of social capital and public discourse locally, nationally, and globally. CURRENT:LA seeks to maximize the potential for public art to create dialogue and help change how we understand and respond to issues, with an inaugural presentation in 2016 that will respond to the issue of water.

DESCRIPTION OF OPPORTUNITY

CURRENT:LA Water will establish the rst Public Art Biennial for Los Angeles. Led by DCA’s Public Art Division, the initiative will utilize public sites throughout LA for temporary public art projects that aim to generate civic discourse on the issue of water and allied topics such as infrastructure, drought, ecology and conservation, among others. CURRENT:LA Water will take place for one month in late summer 2016.

CRITERIA

DCA is seeking to award up to ten (10) temporary public art project commissions through this Request for Proposals (RFP).

Artists may apply individually or as a team; artist teams may not change over the life of the project. Each artist/team may submit only one (1) project proposal in response to this RFP. Artist/team proposal submissions should demonstrate the professional capacity to oversee the design, fabrication, installation and de-installation of temporary artworks in outdoor public space, and experience working in consultation with curators, project teams, City staff, technical professionals, governmental committees, and the public. Successful proposals will demonstrate artistic merit, conceptual strength, and inventive strategies for public engagement before and/or during the one-month presentation of CURRENT:LA Water.

ELIGIBILITY

This RFP is open to professional artists/teams living and working in the County of Los Angeles. Artists and artist teams pre-qualied for other DCA-administered public art opportunities are not prevented from applying to this RFP. Employees of the City of Los Angeles are ineligible to apply.

PROJECT BUDGET

The maximum budget for each project proposal is $20,000. The preliminary/itemized budget included in each proposal submission must cover all expenses required to execute the proposed project, inclusive of all costs for design, fabrication, installation, de-installation, insurance, and public engagement. CURRENT:LA Water is funded by DCA and Bloomberg Philanthropies through its Public Art Challenge initiative.

SELECTION PROCESS

A Curatorial Committee of Los Angeles-based professional curators will review the proposals submitted in response to this RFP. The Committee will assess all submitted proposals and select up to ten (10) artists/teams to be awarded a CURRENT:LA Water public art commission.

SITE NAME

Weddington Park / South

Origin of LA River

Grifth Observatory

Cheviot Hills Recreation Center

South Los Angeles Wetland Park

Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area

Ballona Wetlands

Bell Canyon Park

Banning’s Landing Community Center

NEIGHBORHOOD

Studio City

Canoga Park

Los Feliz

West LA

South Park

Ladera Heights

Playa del Rey

West Hills

Wilmington

POTENTIAL PROJECT SITES

Nine (9) sites have been shortlisted for CURRENT:LA Water. Proposal submissions must include a Preferred Site List that identifies three (3) of these sites as preferred for the proposed project. Artists/teams are encouraged to visit and/or research the shortlisted sites. Any site-related inquiries must be directed only to DCA; not to facility staff or other City agencies. All locations are subject to change subsequent to the commission of projects through this RFP.

1. CONTACT INFORMATION for artist submitting the proposal; artist teams must identify one artist as DCA’s primary contact and provide contact information for each member of the team;

2. STATEMENT OF INTEREST [max 500 words] in being part of CURRENT:LA Water;

3. PROPOSAL DESCRIPTION [max 750 words] including the proposed artwork concept, physical materials, and potential maintenance and/or security needs;

4. TIMELINE [max 250 words] for proposed project, indicating the approximate time required for proposal tenement, fabrication/production, installation, presentation, and de-installation, and during which project phase(s) public engagement would be implemented;

5. ITEMIZED BUDGET [PDF upload] including preliminary costs for all aspects of the proposed project;

6. PREFERRED SITE LIST [max 300 words] listing three (3) preferred sites for the project, each ranked rst, second, or third choice, and a statement that describes the reason(s) for these site preferences and how a site change would impact the proposal logistically and/or conceptually;

7. PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PLAN [max 500 words] describing public and/or community engagement strategies for the proposed project;

8. RÉSUMÉ/CV [PDF upload] for the artist; teams must submit a résumé/CV for each member of the team;

9. PROPOSED ARTWORK / MEDIA ITEMS [max five (5) file uploads] of images, video, and/or audio, including a description for each file and, if applicable, approximate dimensions;

10. PAST PROJECTS / MEDIA ITEMS [max fifteen (15) file uploads] of images, video, and/or audio, including title, year, dimensions, media/materials, and description for each file, as well as client, budget, and location if applicable; teams are encouraged to include projects completed by the team.

DEADLINE

Proposal submissions are due by 5P on Monday, November 16, 2015. Late submissions will not be accepted and incomplete submissions will not be reviewed.

HOW TO APPLY

Proposals must be submitted via SlideRoom and a complete submission must include all of the following:

RIGHTS + RESPONSIBILITIES

DCA reserves the right to decline all applications to this RFP, and/or cancel this RFP at any time. This RFP is subject to the City’s Campaign Finance, Contractor Responsibility, Equal Benets, Equal Opportunity, Living Wage, Minority/Women Business Enterprise and Slavery Disclosure Ordinances, and any other ordinances in effect in the City of Los Angeles.

ABOUT DCA

DCA manages the City of LA’s public art programs. DCA supports the creativity of local artists by funding and partnering with the City’s arts and cultural communities. The City demonstrates an ongoing commitment to arts and culture through DCA’s ongoing activities, including community arts programming, cultural grants, marketing, public arts and youth arts and education programs, to stimulate and foster the creation of arts and cultural experiences throughout the diverse neighborhoods of LA.

QUESTIONS?

Contact DCA’s Public Art Division: email Paul Pescador <paul.pescador@lacity.org> or call 213-202-5544.