SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT (BART)
REQUEST for SUBMITTALS (RFS)
Artwork Licensing Opportunity
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: March 23, 2025 11:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time
This is an online application process, and the deadline will not be extended for incomplete applications.
BART Employees are not eligible to submit.
GEOGRAPHIC ELIGIBILITY: OPEN ONLY TO VISUAL ARTISTS CURRENTLY RESIDING IN THE FIVE BAY AREA COUNTIES SERVED BY BART: Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara.
All applicants must be age 18 or older on the day the call for submittals closes. Additionally, applicants must be U.S. citizens or have legal residency and working status in the United States at the date of application and this will be required at a future date if the artwork is requested for licensing. BART employees are not eligible to apply.
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS WILL BE LIMITED TO 400 APPLICANTS (not images). Please consider applying in advance of the deadline to ensure consideration.
Applications are available through Submittable , an online application system. There is no charge to applicants for using Submittable. If you are a first-time user of Submittable, please allow adequate time to learn the use of this system. We recommend completing applications at least 48 hours prior to the stated deadline.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
III BACKGROUND AND PROJECT SCOPE
IV PROJECT BUDGET – About Licensing
VII. BART’S RIGHT TO IMPLEMENT
IX. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS & PROCESS
- INTRODUCTION
Please read the entire Request for Submittals to familiarize yourself with the opportunity. This call for submissions will result in an image database that BART will retain for up to three years. There is no commitment for use of any submitted images by BART. Please refer to Section VII: BART’s Right to Implement for more information. You will not be submitting artwork for acquisition; BART is interested in artworks that it can license for various non-commercial uses.
- ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
This Request for Submissions is open only to artists who meet the minimum qualifications (see Section V) including that you are over the age of 18 on the date of submission deadline, and a resident of one of the five Bay Area Counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara) in which BART operates. All applicants must be U.S. citizens or have legal residency and working status in the United States at the date of application and for a period of approximately three years following submission in the event the artwork is selected for licensing.
Applications will be accepted only from artists whose work is being submitted in response to this call. Artists may submit artwork in which title (ownership) belongs to another party, as long as a) artwork owner will give consent if artwork needs to be loaned for digitization at a future time, or if the Artist already has a high-quality digital image of the original artwork, and b) Artist retained the right to license the artwork. No compensation will be provided for such a loan to BART by the artwork owner, and BART will not provide insurance for the artwork during the period artwork is loaned for such this process.
©Hood Design Studio
- BACKGROUND AND PROJECT SCOPE
From its opening in 1972, BART has captured the imagination of artists – and many artists have been featured throughout the system. Whether in-station public art, murals, or something more ephemeral, seeing the system through the eyes of creatives has always provided a unique and engaging perspective.
In 2021, Walter Hood (Hood Design Studios) in partnership with VIA Architecture developed for BART a conceptual framework for its new headquarters that explored a unique and expansive way to consider the system within the larger Bay Area. The concept aligns to the physical nature of stations (above and below ground, and at the surface), as well as to three “buckets” that capture a vast understanding of place: geology, ethnography, and geology.
We are looking for images not just of the trains, tracks, and stations – though we know we will receive beautiful ones - we want to see art that represents what makes BART the Bay, and how the Bay is home to BART – geographic, geologic, ethnographic. How do they intertwine? How has BART influenced you artistically?
BART is undertaking an effort to highlight even more art and artist by turning existing artwork into posters in the stations, art panels at the headquarters, and backdrops to poems by young poets for display on trains. The opportunities have yet to be explored – and once we see your art we know the ideas and opportunities will only expand.
While we know there have been stories, poems, songs and dances that fit into this dialogue, this Call is for visual arts only at this time.
Below are the initial projects we are considering that artwork submitted to the call will be licensed for:
Project Descriptions
Opportunity #1: BART Headquarters Art Panels
During the design of the new BART Headquarters, Oakland’s Hood Design Studio collaborated with the design team of VIA Architecture (now VIA – A Perkins Eastman Studio) and BART to create a concept for art and design in the headquarters that emerged from the three different BART station types: Underground, Street Level, and Elevated.
The three BART station types can be used to create a conceptual stratum, layering geological, social/cultural, and geographic perspectives on to the diverse regions which BART connects.
These strata are the story and thematic framework for a cohesive art integration in the new BART headquarters. When all three strata are combined, a robust regional and trans-regional BART identity emerges.
