The 18th Street Arts Center, a Santa Monica arts complex, is in the beginning stages of planning for the redevelopment of its facility and site. It is recruiting a process-oriented artist or artist team to become part of the design
The 18th Street Arts Center, a Santa Monica arts complex, is in the beginning stages of planning for the redevelopment of its facility and site. It is recruiting a process-oriented artist or artist team to become part of the design team.
The 18th Street Arts Center was founded in 1988, by the publishers of High Performance Magazine — an internationally successful alternative art review. The 18th Street project was created in response to a significant historic period in contemporary art. During the late 1970s and 1980s the feminist and multicultural arts movements converged in their mutual need for legitimate performance and exhibition spaces. This need fueled the creation of many alternative arts spaces, including 18th Street, that filled the void created by museums and galleries who would not provide access to artists of color and women artists.
“From its alternative inception, 18th Street has defied easy labels — it is part arts incubator, part residency center and part multi-tenant nonprofit. Regardless, a commitment to affordability and community building through the arts remains at the core and will continue to be central to the new facility. Thus, the artist(s) selected will have a key role in overall project design,” states the center’s Web site.
“This is a request for qualifications only, not a request for proposals or art projects. Qualified artist(s) will have a documented professional background in any media or discipline (including public art; creative fiction, nonfiction, or playwriting; visual art; film or new media; or performance art) as well as a demonstrated track record of success working collaboratively with large teams and meeting project deadlines,” states the release on the call for applications.
“The artist or team selected will be awarded a design fee of $20,000. We anticipate that the selected artist’s participation would be from January 2008 through December 2011 and a specific work plan and time line would be negotiated with the selected artist. Because the project will require the artist to attend community meetings and meet with a design team in the Los Angeles region, we expect that the successful candidate will be primarily based in Southern California for the duration of the project. The artist will be responsible for leading the process of developing creative ways to conceptualize and document 18th Street’s rich history and engage the community through design. The process will ultimately result in a public art project that will be integrated into our site. The commission for the creation of the artwork will be a separate fee and become part of the construction budget.”
The deadline in Sept. 14. For application and more information: www.18thstreet.org.
