Creative Citymaking Call for Artists

Intermedia Arts, a nonprofit arts center in Minneapolis, MN, is seeking three artists or artist teams (maximum of two artists per team) to participate in Creative CityMaking Minneapolis (CCM), a collaboration with the Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy program of the City of Minneapolis that fosters collaborations between local artists and City departments to develop fresh and innovative approaches to address long-term planning, neighborhood and community relations, technological, engagement, and social opportunities in Minneapolis. During 2015, Creative CityMaking will embed artists in five City Projects.  Two artist teams were selected in February, 2015 to work in the departments of Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) and Neighborhood and Community Relations (NCR).  Three additional artist/artist teams will be selected in this round.

This project is designed as a 20 hour per week commitment for 12 months. There is potential for this project to become multi-year work.  The collaborative work produced by the teams will be showcased at community meetings, citywide community events, and will culminate in a public exhibition. In addition, artists and City personnel will meet throughout the year in a series of participant convenings where they will exchange ideas, share progress, and learn about effective cross-sector innovation initiatives.

The Goals of Creative CityMaking Minneapolis

Creative CityMaking Minneapolis (CCM) is an arts-based innovation initiative that pairs staff in City of Minneapolis departments with experienced community artists to advance the City’s One Minneapolis goal: Disparities are eliminated so all Minneapolis residents can participate and prosper.

• Racial inequities (including in housing, education, income and health) are addressed and eliminated.
• All people, regardless of circumstance, have opportunities for success at every stage of life.
• Equitable systems and policies lead to a high quality of life for all.
• All people have access to quality essentials, such as housing, education, food, child care and transportation.
• Residents are informed, see themselves represented in City government and have the opportunity to influence decision-making.

These collaborations between City staff and artists are in support of the following objectives:

• To use arts resources and practices to help City departments address their priority issues;
• To design and test new interfaces between City systems and the community, and new approaches for community engaged policy-making, planning, and practice; 
• To enhance City staff and artists’ abilities to facilitate community engagement, and equip them with new tools for working effectively with traditionally underrepresented communities;
• To create a collaborative, sustainable support system that advances the work of City departments through partnership with experienced community artists; and
• To document and communicate lessons learned.

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Project Opportunity Title:  Electoral Engagement

Placement in the Office of the Minneapolis City Clerk

About the City Clerk:

The work of the Office of the City Clerk encompasses multiple forums through which residents engage directly with their government. The Elections and Voter Services Division administers all elections for Minneapolis residents, including at the municipal, state, and federal levels, as well as for county elected officials and the Minneapolis School Board. The Office includes the Legislative Support Unit, which is responsible for making the actions of the City Council accessible to the public, as well as ensuring that residents are able to engage in the Council process and provide input on proposed policies and actions.

About Electoral Engagement:

The goal of this project is to nurture a culture of electoral engagement.  The Office seeks to partner with artists from a variety of disciplines who are able to help with communicating the value of electoral engagement to a range of residents, including through the use of media and forums that are not traditionally utilized in such work. Just as significantly, this engagement should create opportunities for dialogue and conversation through which community members feel both able to express their viewpoints and share experiences with staff, and also see the clear value in doing so. The true value in this work will come from the ability to forge connections that are not already in place.

Specific issues that need to be addressed include:

• Developing culturally specific ways to understand and communicate the value of the civil society and the electoral process to new immigrant communities;
• Developing culturally specific ways to make legible and provide access to existing platforms for civic processes and decision making including boards, commissions and voting process;
• Developing platforms for City staff to effectively engage with underserved communities;
• Overcoming immediate barriers and motivating community interest in election processes and understanding their impacts.  

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Project Opportunity Title:  Digital Equity

Placement in the Information Technology Department

About the Information Technology (IT) Department:

The Information Technology Department helps City of Minneapolis departments leverage technology to meet the City’s needs. The work of the Information Technology Department is to deliver innovative, high quality, cost effective computing, networking, information management and business apps management services to City departments in support of their business goals and objectives. IT strives to be a valued partner in technology by providing innovative solutions to City needs, challenges and opportunities.

