Legacy Park Fitness Court RFQ Released

Arts Huntsville, in cooperation with the City of Huntsville Parks and Recreation, has released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for local artists to produce artwork for a Fitness Court to be installed at Legacy Park. The selected local artist’s work will be one of four fitness-based public art installations to become a part of Huntsville’s landscape thanks to a partnership between the City of Huntsville, Arts Huntsville and the National Fitness Campaign (NFC).

Two of the Fitness Courts will feature vinyl appliqués of limited-edition artwork by late renowned artists Keith Haring (John Hunt Park) and Jean-Michel Basquiat (Apollo Park). Local artists may now apply to the Huntsville Public Art Program to compete to design one of the two additional Fitness Court installations, supported in part by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama.

This initial Legacy Park RFQ process will select up to three semifinalists. Each semifinalist will receive a sketch fee to submit proposals for artwork to be digitally printed on the Fitness Court’s vinyl wrap. The final artwork may be either digital art or a high-resolution image of work produced in another 2D media. The selected artist will receive a commission of $5,000 to produce the site-specific final artwork. The Legacy Park Fitness Court is scheduled to be installed in spring of 2023 and will also include an artist bio and photo printed on the vinyl wrap.

Image courtesy of National Fitness Campaign. Art by Crisselle Mendiola of Santa Ana, California, at Lillie King Park.

“This is a unique public art opportunity that is inclusive of artists that typically work digitally or at smaller scales,” said Arts Huntsville Public Art Program Manager Jennifer Johnson. “It’s also a great entry-level opportunity for artists working in any 2D medium at any scale that would like to bring their art into the public arena.”

Artists must be 18 years of age and reside within the Arts Huntsville service area. Interested local artists can read the full RFQ and begin the application process at  https://artshuntsville.slideroom.com/. The deadline for submissions is October 9th, 2022. A second RFQ seeking artists to create work for the Fitness Court at California Street Park will be released at a later date.

A video orientation for interested artists will be released in early September 2022 on the Arts Huntsville YouTube Channel. Questions can be directed to Arts Huntsville Public Art Program Manager Jennifer Johnson at [email protected].