Please see below a new opportunity available to artists in the Pittsburgh region.
The Office of Public Art, working in collaboration with Rethink Vets and The Heinz Endowments, has released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for artists or artist teams to work with the Rethink Vets coalition as an artist-in-residence. The two-year initiative, part of OPA’s artist in the public realm residency program, will result in a creative project developed in collaboration with veteran communities in Allegheny, Butler, and Westmoreland counties. The selected artist or artist team will be paid a fee of $25,000 for the first year of the residency; an artist fee and project implementation budget for the second year will be determined through the development of the creative project proposal. An additional allowance of $7,500 for materials and related expenses will be provided in the first year of the residency to support community engagement and other activities. An artist information session will be held on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 from 6 – 7:00 PM at the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, 810 Penn Avenue, 7th Floor, Pittsburgh, 15222. RFQ submissions are due on Monday, April 8, 2019 at 11:59 PM. Applications will only be accepted through Submittable, an online application platform used by the Office of Public Art. The application and complete call for artists may be accessed at: http://tinyurl.com/rethinkres
Rethink Vets, funded in part by The Heinz Endowments, is a coalition of organizations that serve veterans in Southwestern Pennsylvania. One of the many challenges cited by Rethink Vets has been the misconception that returning veterans are “broken heroes” in need of help. This stereotype affects the ability of veterans to reinvent themselves once they have completed their military service. Although veterans are accomplished leaders and highly trained individuals who are assets to communities, many are never offered work or other opportunities due to false and negative stereotypes that question the overall capacity of veterans.
Through the artist in the public realm residency program, the Office of Public Art believes that artists can and should be engaged as change agents who can collaborate with communities to envision their futures, address community issues, and strengthen connectivity. By placing an artist-in-residence with members of the veteran community, OPA and Rethink Vets intend to facilitate a creative collaboration that breaks down the misconceptions about veterans and develops new approaches to addressing the challenges that veterans face.
The residency will be a two-year process. During the first year, the artist or artist team will work with Rethink Vets and its coalition members to engage several veteran communities, and will then spend the second year producing a project whose concept is generated through the first year of collaboration and engagement. Interested artists and artist teams can learn more by downloading the RFQ here.
“With nearly 5,800 new veterans settling in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region each year, it is especially important that we understand both their stories and their enormous value,” said Megan Andros, senior program officer for veterans at The Heinz Endowments. “We are funding the veteran artist-in-residence program in partnership with the Office of Public Art because we believe it has the power to inspire conversation about the abundance of experience, talent, creativity and dedication to strengthening community that our veterans have to offer.”
This is the second collaboration between Rethink Vets and the Office of Public Art. The two organizations first worked together during the 2018 Three Rivers Arts Festival to organize the exhibition Rethink Perception. The exhibition featured artwork by local and national artist veterans. The exhibit was visited by over 2,000 people during its four-day run.