Request for Qualifications: Festival/Cultural & Performing Arts Producers (Los Angeles, CA)

RFQ for Festival/Cultural & Performing Arts Producers

The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Arts Development Fee Program and new Performing Arts Division, believe that the performing arts can play an important role in reshaping attitudes, countering cultural stereotypes, preserving and teaching the appreciation of different cultures, fostering community pride and affirming the artistic contributions of the City’s diverse communities.
To this end, the Department of Cultural Affairs is seeking to establish a pre-qualified list of experienced and talented festival, cultural and performing arts event producers/programmers. This Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is open to professional festival, cultural and performing arts producers, presenters and arts and community-based organizations who possess the knowledge, creative and technical expertise, and administrative capacity to oversee small to large-scale events. The Department is interested in working with both emerging and established individuals, organizations, teams, and collectives to realize and produce festivals, cultural and performing arts events throughout the City of Los Angeles.
CRITERIA
The successful festival, cultural and performing arts event producers/programmers must demonstrate their experience with developing and producing festivals, or presenting a variety of world-class performing arts events including, music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinary projects; or working with diverse community partners on  cultural event planning, logistics, and implementation including: creating a process for enlisting community participation and support when appropriate; securing all relevant city permits; coordinating logistics for vendors; coordinating festival and/or event install and de-install needs such as ticketing, security, booths, tents, fencing, generators, toilets, trash, signage, inspections, parking and audience logistics/ flow, and any other required logistics.
The festival, cultural, or performing arts event producer/programmer will also be responsible for marketing and outreach of the event in collaboration with DCA’s Marketing Division and respective Council Office when appropriate. The selected producers must be available to attend planning and coordination meetings with City agencies and relevant parties as required.  Producer/Programmers should have experience in working within traditional performing arts venues, along public streets, parks, and other non-traditional public locations.
BUDGET
Budgets will vary, based on the event, and must be inclusive of all costs associated with the production of the event. Funding for the project may be through the Arts Development Fee Trust Fund and/or other art programs administered by the Department of Cultural Affairs in conjunction with another department of Council Office.
ELIGIBILITY
This RFQ is open to professional and experienced festival, cultural event and performing arts event producers/programmers that operate in the County of Los Angeles. Employees of the City of Los Angeles are ineligible to apply.
SELECTION PROCESS
A selection committee, comprised of, but not limited to, independent arts professionals and representatives of the Department of Cultural Affairs will convene to review the applications received in response to this RFQ. Upon review of all submissions, the committee will select producers/programmers to comprise the 2017 pre-qualified list, which will remain active for two (2) years from the date of the selection panel. Once selected, pre-qualified producers will be eligible for consideration of a project as individual projects are initiated by DCA.
HOW TO APPLY
All applications must be submitted electronically via Slide Room. The deadline to apply is Friday, December 30, 2016 at 11:59 PM. Incomplete and late applications will be deemed ineligible and not be considered.
A complete application must include:

CONTACT INFORMATION Including name, business name (if applicable), physical address, mailing address, telephone and email.  Please identify one person to be DCA’s primary contact, and include the direct contact information for them.  
STATEMENT OF INTEREST (PDF or DOC format only, 2 pages max) for producing a festival, cultural or performing arts event including your organizational capacity.
CURRICULUM VITAE (PDF or DOC format only, 4 pages max); Please submit a CV for each staff person on the team.  
TEN (10) IMAGES (JPG format only, 72 DPI min + 5 MB max per file)  of a festival, cultural or performing arts event that you have produced before; image files must be labeled sequentially (i.e. 01, 02, 03…) and include information such as the name of the event, year, approximate attendance, the client, budget and location. Please do not submit more than 10 images total.  

*Additional material included that is not requested by DCA will not be reviewed.
RIGHTS + RESPONSIBILITIES
DCA reserves the right to decline all applications to this RFQ, and/or cancel this RFQ, or any roster of pre-qualified artists, at any time. This RFQ is subject to the City’s Campaign Finance, Contractor Responsibility, Equal Benefits, Equal Opportunity, Living Wage, Minority / Women Business Enterprise and Slavery Disclosure Ordinances, as well as any other ordinances in effect in the City of Los Angeles.  

About DCA

The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) manages the City of Los Angeles Public Art and Performing Arts Programs. DCA supports the creativity of local artists by funding and partnering with the City’s arts and cultural communities. The City demonstrates an ongoing commitment to arts and culture through DCA’s ongoing activities, including community arts programming, cultural grants, marketing, public art, and youth arts and education programs, to stimulate and foster the creation of arts and cultural experiences throughout the diverse neighborhoods of LA.

