The Rockaway Hotel on behalf of Friends of Seaside Playground

Friends of Seaside Playground (FOSP) seeks proposals for a temporary mural at Seaside Playground, located on Rockaway Beach Boulevard and B109 Street in Rockaway Park, Queens. “The Big Yard”, as it is known by the kids from Waterside Children’s Studio School (WCSS), is a jointly operated outdoor recreational area used by over 700 students daily and is open to the rest of the community outside of school hours.

FOSP is a grassroots organization dedicated to organizing free events for the community and advocating for the reconstruction of Seaside playground. Through planting and cleaning events and by collaborating with artists, educators and community organizations, we aim to energize and bring awareness to the poor conditions of the space. FOSP seeks to engage residents and encourage our children to get involved with their community, care for their park and environment. We have collected input from the community during each of our events to determine what improvements they would like to see on the playground, which has been presented as the community’s vision to the Queens Borough President and local council to request capital funding for the reconstruction of Seaside Playground.

For the Big Yard Mural project, we invite artists to submit a proposal to create a temporary mural that will be painted in collaboration with the students of WCSS as well as local residents through a community painting day. All submissions will be reviewed by a committee composed of project organizers from FOSP, WCSS, the 7G Foundation, Rockaway Hotel, NYC Parks and a community representative from Rockaway Artist Alliance. The selected artist will be awarded an artist fee of $10,000 in addition to a materials budget of up to $4,500.

This project is made possible by our funding partners The Rockaway Hotel, 7|G Foundation and a Citizens Committee for New York City grant awarded to FOSP.

//Dates//

June 1, 2020 // midnight submissions deadline

June 22, 2020 // selected artist announced

July 20, 2020 // final mural design deadline incorporating input by selection committee

Week off September 14, 2020 // student workshop at WCSS (final dates to be confirmed)

Week of September 21, 2020 // community painting day (final dates to be confirmed)

October 2, 2020 // mural completion deadline

Please be aware that due to the uncertainties over COVID-19 and school closings, dates are subject to change.

Artists Responsibilities:

• Coordinate painting schedule with school administration and NYC Parks through FOSP

• Procure all materials within the allotted budget. Any costs for additional assistants are the responsibility of the artist.

• Implement a Workshop Day with students of WCSS in collaboration with faculty

• Host a Community Painting Day in collaboration with FOSP Mural Guidelines:

• Design and implication is of a high level and excellence. All styles and artistic expressions are welcomed.

• Site images provided (See https://friendsofseasideplayground.blogspot.com/) however, artists are encouraged to visit the site.

• Mural should have a minimum coverage of approximately 3,000 sq. feet overall. (The total playground area is 23,000+ sq. feet.)

• Design should be uplifting, connective, inspiring and colorful.

• Interactive elements such as a sensory walk and/or play are highly encouraged.

• Suggested themes could include representations of community input as collected by FOSP (See Website), or inspiration from local natural habitats, i.e. bird migration, ocean habitat, flora and fauna.

• All mural applications must follow NYC Parks guidelines. Please review the following link to verify all NYC Parks guidelines are included in the submission: https://www.nycgovparks.org/art-and-antiquities/temporary-guidelines/murals.

Submission Eligibility and Requirements: Artists of all disciplines are encouraged to apply. Experience with mural paintings is preferred, although not required. Up to 3 concepts per submission will be accepted. Submissions should be emailed as a single PDF (max 10MB) to friendsofseasideplayground@gmail.com with the subject line formatted as follows: “Big Yard Mural Proposal - Artist name”.

• Preliminary color images or drawings of the proposed mural, showing placement and dimensions of mural. The enclosed floor plan of the site (See https://friendsofseasideplayground.blogspot.com/) can be used as template for proposed mural.

• One-page written proposal with project description addressing the mural title, overall concept and detailed plan for executing the mural and workshops.

• Up to ten images of the artist’s previous work. All images must be clearly labeled with the name of the artist, title of the work, media, and dimensions.

Questions should be directed to friendsofseasideplayground@gmail.com.