About Digital Equity:

Digital equity is a component of equity in Minneapolis. Disparities exist over age, race and income, which also map to geographic disparities of access and digital literacy skills. The department is working in collaboration with several organizations across Minneapolis to increase residents’ access to computers and the Internet, and to increase the technology skills within the community. IT wants to better map and connect digital literacy skills to the technology assets in Minneapolis. IT considers the following among “community technology assets”: public computer access locations, low cost Internet options, technology training, higher education and the new accelerated IT learning programs and hopes to work with an artist to further the initiative.

Specific issues that need to be addressed include:

• making information easy to understand and access. By making legible existing opportunities to residents (including non-English speakers) and communicating across cultural divides such as age, race and income, the department can help residents understand what is available and when, and create more effective connections between the community and opportunities;
• creating a platform to bring training to the community.  This can include: prototyping methods and tools that are easy and portable, and that work with schedules and life needs of underserved communities;
• demonstrating the value of technology in meeting a variety of individual, community and civic goals; why it is beneficial to be part of the digital society.

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Project Opportunity Title:  Tenant Voices

Placement in the Regulatory Services Department

About Regulatory Services:

The Regulatory Services Department is charged with the responsibility of protecting the health, safety and welfare of Minneapolis residents through a program of regulation, inspection, and enforcement of laws and ordinances. The department is committed to developing deeper, authentic relationships with communities, and sees that work as key to the Regulatory Services’ long term culture change efforts. The vision of the department - strengthening communities by partnering with residents, neighborhoods and businesses to make the city safer, healthier and more inviting for all – is clear, but the values of collaboration and the department’s  enforcement function can often be at odds. The Community Engagement division of Regulatory Services is focused on strengthening communities through expanding partnerships and building relationships between a broad range of community and neighborhood stakeholders, including other city departments, neighborhood organizations, tenant and housing support networks, property owners, residents and businesses. 

About Tenant Voices:

Focused primarily on the rental community where heightened enforcement action may lead to unintended consequences adversely affecting tenants and where inaction may similarly lead to a separate set of unintended impacts on the community, the  department seeks arts-based community engagement solutions to developing authentic relationships with and within underserved and underrepresented communities so that department policies are better aligned with the interests of the communities the department serves.

This year, the Division will be focusing on how to create more opportunities for tenant engagement and how to get input on improving existing service delivery or create new models for service delivery that address a growing and diverse population.  Regulatory Services seeks to add an arts perspective to this endeavor as a means to cross  educational, economic and cultural divides, and ensure a more authentic and inclusive experience for both Regulatory Services staff and the communities the department serves. Specifically, the department is looking to work with an artist or artist team who can help increase awareness on how tenant voices can be heard and engaged to inform operational and policy level decisions involving residential inspections. 

Eligibility for all Project Opportunities:

We are seeking experienced artists, designers or artist teams from a broad range of artistic disciplines, including but not limited to: visual arts, performing arts, literary arts, media arts, interdisciplinary and/or multidisciplinary arts. Artists must have experience with artistic processes that are social, interactive, and physical. Artists must be available to attend all participant convenings and scheduled program dates. Artists must have a strong history of at least two years of collaboration. Creative CityMaking is open to all artists within a reasonable commuting-distance from Minneapolis. Members of the Minneapolis Arts Commission, the Commission’s Public Arts Advisory Panel, Intermedia Arts staff and board and City of Minneapolis staff are not eligible to apply.

Compensation:

Selected artists or artist teams will receive a fee of $30,000 for work that will occur over the course of 12-months, from mid-May 2015 – mid-May 2016. 

Project Expenses:

Selected artists will be paired with a City department managing a specific project in the department’s 2015 workplan.  Each artist-department team will have additional funds of $8500 for project materials related to Creative CityMaking. The artist-department team will determine the use of their allocated Creative CityMaking project budget, including project material expenses.

