Call for Artists

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Request For Qualifications

The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (JSAAHC ) is currently seeking Request for Qualifications (RFQ) submissions from creative individuals or teams with a history of success in large-scale public commissions.

Through a juried process, up to five applicants will be selected as semi-finalists to receive $10,000 to develop a proposal for the creation of a significant public artwork crafted from the melted remains of Charlottesville’s former Robert E. Lee statue. The RFQ is the first step in the process of commissioning an artist and team to design, fabricate, and install this new work(s) of art.

PROJECT GOALS AND VALUES

The successful work(s) of public art will challenge current conventions of the monumental form and serve as a welcoming place for healing, reflection and recovery for all members of our local community and its visitors. The new work(s) will also be in conversation with the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers and the Katherine Foster memorial at the University of Virginia, the Contemplative Site  at Monticello, and the Memorial to the Enslaved planned for Montpelier. It will also respond to global monuments which harken back to memory and contemplation such as Berlin’s Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe and Stumbling Stones, as well as the National Memorial to Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL. 


Community Engagement

The Swords into Plowshares team is committed to including local community members as key-stakeholders in the conception and design of the future work(s). In 2022/23, we collaborated with the University of Virginia’s Institute for Engagement and Negotiation, which designed and executed a months-long process modeled on that of UVA’s renowned Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. A primary criteria for our eventual evaluation of artists’ proposals is how effectively they incorporate the input we have gathered from the community. You can read our community engagement report here.

HOW TO APPLY

RFQ Applications must be received via SlideRoom. The portal will open on February 14, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. and will close by 11:59 p.m. PT on April 25, 2025.

The following materials must be uploaded:

  • Credentials: A resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV) demonstrating professional history and skills or experience. If applying as a team, all team members must submit resumes. 

  • Statement of Interest: A brief introductory narrative that also provides insight about your interest in this project.

  • Images of recent work, completed in the last 10 years: Up to ten (10) images or three digital video or movie files (2- 3 minutes each maximum).

  • Annotation should include: Artist/creative team participants, title, date, media, dimensions, location of project, additional collaborators, whether permanent or non-permanent, museum/municipality/organization that commissioned the project, and project budget for all submitted images.