Public Art Opportunity: Short Street Parking Garage

The City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA) invites artists residing in Missouri to apply for a public art project for the city's planned parking garage on Short Street. The art budget for the parking garage project is $47,000.

The Short Street parking garage will be located in The District adjacent to the North Village Arts District. Once completed, the multi-level facility will provide more than 400 parking spaces. This project will utilize pre-cast fagade panels and will be coordinated with the design of an adjacent boutique hotel and downtown Columbia architecture.

At this point in the process, artists should submit qualifications only, not design proposals. Applications will be evaluated on the basis of artistic and technical merit and strength of past work. Applications will be reviewed by the Standing Committee on Public Art. The committee will determine the three finalists to be invited to develop preliminary design proposals. Each artist will be offered an honorarium of $2,000 for time and materials in developing the preliminary proposal. The preliminary design proposals will be made available for public comment and a recommendation will be made by the Standing Committee on Public Art to the Commission on Cultural Affairs and final approval by City Council.

A prospectus, including guidelines for applying, is available at www.GoColumbiaMo.com/Arts (follow the link under the "Artist Opportunities" header) or by contacting the OCA for a printed copy. To be considered, complete applications must be postmarked by Feb. 17, 2012.

The Short Street garage project is a component of Columbia's Percent for Art program, established in 1997, which requires that one percent of total construction costs for eligible new and renovation projects be set aside for site-specific public art.

For more information, contact the OCA at (573) 874-7512, oca@GoColumbiaMo.com.