Are you an artist? Mobilize the Magic City Wants You in Billings!

Release From the City of Billings Planning and Community Services Division, edited by Josh Rath:

The City of Billings Planning and Community Services Department now has a Call for Artists open for a contract with an artist-in-residence (AIR) or pair of artists-in-residences.

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The selected artist will work with the Mobilize the MAGIC (Making Art Grounded in Community) City project. This opportunity has been made possible by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. Through the Mobilize the MAGIC City project, AIR will be tasked with advancing the City’s goals including creating a robust and creative public engagement process, promoting economic vitality, beautifying the built environment, and improving safety.

The ideal candidate has experience in community engagement, project coordination, and public art. The AIR position will span one year. At the conclusion of this project, the AIR will have created the following: - a minimum of two placemaking hubs along Billings’ first bikeway, - a feasibility study for a public arts commission, - and a placemaking playbook documenting the successful processes used.

The exact form of creative placemaking hubs will be decided collaboratively with residents. Examples of potential placemaking hubs could include street art, a neighborhood gathering space, or a sidewalk stamped with poetry.

Non-profit Smart Growth America describes creative placemaking on their website: “creative placemaking refers to the process in which ‘partners from public, private, non-profit, and community sectors strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, city, or region around arts and cultural activities.’

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Creative placemaking advocates believe that community development projects benefit from the participation of artists at the onset of projects, and on the planning and design teams that shape our communities.”

Interested artists can learn more and download the Call for Artists (Bid Packet) at https://www.billingsmt.gov/bids.aspx?bidID=1109. Applications will be accepted until November 28, 2022, at 5 pm MT.

To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov