PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

December 1 New Deadline for Transit Art Submissions!
by Jennifer Gibson Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 at 6:40 PM
artbus@gmail.com

Your artwork can make a difference in supporting local transit. Read on.

Pittsburgh Art in Transit

CALL FOR ARTISTS

Bolster positive support for local transit,

inspire change in your community,

and go beyond your normal route!


Pittsburgh Art in Transit is making a call for local artists to display 2-D work in the interior advertising spaces of 850 city buses as a gesture of support for local public transportation. Help us contribute aesthetically and financially to the buses, by using our local transit and the communities of the given bus routes as artistic themes.

Email artbus@gmail.com for art submissions, inquiries, or volunteer information.

New Deadline for electronic submissions:
December 1, 2005, 5 pm.

ELIGIBILITY

Pittsburgh Art in Transit is open to artists residing in the 13-county Pittsburgh/ Western Pennsylvania region of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Mercer, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland counties.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS

To submit a proposal, complete an artist bio, and return it with your digital bus tag image to artbus@gmail.com by 5 pm on December 1, 2005. The images may be digital reproductions of photographs, paintings, sculpture or other mediums, or original digital work. If you plan to submit work you must contact us first by email by November 15.

ACCEPTABLE APPLICATIONS: Adobe Illustrator • Adobe Indesign • Adobe Photoshop • Adobe Pagemaker • Adobe Acrobat • Quark Xpress. FORMATS: Images must be submitted in TIFF, PDF, of EPS format. All files should be a minimum of 300 dpi at full size. COLOR: If printing digitally convert all files into CMYK format. Include any PMS color used. FONTS & ARTWORK: Please provide the proper media & all necessary files. Include all fonts, logos, photos, & any artwork used to prepare the file. SIZE: Interior Bus Cards are sized 11"H x 28"W. The live area for Bus Cards and Bulkheads is 1 inch in from trim size.
If you cannot access the Internet you may include your contact information, response to the artist bio, and image to:

The Sprout Fund
Art in Transit Seed Award
4920 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224-1609
You may submit as many images as you like. Winners will be notified in December.

SELECTION CRITERIA

When creating submissions, artists should limit themselves only to the above specifications for display on the public buses and the sizing of the bus tags. All work will be given equal consideration before our review committee. However, after the work is selected, PAT Transit has the final word on content before the work is brought public. Strongly controversial topics may be rejected if the review committee feels it strays too far from the goals of the project.

The following themes for artistic submissions are of high importance on our criteria list: Transit, community, neighborhood, the specific or various neighborhoods/ communities/ parks of Pittsburgh, public transportation´s role in connecting our neighborhoods/ communities, character and issues relevant to those communities or the city at large, Pittsburgh history, transit history, urban transportation, public spaces, the PAT Transit riders/ community of riders, the bus routes as community, etc. or any related theme will be highly valued.

ABOUT PITTSBURGH ART IN TRANSIT

Pittsburgh Art in Transit is a gesture of artistic and financial support for PAT Transit by local artists. It is made possible by a Seed Award from the Sprout Fund and was created in collaboration with PAT Transit. A mutually beneficial project, PAT Transit provides local artists with a public venue for their work to be seen, while the artists provide PAT Transit with their work to adorn the buses.

The central issue this project addresses is the lack of funding for the PAT Transit system, the threat of cut-backs or even its demise, and the recognition of the unique impact transit plays and has played on the Pittsburgh community in the face of such pressures. Through our project, local artists have the chance to take a special role to assist PAT and the community by increasing ridership, bolstering a positive image for local transit, and providing additional funding through utilizing the advertising spaces. Not only will artists` work be displayed for the entire city to see on the buses, but each piece will be contributing to the needs of public transit and the larger Pittsburgh community by helping to prompt a greater response to PAT Transit´s fiscal crisis.

Our long-term goals are to foster recognition of the importance of public transportation to Pittsburgh and to serve as catalyst for soliciting individual, community, and state support for area transit. Our hope is that the project will get area residents asking questions, engaging in conversations, and contacting political and social leaders regarding public transportation in Pittsburgh. Additionally, we aim to showcase the diversity of local artistic talent, provide encouragement, enrichment, and a sense of civic pride to PAT customers on their daily commutes to and from work, and to expose under-served communities to the arts in Pittsburgh.

BUT EXACTLY HOW WILL MY ARTWORK MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO PAT TRANSIT?

Each selected artwork has a twofold purpose: artistry and funding support. In addition to adorning the walls of the buses, your piece will make a financial contribution to PAT Transit through Art in Transit's payment for the use of the bus tag space. Alone, this may not add up to much of a contribution, but for 850 buses, you are part of a larger whole that will act as a relief effort for PAT Transit.

TIME LINE:

Fall 2005

October 1: Call for Artists Opens, submissions collected for review

November 15, 5 pm: Deadline artists to contact Pittsburgh Art in Transit for future submissions and information

December 1, 5 pm: Final deadline for submissions to Pittsburgh Art in Transit

December 15: Selected artists are notified by email
December 15-31: Pat Transit begins printing bus tags

Spring 2006

January 1: PAT Transit will print the final images onto bus tags for display.

Gala opening in January 2006 in collaboration with PAT Transit is in the works.

ABOUT THE SPROUT FUND

The Sprout Fund is nonprofit organization supporting innovative ideas and grassroots community projects that are catalyzing change in Pittsburgh.

Each of The Sprout Fund's programs, Seed Award and Public Art, is designed to advance a community initiative from idea through dialogue to implementation, creating a critical mass of activity for positive regional change. Sprout believes a vital component to building healthy and vibrant communities is civic engagement; serving those who demonstrate the drive and the capacity to think creatively about their communities.

With ongoing local support and continued appreciation by the communities it serves, The Sprout Fund will continue to provide an entry point for Pittsburghers to become involved and active in their communities and support projects that have the collective power to shape a new culture and vision for the region.


Deadline: Thu Dec 1: 5PM



email
artbus@gmail.com


produced by Pittsburgh Art in Transit; Sprout Fund; PAT Transit