ArtsWestchester is proud to be the recipient of a $500,000 grant to support economic development and promote tourism in the City of White Plains through the arts. The Market New York grant from I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism was awarded to ArtsWestchester through the State’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative. The funding supports the multi-day Serious Fun Arts Festival, a 5-day public art happening taking over White Plains from October 12-16, 2022. The event showcases the talent of the region’s outstanding pool of creative workers, including visual, performing and literary artists. Tri-state area artists are invited to submit their current work and public art visions for potential inclusion in the festival.

ArtsWestchester seeks qualifications and proposals from visual artists and artist collectives for the Serious Fun Arts Fest. A separate application is available for performance-based creatives. The Serious Fun Arts Fest will feature a public art walk, open studios, performing arts, art and dance parties, programming for families and more. Elements of the art walk will remain as an attraction and display of White Plain’s cultural vibrancy after the festival.

Potential projects include:

  • Murals
  • Large scale outdoor sculpture
  • Mixed media installations
  • Pop-up exhibitions
  • Performance art installations

This arts and culture festival will feature live mural painting by recognized street artists, headliner musical and performing acts, family workshops, public art walks and other creative activities that will rebrand downtown White Plains as an art-packed destination. ArtsWestchester, while working closely with public and private partners including Metro North, the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, five major housing developers, the Westchester County Tourism Office & the White Plains BID, seeks to commission up to 30 murals, large scale art installations and pop-up exhibitions.

Installations can take any form (mural, sculptural, new media, mixed media or performance art), and may leverage all designated architectural components of participating sites. Projects may include community engagement elements and/or interactive components. Artists should consider that The Festival will also kick off an outdoor public art exhibit, which will be available in the city for the rest of the year, attracting visitors from Connecticut, New Jersey and the NYC-metro area.

The request for artist qualifications is the first of a three-stage competitive process to identify several artists for possible inclusion in the festivities and creation and/or presentation of artwork.

  • Round 1: From this RFQ, the Selection Committee will identify up to 50 artists to be semi-finalists who will be potentially matched with our art site partners.
  • Round 2: If matched with a site partner, artists will be invited as a finalist and may be awarded a honorarium to submit site-responsive artwork proposals, if needed.
  • Round 3: Art work proposals will then proceed to final approval from the Selection Committee and the site partner before final contract agreements are initiated.

Artists will be notified if they have been selected for Round 1 the week of May 9, 2022.  Site matching will occur between May and June, at which time selected artists will be given photographic images and details about acceptable materials and mounting at identified locations, and will be invited to submit full site-responsive proposals. Final proposals must be submitted by and approved by June 30.   Artworks must be ready for creation/installation on site before October 1, 2022.  Murals will either be completed prior to or during the festival, which runs October 12 – 16, 2022.  Additional artist activities, to include artist talks, workshops, or other community engagement opportunities will be coordinated and scheduled as appropriate.

RFQ DEADLINE: Qualifications must be submitted online via the link provided by April 29, 2022, 11:59PM, E.S.T.

Link to apply: https://artswestchester.submittable.com/submit/220646/serious-fun-arts-fest-visual-artist-participation-application