Questions
Please contact Tania Picasso, Arts Manager, at 213 202-5525 or Ben Johnson, Director of Performing Arts, at 213-202-550

Request For Qualifications: Mural Artists (Los Angeles, CA)

INTRODUCTION
DCA is seeking artists, artist teams, and/or arts organizations interested in creating mural projects, as part of the Arts Development Fee Program, throughout the fifteen (15) Council Districts in the City of Los Angeles. In some instances, a specific mural opportunity and location may be identified in advance and artists will be directed to develop a site-specific work at that location.

CRITERIA
Artists working in any mural medium, style or technique — i.e. aerosol, mosaics, ceramics, paints, stencils, stickers, wheat paste — may apply. Successful applicants must demonstrate the professional capacity to oversee the design, implementation and production of a mural project for the City of Los Angeles — a process that includes making presentations to the public, overseeing all aspects of mural production, executing a project in a public space, registering the mural through either the City Mural Registration process or the Cultural Affairs Commission review process. Successful applicants must also demonstrate the technical knowledge related to best practices for wall preparation techniques and safety requirements for working on scaffolding, lifts, and ladders.
Artists may apply individually or as a team. Artists’ teams may not change over the life of the project. Artists who apply as a team must demonstrate both the qualifications of individual team members, as well as the team’s qualifications to work together on projects. Commissioned artists and/or artist teams must attend multiple meetings with City agencies, Council Offices, the public, and others as required.

ELIGIBILITY
This Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is open to professional artists, artist teams and/or arts organizations who live and work in the County of Los Angeles. Artists or artist teams pre-qualified for other DCA-administered public art opportunities are eligible to apply to this RFQ. Applicants selected through this RFQ will be included on DCA’s 2016 Pre-Qualified Roster of Mural Artists and eligible to propose for individual project opportunities as they arise, but will not be guaranteed a public art commission. In order to remain eligible for public art project commissions, artists and artist teams must retain the same members as stated in its original application to this RFQ. Employees of the City of Los Angeles are ineligible to apply.

PROJECT BUDGETS
Budgets for mural projects will range from $10,000 – $60,000. Each budget will be all-inclusive, and must cover all expenses associated with the design, fabrication and installation of the commissioned mural project, including design development, production and execution, as well as any required presentations, approvals, engineering services and/or City permits. This project is funded through the Arts Development Fee program and/or other art programs funded by the Department of Cultural Affairs.

SELECTION PROCESS
An artist selection panel will convene to review all applications received in response to this RFQ, and establish a 2016 Pre-Qualified Roster of Mural Artists, which will remain active for two (2) years from the date of the selection panel. Once selected, pre-qualified artists and artist teams will be eligible to develop proposals as individual projects are initiated by DCA. Separate selection panels will convene for such projects, in order to review mural project proposals, interview proposing artists, and select artists to receive the mural commissions. All selection panels will be comprised of artists, arts professionals, City representatives, and/or community members, and administered by DCA. Upon receiving a mural project commission and throughout all project phases, each commissioned artist and artist team will be required to comply with City codes dealing with safety, accessibility, seismic and/or other issues, as appropriate for the commissioned project.
HOW TO APPLY
All applications must be submitted electronically via Slide Room. Deadline to apply is Tuesday, November 22, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. Incomplete and late applications will be deemed ineligible and not be considered.
A complete application must include:

ARTIST’S CONTACT INFORMATION including name, business name (if applicable), physical address, mailing address, telephone, and email. Teams must identify one artist to be DCA’s primary contact for the team, as well as contact information for each artist on the team.
STATEMENT OF INTEREST (PDF or DOC format only, 2 pages max) for creating public art murals for City walls.
CURRICULUM VITAE (PDF or DOC format only, 4 pages max); teams must submit a CV for each artist on the team.
TEN (10) IMAGES (JPG format only, 72 DPI min + 5 MB max per file) of completed artwork; image files must be named sequentially (i.e. 01, 02, 03…); teams may submit no more than ten images total. Each of the image files must include the title of the image, year, size, materials, and brief description. For any commissioned project(s), also include the client, budget, and location.

*Additional material included that is not requested by DCA will not be reviewed.

QUESTIONS
Please contact Jasmine Regala, Arts Associate, at 213-202-5544 or via email.