Call for the Capitol Rice Street Artist Team

Forecast Public Art seeks four artists with connections to Saint Paul’s Rice Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to John Ireland Boulevard, including time spent living and/or working in or around the Frogtown, Rondo, Downtown, and/or Lowertown neighborhoods. 

Project: Capitol Rice Street Visioning and Reconstruction
Positions Available: 4 (open to solo artist and/or artist pairs)
Artist Stipend: $10,000 per artist or artist pair
Materials: $8,000 across all artists
Applications Due: Friday, January 3, 2025, by 11:59pm CST

Duties

THE RICE STREET ARTIST ENGAGEMENT TEAM, CONSISTING OF FOUR SELECTED INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS AND/OR ARTIST PAIR, WILL:

• Collaborate with Forecast to co-develop and implement an arts-based community engagement plan.  
• Staff community events, alongside the larger project team, to build on existing relationships with neighborhood residents, local businesses, and organizations who care about the future of Rice Street. The goals of these events include ensuring awareness of the project planning and design process, and providing opportunities for Q & A’s. 
• Develop and use arts-based tools for activities, activations, or engagements that connect with the communities surrounding the project for 6 pop-up events and 4 open house events.

Budget

• Each of the four (4) individual artists and/or artist pair in the Rice Street Artist Engagement Team will be paid a total of $10,000, in eight quarterly payments, over the life of the project.
• Artists will receive mentoring and support to grow their artistic practice as a group.
• The entire Rice Street Artist Engagement Team will have access to $8000 in funds to use for their engagement activities. 
• Due to the nature of this project, please note that much of the work may take place at a variety of times including early mornings, evenings, and weekends.

Eligibility

SELECTED ARTISTS SHOULD HAVE

• Familiarity with the Rice Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to John Ireland Boulevard, including time spent living and/or working in or around the Frogtown, Rondo, Downtown, and/or Lowertown neighborhoods.
• Experience designing arts-based activities for community engagement. This may include experience in a variety of mediums including social practice, drawing/painting, photography, writing, etc. 
• Comfort representing the project team in meetings and community events.  
• Comfort using technology including, but not limited to
  • Communicating in a timely manager via email or telephone
  • Social Media 
  • Online research tools 
  • Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Because of the rich cultural diversity of the community, artists with foreign language skills and connections to and/or experience working in historically-underrepresented communities – including immigrant and refugee communities present in the project area – are particularly encouraged to apply.

Timeline

These are temporary part-time independent contractor positions funded early 2025 through 2027.

Interviews will take place in January 2025.

Contracting and onboarding for the Rice Street Artist Engagement Team will begin in February 2025.

How To Apply

Individuals or pairs are asked to submit the following materials via Submittable no later than Friday, January 3, 2025 by 11:59pm CST.

1. Letter of Interest: A letter expressing your interest in the project, outlining your artistic community engagement approach, as well as your connection to the project background and Frogtown, Rondo, Downtown and/or Lowertown communities. The letter should not exceed 500 words. 

Note: 500 words typically constitute about one page of typed text, assuming standard formatting (such as 12-point Times New Roman font and 1-inch margins).

1. Arts Practice Experience: A resume or a document that lists 10 experiences in your life that have led you to this point in your artistic career. This could include people you’ve met, places you’ve been, or any other