Artist Scope of Services and Expectations:

Creative CityMaking artists are expected to keep project goals at the forefront of their work in collaboration with City staff and:

Participate in Training and Meetings

• Participate in project orientation, quarterly daylong convenings with City staff/artist teams, brown-bag lunch forums and other project-related networking events.
• Artists (including both artists if working in a team) should meet at least monthly with project manager(s).
• Participate in mid-project check-ins with City staff, project manager(s), project collaborators. (Intermedia Arts and Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy), and community stakeholders.
• Artists (including both artists if working in a team) should meet regularly (suggested biweekly) with City staff involved in the project.
• Attend and participate in departmental and community meetings/presentations as needed.
• Spend working time within the City department and at the City Innovation Center.

Define Project

• Develop team agreement in collaboration with City staff including work plan, budget, conflict resolution guidelines, and other elements outlined in the team agreement template.
• Develop budget to be approved by Intermedia Arts, City staff, and project manager(s).
• Create a media-based (graphic design, video, photography, or mixed media) representation of what the Department does and the intention for the project you are working on (to be completed within 6 weeks of signing contract with Intermedia Arts)

Administration

• Collect and deliver all project expense receipts to IA for reimbursement.
• Any subcontractors hired for the project through IA must have an IA contract developed for services $600 and higher.

Communication

• Communicate regularly with project manager(s).
• Submit monthly reflective updates along with artist activity logs on how time was spent.
• Submit work plan as part of the team agreement with City staff.
• Work within communications protocols established by City of Minneapolis and Intermedia Arts.

Data Collection

• Become familiar with appropriate background information, including relevant research and data.
• Work closely with City staff and managers to ensure that data collected for City efforts is data that can be used.
• Develop and outline strategies in workplan for data entry, formatting, and sharing with City staff at outset of project, and as new tools are developed.

Evaluation

• Provide data to program evaluators through engagement logs and other evaluation tools.
• Participate in the program evaluation as requested.

Document process and tools

• Participate in program documentation, including video/media as requested.
• Share visual and written documentation of the process, activities, and instructions/template for new tools generated.

Share Back

• Coordinate and present relevant information through at least one creative community event with City project stakeholders through theater, visual arts, exhibit, etc. in addition to the culminating exhibit and forum.
• Co-develop an exhibit of tools, approaches, and lessons learned for the Creative CityMaking culminating event and exhibit in spring 2016.
• Participate in culminating forum and exhibit launch.

Extend Arts-Based Practices

• Engage with other departments as requested to support the thorough integration of arts-based innovation within the City.

Mandatory Program Dates:

• Participant Convening #1: February 26, 2015 8:30-5 PM (completed)
• Participant Convening #2: May 28, 2015
• Participant Convening #3: October 29, 2015
• Participant Convening #4: January 28, 2016
• Culminating Public Events & Exhibition May TBD 2016

NOTE: Participant convenings are full-day events.

Intellectual Property Rights:

Creative CityMaking is intended to produce fresh approaches, which will take many forms (tools, plans, processes, methods, interviews, artistic products, photographs, audio and video recordings…) to help City departments address their priority issues. To facilitate the ongoing use of these products in the City of Minneapolis and beyond, all property created as a part of Creative CityMaking shall be owned jointly by the Artists, the City of Minneapolis, and Intermedia Arts. Creative CityMaking is a three-way ownership, licensing and derivative uses agreement.

Artist Qualifications/Selection Criteria:

1. Experience as a Practicing Artist

• Demonstrated five years minimum experience as a practicing, working artist.
• A focus on urban and social issues, as central to artists’ creative expression.

2. Connections to the City and Planning

• Strong interest in the intersection of art and city processes, and public administration issues.
• Ability to work collaboratively and in a team-based environment.
• Demonstrated experience at navigating systems and willingness to work within required public processes.

3. Connections to the Community

• Demonstrated experience or strong interest in working with communities and/or the general public in the creative process.
• Knowledge of local communities.
• Exceptional cultural competency and demonstrated ability to constructively work with traditionally underrepresented communities.

4. Personal Capacity

• Strong communication, facilitation, interpersonal, presentation, and equity-focused skills.
• Willingness and ability to learn and grow while meeting the changing requirements of the work.
• Regular availability during the project timeline (May 2015 - May 2016).
• Interest in collaborating with City departments to achieve goals.

https://www.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=2556