Color It In: Corners

Call for Artists – Color It In: Corners

The City of Bridgeport and the Bridgeport Downtown Special Services District are calling artists to Downtown Bridgeport. We invite you to share your skill, your imagination, and your inspiration to help transform the city’s Downtown into a vibrant center of community activity.

Downtown Bridgeport is a commercial area that represents and serves a diverse tapestry of the wider Bridgeport community. The public parks and independently owned restaurants and shops that populate the street-level spaces in our neighborhood create connection points that foster the sense of community so special to the Downtown and the city. The Color It In: Corners project is about celebrating the full spectrum of Downtown and intersections of its people, streets, places, and spaces.

Color It In: Corners aspires to activate different sites as a means to service and enhance the experience of residents, business owners, workers, and visitors to Downtown, while welcoming those individuals to explore different areas of the district. We seek and encourage artists from all backgrounds and from all levels of experience and engagement. We seek art that will create multi-functional spaces that encourage lingering time in the district and at local businesses, while offering an amenity for Downtown residents, workers, and visitors.

Budget: We seek moderately priced proposals that are site specific for artistic design fees and labor to complete the installation. In some instances the available funds for design and installation labor have been predetermined. Click on the specific opportunity for budget details. The City will provide materials and equipment for installation.

How to Express Your Interest: Expressions of interest are to include:

  • Project Team: Provide a brief description of your artistic and community experience, the size of your team if you are more than a solo artist, your artistic practice and the themes you explore in your work (including mediums like spraypaint, bucket paint, brushwork, wheatpaste, polytab or parachute cloth, etc.) that speak to your qualifications for the identified site(s).
  • Project Interest: Provide a brief description of your interest in the identified site(s). You may address questions including why you want to be a part of the Bridgeport community, what it means to share your art with the public, how you believe your work aligns with the goal of this project, and what unique perspective or contribution you believe your artwork will bring the project and the neighborhood.
  • Past Works: Provide a listing of past public and mural artwork experiences, including images of existing and past works that would be relevant to the project and site(s). Include the installation date, location, name, and dimensions of the artwork, as well as the equipment used to complete the projects, such as a scissor lift, boom lift, paint sprayer, scaffolding, ladders, etc.
  • Project Concept: Provide a brief description of the artwork or concept you would like to install at the identified site(s), including any technical specifications or installation requirements.
  • Verification of Insurance: You will be asked to verify that you/your team has professional liability insurance in place for $1,000,000 for whoever installs the public artwork at the site.

We’re taking expressions of interest on a rolling basis. The deadline for a given site is indicated in each site description. Submit your response via the application form linked to each site description. Any questions can be referred to hello@infobridgeport.com or phone to (203) 908-3622.

Timeline and Selection Process: Proposals will be reviewed by the private property and representatives from the City of Bridgeport. Respondents’ proposals will be considered in light of the following criteria:
1. Respondent’s experience
2. Quality of proposal (originality, imaginativeness, colorful impact)
3. Readiness to proceed
All privately owned locations have confirmation from the property owner that they are open to public artwork installation. Artists must be flexible with the content, as the owners have the final approval authority in those instances.

All applicants will be notified within four weeks of the site deadline whether they were selected for a site or not. From June to October 2023, the selected artists will enter into contracts with the Bridgeport DSSD for their respective work and implement the various projects. During that time, artists will be required to participate in a limited number of community conversations about their artwork as it is in progress and when completed.

Documentation and Promotion: The selected artist is required to make themselves and their artistic process of creating the public artwork available for documentary video and photography intended to promote the Color It In: Corners project. The Bridgeport DSSD will credit the selected individual or firm whenever the public artwork is published or promoted on the Colorful Bridgeport platform. The Bridgeport DSSD and the City of Bridgeport may use images of the installation in promotional or educational materials. The selected individual or firm’s contact information will be included in any printed or published reference to the installation.

Current Opportunities

Building on the past success of the Color It In public art collaboration with the Bridgeport Downtown Special Services District, the City of Bridgeport is expanding the program across all neighborhoods of Bridgeport. The City of Bridgeport has released the 2024 Citywide Public Art request for expressions of interest (RFEI). The Citywide Public Art RFEI is accessible from the City of Bridgeport’s website here. All interested artists are required to complete the RFEI form to participate in the 2024 Citywide Public Art projects.

Expressions of interest will be accepted through March 15, 2024. The City will simultaneously be conducting outreach with neighborhood groups and working with property owners to confirm sites for the 2024 season. The selection process will begin after the deadline, and all selected artists will be notified of next steps. Reach out to John O’Grodnick with any questions or concerns.