CITY OF SAN ANTONIO
DEPARTMENT FOR CULTURE & CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
AUDIT COMMITTEE
INTERDEPARTMENTAL MEMO
TO: Sheryl Sculley, City Manager
FROM: Debbie Racca-Sittre, Interim Director, Department for Culture & Creative
Development
COPY: Audit Committee; Lori Houston, Assistant City Manager; Ben Gorzell Jr., CPA, Chief Financial Officer; Troy Elliott, CPA, Director, Finance; Kevin Barthold, City Auditor
SUBJECT: Pre-Solicitation Briefing for FY2017 Call for Public Artist and Art Professionals
Request for Qualifications
The Department for Culture and Creative Development (DCCD) will present a pre-solicitation briefing on the FY2017 Call for Public Artist and Art Professionals Request for Qualifications. This briefing will allow an opportunity for input and direction from Committee members.
This pre-solicitation briefing will cover estimated contract value, projected timeline, high profile designation, scope of the project, terms of the contract, audited financial statements, proposed scoring criteria, evaluation committee members, project considerations, local preference program applicability, veteran owned small business preference program applicability and SBEDA Program requirements.
The City of San Antonio’s public art ordinance, approved by City Council in 2011, creates an overall balance in public art throughout the City by designating funds for public art services. In 2012, voters approved public art to be included as part of the 2012-2017 Bond Program and City Council adopted a public art plan and authorized the process to pre-qualify artists through the ‘Capital Projects Artist Pool’. Recommended public artists result from an open-call, competitive process, and are authorized to the list for a period of two years. The last Open Call for Artists and Art Professionals was done in 2015.
DCCD plans to advertise an Open Call for Artists and Art Professionals in July 2016 as part of an annual process to update the City’s pre-qualified artist list, known as the Capital Projects Artist Pool, first established in October 2012. The selection panel will include representatives from the San Antonio Arts Commission, a local architect, local art professionals and DCCD staff. Artists from this pre-qualified roster would be considered for projects included in the annual public art plan. Inclusion in the Capital Projects Artist Pool does not guarantee a contracting opportunity. Final selections for projects are a result of close coordination with City departments and project stakeholders, including but not limited to representatives from City Council appointed advisory committees, community members and local art professionals. Final artist selections are recommended by the San Antonio Arts Commission.
There are four categories included in this solicitation. 1) Art Services Professionals would perform art restoration, handle and inventory art, install and interpret art works. Art Services Professionals will be evaluated on art inventory expertise and specialization as well as relevant experience. 2) Collaborative Partners are local non-profit organizations that will be evaluated on the organization’s experience producing relevant art in public places and collaborative resources of the organization. 3) Portable Artworks are local artists’ work submitted for potential exhibition at various City-owned buildings. This category will be evaluated on potential exhibit appropriateness and use. Exhibited art becomes eligible for acquisition by the City in its permanent art collection. 4) Registry of public artists will be prequalified for design and fabrication contracts. This category will be evaluated on applied relevant experience, artistic merit and creative capacity as well as knowledge of local culture and community. The local preference, veteran’s preference and SBEDA program do not apply to Artist contracts, however, the DCCD promotes the use of local and diverse artists in its selection by including experience in the local community and with local culture as a part of the evaluation criteria.
The RFQ is schedule to be advertised in July 2016.