Calling all artists! LAND Studio is seeking 25 local, national and international artists to create works inspired by Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winners that will be installed on windows of 25 Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) train cars.
It’s phase II of the Inter|Urban Art & Culture Connector project that we helped to launch – along with LAND Studio, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, the RTA and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards – ahead of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. The goal of Inter|Urban is to create a city-wide experience that connects public transit riders physically, socially and culturally. Phase I included a series of large-scale artist-designed murals, installations and experiences along the RTA’s Red Line. Learn more about Inter|Urban in this video:
INTER|URBAN from LAND studio on Vimeo.
The Next Chapter
Phase II of Inter|Urban will bring art into the train cars, giving riders time and space to sit with the art and think about the connections to the Anisfield-Wolf canon. Participating artists will be asked to respond to five passages from the works of Anisfield-Wolf Award-winning authors including:
- “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” by Langston Hughes
- “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration,” by Isabel Wilkerson
- “The Fortunes,” by Peter Ho Davies
- “Far From the Tree,” by Andrew Solomon
- “The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle,” by Lillian Faderman
In total, there will be 25 responses – one from each of the Inter|Urban artists – to the five passages. Artists selected for the project will each receive $1,500 to create designs capable of being digitized, printed on vinyl and affixed to the windows of a rapid transit car. LAND plans to select roughly half of the artists from Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, and the format of the installation on the train windows means there will be fewer professional and logistical requirements for artists, compared to the large-scale mural project in the first iteration of Inter|Urban.
How to Apply
To be considered, artists must submit portfolios of previous work to LAND Studio by 5 p.m. on April 30. Artists can apply through the competition’s online portal here, or by contacting LAND Studio’s Joe Lanzilotta at info@land-studio.org with the subject line: INTER|URBAN RFP.
We’re thrilled to continue our support for Inter|Urban with $185,000 in funding for this second phase. We look forward to seeing the work of the artists selected for this exciting project!
