Photos of Durham, NC from left to right: Evening Panorama of the American Tobacco Historic District; the Carolina Theater in City Center; Durham Central Park containing the Liberty Warehouse and Liberty Arts Foundry; Jaume Plensa, Artist, “Sleep No More,” light bridge to the sky with text, adjacent to the Durham Performing Arts Center Project: The Durham Arts Council (DAC), in collaboration with the North Carolina Arts Council (N.C. Arts Council) is seeking a 2-3 person artist-led team to create a plan and future vision for multi-disciplinary artworks that enhance the arts & entertainment corridor of Blackwell-Corcoran-Foster Streets in downtown Durham, NC. The goal of the project is to activate and enhance pedestrian and visitor experiences and increase visitorship and economic vitality along the corridor. The corridor will serve as the central spine or hub of cultural amenities in the downtown, with later connections to Duke University and the Nasher Museum of Art to the west and Golden Belt and the Hayti Heritage Center to the east. Background: The Blackwell – Corcoran – Foster St. Corridor cuts through the center of Downtown Durham from south to north, and is wonderfully rich in arts, sports and entertainment venues. The corridor slices through the city’s historic beginnings and more modern evolution - from the reinvented American Tobacco Historic District with arts & entertainment venues, the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) to the core City Center business district where the Carolina Theatre, Convention Center and Durham Arts Council are located, continuing to the Durham Central Park District, containing Liberty Arts Foundry and the Durham Farmers Market, with more galleries, restaurants, music and theatre organizations. The corridor actually extends “From Ball Park to Ball Park,” referring to the new Durham Bulls Athletic Park at the southern end and the smaller historic Durham Athletic Park at the north, where the iconic movie “Bull Durham” was filmed. In addition, significant creative enterprises (music venues, brew pubs, restaurants, conceptual theatre space) continue to develop on side streets off the corridor particularly within the north-most Foster Street segment. The corridor embodies Durham’s tobacco legacy. For nearly a century, Durham led the nation and the world in the manufacture of products made from tobacco, the region’s primary cash crop. Liberty Warehouse, at the northern gateway of the corridor, is the last standing tobacco auction house in the city. Tobacco sold at Liberty and other warehouses did not need to travel far for processing at sites such as the American Tobacco factory at the corridor’s southern gateway. By 1900, American Tobacco and its related entities controlled nearly 90% of the world's tobacco distribution.

Invitational RFQ

Durham SmART Initiative Arts-Driven Economic Development

March 2014

 

