Dec 20, 2021

Call for Artists!

LIGHT POLE BANNERS TO CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Arlington Human Rights Commission (AHRC, Arlington, MA) seeks a BIPOC artist to create new work or adapt existing work for 6 designs for light pole banners to celebrate Black History Month, February 2022. Banners will be hung along Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington Heights for the month of February.

2022 JURORS: Boston artist, educator and curator Chanel Thervil, currently Artist-in-Residence in Arlington and Crystal Haynes, Journalist and Commissioner, AHRC.

COMMISSION FEE: $1,000 for 6 designs. Selected designs will be featured on the websites and social media of AHRC and ArtsArlington.org (project partner) with artist information and links.

DEADLINE FOR DESIGN PROPOSALS & SUPPORT MATERIALS: Monday, January 10, 2022 midnight

ARTIST NOTIFIED OF SELECTION: Friday, January 14, 2022.

FINAL DESIGNS DUE: Friday, January 21, 2022 in the form of print-ready digital files (dimensions & specs to be provided). We regret that the timeline is tight and apologize that the delivery deadlines cannot be extended. Applications will be most competitive if design concepts are clear and close to final.

2022 THEME: YOUNG PEOPLE LEADING THE NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT From the Birhmingham Children’s March of 1963 in the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s, to the Children’s Peace Marches of the Black Lives Matter Movement, kids have made it known they will not be left out of the fight for an equitable future. Young people are at the center of the new civil rights movement which now includes housing jus- tice, food insecurity, school placement descrimination and health inequity. This theme is open to artistic interpretation; you may use historical or contemporary figures, imagined figures, abstractions, symbols, patterns, and/or text.

2022 LIGHTPOLE BANNER FORMAT: TRIANGULAR SHAPED BANNERS Banners are 3-sided: 48” vertical side, top to bottom; top side 23.5” across; connecting diagonal approximately 53.5”.

DESIGN MEDIA Open to all media (digital or hand illustration, painting, collage, photography etc). The size of the banners and display in public space along the town’s main roadway will make simpler, bolder, eye-catching images most effective.

APPLICATION PROCESS: We hope to make it as simple as possible to apply and request the following:

name, address, phone and email;
artist website and/or instagram link;
3-6 jpg images documenting original work and chosen to give selection committee a sense of how the artist would approach this project. NOTE: If you have an existing body of work that you propose adapting for this project by cropping or reformatting, please submit the specific images.
concept sketches for at least 3 designs. Note that you must use original or copyright free material.
one professional reference willing to be contacted by email or phone.

SUBMIT APPLICATION MATERIALS TO: ArtistsCallArlington@gmail.com

QUESTIONS: Crystal Haynes, Arlington Human Rights Commission (ahrcevents@gmail.com) or Cecily Miller, Arlington Commission for Arts & Culture (cecily.apa@gmail.com)