Each floor of the headquarters has an entry lobby with a gathering area that welcomes staff and visitors. The surrounding walls have been identified as an opportunity to feature artwork by local artists that relates to BART and its integration to the region. Locations to celebrates the uniqueness, geography, geology, and cultural beauty of the people and the nature found throughout the regions served by BART.
For this opportunity we will be looking to curate artworks that will be reprinted onto aluminum panels at larger sizes (e.g., 24 x 36”, 30” x 40”). BART will create a curatorial committee, including staff from the various departments within the building, to select the artworks for this opportunity.
Every artwork that is selected will receive an honorarium of $1000 to license the use of the artwork for this purpose, plus additional fees as necessary for the digitization of the artwork. BART will cover the cost to print the artwork on aluminum, frame and install. All decisions regarding printing size and method, frame styles, etc., will be the decision of BART. We expect these works would be on display for multiple years, though may be rotated throughout the building to provide variation for employees.
Opportunity #2: In station visual enhancements & advertising spaces (subject to availability)
As the BART system has evolved over time, many elements that were once delivered in displays cases no longer exist or have been moved to digital delivery. We have locations that we know would benefit from temporary placement of artwork to bring visual interest to the stations. BART will select pieces to reproduce as posters of varying sizes to place in the empty display cases.
Additionally, BART has various campaigns where artworks might help tell the story better than words where reproduction into advertising spaces (car cards and in station ad display locations). Again, the theme is as described above – there must be a connection for the artist between the work and the transit system – as defined by the artist. It is the open nature of the artists definition of the connection that will bring the most variety of community, culture, and environment to the program.
Every artwork that is selected will receive an honorarium of $200-$1,000 to license the use of the artwork for this purpose, plus additional fees as necessary for the digitization of the artwork. BART will cover the cost to print the artwork and install. All decisions including printing or digitization, duration of installation, locations for display will be the decision of BART. Artists will be consulted prior to any project execution regarding the project scope and compensation.
All artists selected to license artwork to BART will be required to enter into an agreement with BART. Artists will retain copyright and grant BART limited licensing rights.
- PROJECT BUDGET – About Licensing
Each project will have a different level of compensation, some are identified here, others will be determined in the future as the opportunities are developed. Compensation may include budget to have artwork digitized if it is not already available in the format required for a specific project. Additionally, artist may be asked to support review of samples and final designs for quality of alignment to original artwork.
Each project will require the artist to enter into a licensing agreement so you must own copyright and licensing rights to the artwork image you are submitting, and for the duration you would want to have the artwork considered for licensing in the event BART expresses interest of entering into a licensing agreement for the work at a future date. Licensing is a limited use of a reproduction of the artwork in a specific manner. Artist will retain copyright, and title to the original artwork will remain with whomever is the owner of the artwork or in the event artwork is sold in the future. BART will receive no ownership rights to the original artwork. As we will always contact the artist prior to initiating a project, if your rights have changed, you can notify us at that time.
- QUALIFICATIONS
Used to evaluate the submittals in the Artist Selection Process (Part VI of this RFS) are as follows:
This Request for Submittals is open only to artists residing, at the time of application deadline, in one of the five Bay Area counties served by BART (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara). All applicant artists must be U.S. citizens or have legal working status in the United States at the date of application.
BART employees are ineligible.
Applicants must demonstrate a history of activity as an artist. Dedicated amateur artists, as well as professional artists, are invited to submit an artwork for consideration if these qualifications are met:
- You are at least eighteen years old on the closing date of this Request for Submittals
- As an artist you are a) represented by a gallery or dealer, b) self-promote through your personal website and/or on social media, c) are an active member of a professional art guild, art association or society, d) exhibit your artwork publicly, actively participate at fairs or other public events, sell on online platforms. (demonstrated sales of artwork not required, more importantly the effort of consistent engagement of an art practice)
- If you are a student currently enrolled in college you may identify yourself as “student artist” if you are not actively engaging in selling your work at this time.
- Artwork is of appropriate artistic content for a broad and general audience that utilizes the BART transit system
Only artworks originally created in 2-D including those created physically in 2-D (e.g. paintings, drawings, prints, collage), or with the final outcome intended for 2-D (e.g. photos, digitally rendered artworks) will be considered. Artworks created in 3-D or time-based media will not be considered.
VI. ARTIST SELECTION PROCESS
1. Applications will be pre-screened by BART to ensure that applicants meet the Qualifications described in Section V of this RFQ, and that the applications are complete as described in Section IX.