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With tobacco fueling the growing city’s economic engine, employment opportunities drew many rural blacks to Durham, and the African American communities flourished through the mid-20th century. The yearly tobacco auction market brought an influx of lively business to the tobacco district as well as itinerant black and white musicians. The musicians including Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Terry, and Bull City Red gathered crowds on street corners and passed the hat. Durham owes its reputation as a center for the Piedmont blues tradition to both the annual market festivities and to the growing population of African Americans working in the district’s tobacco factories and nearby businesses. The corridor is transected by Parrish Street, the hub of African American business activity in the early twentieth century. North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, the nation’s largest black-owned insurance company, the Mechanics and Farmers Bank and other African American-owned businesses located in the district known as “Black Wall Street.’ With a nod to that history, Downtown Durham is undergoing an unprecedented surge of private development along and adjacent to the corridor that will completely transform the scale, urban economics, resident population, visitor experiences and overall identity of the city by 2016. NCAC, recognizing the impact of Durham’s existing artistic, cultural, and historic assets and future needs, awarded DAC a planning grant in late 2012 as part of N.C. Arts Council’s SmART Initiative. This RFQ builds on the 2012 work of the Durham City - County Planning Department and the Urban Design Studio that examined these issues and examined the potential role of public art in corridor vitalization. The DAC SmART Initiative effort in 2013 extended that work with additional community participation by municipal economic development and planning staff and arts organization stakeholders focused on the corridor to assess the needs and envision future changes. Following extensive public engagement, a smaller Planning Team has been convened to continue the process, focus on the artistic, cultural, and historic assets along the corridor, and strategize for the phasing and funding of a shared future vision. Community partners in Durham’s SmART Initiative include Durham Arts Council (lead agency), City of Durham Office of Economic & Workforce Development, Durham City Manager, City of Durham Transportation Dept., Triangle Transit, Durham Cultural Advisory Board, Durham Public Art Committee, Bull City Connector, Durham City - County Planning Dept., Downtown Durham Inc., Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau, Duke University, North Carolina Central University, Durham Central Park, Durham Area Designers Group, Museum of Durham History, American Tobacco District, Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham Bulls, Golden Belt, Scrap Exchange, Hayti Heritage Center, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and Carolina Theatre. Urban Design Context and Considerations: The urban fabric within the three segments along the south to north corridor contrasts sharply, and much of the historic architecture has been preserved and repurposed providing a rich visual experience for pedestrians. An active railroad crossing at Blackwell St., extending to the east and the west, separates the American Tobacco District from the City Center and is often seen as a barrier. Significant attention by public and private partners and community stakeholders has been directed toward improving and enlivening the visual appearance and encouraging pedestrians and visitors to continue across the railroad tracks into the City Center and its varied and creative establishments. Current private development in City Center includes the 21c Hotel at Main and Corcoran Sts., a conversion of the existing SunTrust art deco tower that will include a contemporary art museum. Immediately east and across the street will be The Whitney, a 26 story mixed-use tower by Austin Lawrence on the former Woolworth site, now in the planning stage. In Durham Central Park, the historic Liberty Warehouse is being redeveloped as mixed use/apartments and will

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greatly increase the vibrancy of this district. Other properties are changing ownership at this time. As Durham rises in scale, changing the overall environment of the corridor, the pedestrian experience requires a renewed vision for the future, to highlight and reinforce more fully the arts and entertainment destinations. Artistic considerations include south to north linkages and connectivity, future wayfinding solutions, lighting, both functional and decorative, activated gathering spaces and public art opportunities. In addition, the team may examine existing city/county regulations and guidelines that limit creatively rethinking the corridor and that may need to be modified. Invitational Process: This is an invitation to you and/or your design team to apply. Artists and designers of various disciplines and media are being solicited to submit qualifications for review. Previous planning experience is required involving public art and design in urban settings, wayfinding systems, landscape and streetscape design and urban redevelopment. Eligibility: Applicants must be age 18 or older, and are eligible regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, military status, sexual orientation, marital status, or physical disability. Selection Criteria: 1. Excellence and innovation of past professional experience including planning involving public art and design in urban settings and/or wayfinding systems and redevelopment projects in cultural, educational, historic or tourist districts; 2. Team versatility and compatibility. Inclusion of local team members encouraged. Disciplines may include public artists versed in various media, knowledgeable in two or three-dimensional work, light or other digital applications; landscape architects or architects experienced in streetscape/corridor planning or redevelopment. 3. The Selection Committee will review all material properly submitted. Finalists will be selected based upon the competitiveness of the applicants’ qualifications. The commissioned artist/ design team will be determined based upon the application and interview by the committee. The Selection Committee is comprised of leadership representatives from the Durham Arts Council, the City Manager’s Office, the City - County Planning Department, and key executives or stakeholders along the corridor. The committee will review the RFQ applicants and invite 2 – 3 to create and present proposals as to how they would approach the planning and visioning task either in person or by teleconference. A $1,500 honorarium will be paid to interviewed teams. RFQ Submission Due: Friday, May 2, 2014 by 5:00 p.m. ET Submittals: Applications must be submitted on-line using CAllForEntry.org (CaFÉ system). Materials must include a letter of interest, professional resume of artist or design team, and 8-10 visual images of related art or design projects with descriptive text. Note Project Title: Durham SmART Initiative – Durham Arts Council, Durham NC Timeline: Committee Review: May 15 – May 30, 2014 Finalist Interviews: June 1 – June 15, 2014 Budget: $25,000 - $40,000

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