A. Project Summary – ArtsinStark, the private non profit county arts council for Canton and Stark County, OH is issuing a “Request for Qualifications/RFQ for professional artists to design, fabricate and install artwork in front of the Frank T. Bow Building at 201 Cleveland Avenue, SW Canton, OH. The Call for Artists deadline is October 15, 2012. The installation deadline is before December 31, 2013.

B. Project Budget – Total artwork budget for Moment #1 – “Birth of the NFL” $150,000. This budget will cover artist fees, overhead, operating costs, fabrication, materials, shipping, insurance (general liability, automobile, workers compensation), travel expenses, and installation. Submission deadline: materials must be submitted no later than 12 am Monday October 15, 2012 Eastern Standard Time.

C. Scope of Work – This National Call to Artists will result in a short list of three semi- finalists who will each receive an honorarium of $3,500 to cover the following:

•A site visit to Canton to 1) learn more about the history of the area, 2) see the location of the artwork, and 3) and participate in a community meeting
•Development of a concept proposal and maquette for the project
•A returning visit to Canton to present proposal to Selection Committee
D. Eligibility – The public art project is open to professional artists residing in the United States who are at least 18 years of age and have at least two years of visual art exhibition and commissioned public art experience.

E. Project Goals – The artwork should be suitable both for the location in terms of scale and to be viewed by pedestrian traffic. It must:

•Celebrate the “Birth of the NFL” — the first of the eleven greatest moments of professional football history for which we are commissioning artwork.
•Represent the highest quality art being made in America today.
•Be so amazing that visitors coming to Canton would want to see it whether they were sports fans or not.
F. City – Canton is the birthplace of professional football and home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (pictured right). It is located about an hour south of Cleveland. ArtsinStark, the private non profit arts council for the county is partnering with The Pro Football Hall of Fame to create The Eleven – a series of public artworks celebrating the 11 greatest moments in professional football history. The majority of the eleven works will be located in downtown Canton within walking distance of one another — which is about a two miles from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. All artwork styles will be considered and our goal is for the series to represent every kind of art being made in America. The Eleven is a multi-year project. The first work for which we are commissioning artwork is moment #4: the Formation of the NFL or the “Birth of the NFL.” Our objective is to install it during 2013 — the 50th anniversary year of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

When “The Pro Football Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book” was published in July 2012 it listed the eleven greatest moments in no particular order:

1) 1958 Championship Game (Colts/NY Giants)

2) Formation American Football League (1959)

3) Pete Rozelle Named Commissioner (1960)

4) Formation of the NFL (1920)

5) Red Grange Turns Pro (1925)

6) The NFL Draft (1936)

7) Reintegration of Pro Football (1946)

Monday Night Football (1970)

9) Super Bowl III (1968)

10) The Ice Bowl (1967)

11) AFL/NFL Merger (1966)

G. History – First known as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) and later renamed the NFL in 1922, the league’s first president was Jim Thorpe. He was without a doubt the most famous athlete of his time. The league’s formation was the start of a journey that has made the NFL America’s favorite sport. Here is part of what it says in the “The Pro Football Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book”:

It goes without saying that the formation meeting for the National Football League held on September 17, 1920 in Canton, Ohio has to be among the eleven most significant moments in NFL history. Representatives of the league’s ten charter members crammed into the tiny showroom of Canton Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay’s Hupmobile dealership and created the American Professional Football Association, which was renamed the National Football League in 1922. Interestingly, the impetus behind forming the league was to combat three major issues plaguing the game at that time: rising salaries, college eligibility, and players jumping from team to team. The organization of the league brought structure to a previously ungoverned sport. Regular meetings among the team owners created rules and bylaws to allow for fair and stable play on the pro level for the first time.

Project Site – The historic meeting was held in the Hupmobile auto showroom of Canton Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay, which was located in the Odd Fellows Building (left). Though the building has been razed, the current site is the Frank T. Bow Federal Building (now owned by Stark County). A historical marker has been put on the building to commemorate the moment . See photos. The site for the artwork will be a footprint of 9 feet by 18 feet along the sidewalk with no height limitation.

H. Application Requirements – May be submitted by mail, electronically or by hand. It must include the following:

1.Letter of interest, not to exceed one page, as to why you are interested and how you would approach creating the artwork
2.Current resume (two page limit)
3.List of three professional references
4.Up to (10) digital images of previous work saved to CD. Each image uploaded shall include the following:
a. title of artwork

b. media

c. dimensions (H x W x D)

d. project budget

e. date of artwork or project completion

f. artwork description (300 character limit)

5. Submission deadline: materials must be submitted no later than 12 am Monday October 15, 2012 Eastern Standard Time to Robb Hankins at ArtsinStark 900 Cleveland Ave. NW P.O. Box 21190 Canton, OH 44701-1190

Timeline:

•Request for Qualifications announced: end of August 2012
•Deadline for return of RFQ: October 15, 2012
•Selection Committee decides on three semi-finalists: Oct 30, 2012
•Site visit for semi-finalists: Nov 2012
•Semi-finalists’ presentation to Selection Committee: Dec 2012
•Artist Selection Decision and Notification: Dec 2012
•Installation Date: before Dec 31, 2013
Questions, Follow-up: Questions may be directed to Robb Hankins at ArtsinStark at 330-453-1075 or RobbHankins@ArtsinStark.com

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