2. If more than 150 applications are received, a subset of the selection panel comprised of 1-2 arts professional, and 2 BART representatives, will review the applications and will create a short list of a maximum of 75 artworks that will remain in the pool for future licensing opportunities. At any time during the review process, BART may make the decision to exceed the 75-short-list maximum.
Artist will not be compensated solely for being in this pool. Artist will only be compensated if they are contracted for a specific project.
The pre-screening panel will select artworks for the pool based on the following criteria:
- Artwork represents a high level of originality, workmanship, quality, and creativity.
- Artwork that fits the description of artwork being sought relative to location and alignment to BART as described above including artist’s statement of intent.
- Appropriateness to display to in BART offices or transit environments or station areas.
- Art displaying imagery that is inappropriate from a religious or cultural perspective, or art with sexual, pornographic, disturbing, gang-related, alcohol, smoking, obscenity, or including violent connotations will be rejected.
- Avoid content focused on car travel.
- Does not promote or feature a product or business or infringes on copyrighted material.
3. Selection of artworks for licensing for specific projects from the pool will be determine by the project manager based on the criteria of the project.
VII. BART’S RIGHT TO IMPLEMENT
BART reserves the right to implement the projects identified in this Request for Submittals. The issuance of this RFS is no guarantee that a project will be awarded. BART may also change the scope of the RFS at any time prior to the deadline. All changes to the RFS will be posted to RFS project description at www.bart.submittable.com, and all artists who have initiated or submitted applications at the time of the change will be informed of the change.
All opportunities will be verified with submitting artist prior to implementation for approval of intended use and acceptance of the licensing agreement and compensation.
VIII. PROJECT SCHEDULE
March 23, 2025 – Call for Submissions Closes
April 30, 2025 (or thereabouts) – Artists notified if any of their submittals have been accepted to the artwork pool
May 30, 2025 (or thereabouts) – Estimated date for notifications regarding BART Headquarters art opportunity #1.
IX. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS & PROCESS
DO NOT SUBMIT APPLICATIONS DIRECTLY TO BART.
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Submissions (described below) must be received as a complete application in Submittable no later than March 23, 2025 11:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time.
All materials will be submitted online, via the Submittable. There is no application fee to apply or to use the Submittable online application system. To view the application, go to www.bart.submittable.com, register a username and password, and search in Discover for public-art and find “BART Art Licensing Request for Submittals” under the March 23 deadline.
Please make sure you have started your application with time to ask questions, particularly if you have not used Submittable previously. Late and incomplete applications will not be accepted.
Assistance in using the Submittable system is available 24/7 via the online help center, or by emailing [email protected] (business hours).
REQUIRED APPLICATION MATERIALS
The application submission must include the information and materials described below, all of which are required to constitute a complete application.
1. Images of up to three (3) Artworks for consideration by BART for future licensing opportunities. Images should not be submitted at print quality resolution at this time. Please follow Submittable guidelines for artwork submissions.
2. Annotated image list: a list of the submitted images with descriptions that include title, year, dimensions (indicate “variable” if artwork is digitally created), medium, and whether the artwork is owned by you.
In addition to the descriptive information above, please write a short 2-3 sentences on how this artwork aligns for you to BART and the concepts discussed about how BART is the Bay. There will be space for you to do this in the application.
e.g.:
Title: Moonrise Over the Mt. Diablo, 2022
Dimensions: Variable
Medium: Photography
About: This photo was taken from the Walnut Creek BART platform during a brief period when Mt. Diablo had snow for several days. It displays the intersection of BART and the natural beauty that is found in the Bay Area.
3. Resume (300-word maximum): Include a current resume that outlines your professional accomplishments as an artist. If you don’t have an artist’s resume, please indicate in a short paragraph how you are pursuing and sharing your art (social media, fairs and events, classes, etc.).
BART reserves the right to reject any or all applications and to modify or terminate the application process or the selection process for any reason and without prior notice.
X. CONTACT INFORMATION
Questions about the RFS must be sent to Jennifer Easton at: [email protected] not later than 5:00 p.m. PDT on March 19, 2025. Please use “Artwork RFS” in the subject heading of your email.
Responses to all inquiries and any addenda will be posted via Submittable to artists who have initiated or submitted applications prior to the due date. Questions & answers will also be posted at www.bart.gov/art.
ALL REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION MUST BE VIA EMAIL AS INDICATED ABOVE. BART WILL NOT ACCEPT PHONE INQUIRIES