Call for Proposals: Outside the Box

The City of Toronto invites local area artists to submit proposals to create works of art on City traffic signal boxes throughout Toronto. There are over 2,200 traffic signal boxes located across Toronto at signalized intersections. These boxes are often covered with posters and are a prime target for graffiti vandalism.

The Outside the Box public art initiative helps to bring diverse and interesting public art to neighbourhoods, reduces the impact of graffiti vandalism and postering, contributes to the vitality and attractiveness of the streetscape, helps to beautify City infrastructure and streets, and supports local and emerging artists.

Artwork on traffic signal boxes functions as a form of communication to a passer-by with the goal to create a vibrant, inclusive and interesting urban environment. Successful proposals will be innovative in design, foster community pride, counteract graffiti vandalism and contribute to a sense of identity for residents and businesses.

The Outside the Box program is an initiative of the City of Toronto's Transportation Services Division. Since it was launched in 2013, over 295 boxes have been hand-painted by local artists.

ARTIST FEE

Selected artists will receive a fee of a $750 (honorarium and materials including HST) for each completed traffic signal box and licencing rights that will enable the City to reproduce the final design for promotional purposes.

Deadline: Monday, April 8th, 5pm EST

Call for Submissions: Life on the Line →

Life on the Line is a public art project produced by twentytwenty arts that will utilize the platform of subway advertising to exhibit submission-based artwork that reflects on the experience of mental illness. 

Prints of the artwork displayed on the "Life on the Line" campaign will be available for purchase on the TTC shop website, where artists will be paid 20% for each poster sold, and the remaining 80% will be donated to the CMHA Toronto.

Deadline: October 15th 2018.

Please send your submission to megan@twentytwentyarts.com with the following:

• Send as a .jpeg;
• If selected, images will need to be CMYK and .tif or .eps for final printing (all selected posters will be printed in a 28” x 20” format);
• Subject line in e-mail “Life on the Line" – (your name), (the date);
• Please include in your e-mail: Contact information (full name and phone number), any social media links (website, Instagram, Facebook, etc.), and a brief description of why mental health is important to you.

Call for Artists - The Living City - Deadline August 7

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), in collaboration with Crazy Dames and Evergreen, invites emerging, mid-career and established artists or artist collectives to propose new works for an art exhibit entitled ‘The Living City’.

Artworks will focus on the themes identified in The Living City Report Card – carbon, air quality, water, waste, land use and biodiversity. The report card is a progress report on environmental sustainability in the Toronto region and answers three important questions: How are we doing? Where have we excelled? On what issues do we need to work even harder?

Selected artists will be matched with an environmental expert who has worked on The Living City Report Card to learn about their research prior to the creation of the work, with the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration. Seven artworks will be commissioned in total. 

Toronto Public Art Information Sessions

Are you an artist contemplating a move into public art? A visual arts professional wanting to understand more about how public art is commissioned in Toronto?

The City of Toronto’s Public Art Office is hosting information sessions to:

• Provide tips and tricks for applying to open calls for City-led public art projects;
• Explain what could be involved in taking your art practice into the public realm; and
• Connect you to additional public art resources.

Join us on the dates below to engage with the City of Toronto’s public art officers to explore how to take your practice into the public realm. The sessions will include information about how the City commissions public art, and how to effectively respond to open calls.

Talks will also include a case study of an upcoming public art commission so participants can brainstorm ideas and hear real world examples about how a public art project becomes reality.

Coffee and light refreshments provided!