August 2, 2018

ARTBOX Call for Art: Submit your Design for a Utility Box Wrap

Bloomington, MN—The City of Bloomington’s Creative Placemaking Commission in partnership with Artistry seeks proposed designs for transforming two common utility boxes in South Loop into creative, exciting, and appealing objects of art that enhance the district’s character and vitality.

The call for art is open to artists and non-artists working in any medium (painters, photographers, collage artists, mosaic artists, quilters, poets, etc.) who are residents of Minnesota with preference given to those living or working in Bloomington or South Loop. The selected design will be printed on a vinyl wrap which is adhered to the utility boxes by a vendor.

Artbox designs are intended to inspire an emotional connection in viewers and will be visible and “readable” to people passing by on bikes, on foot, and in cars. Designs should play with the three-dimensional rectangular shape of the box, respond to the specific location, or reflect on the past, present or future of the South Loop in order to create a more distinct sense of place and foster community pride.

As many other communities have discovered, transforming utility boxes into vehicles for artistic expression has produced several benefits: beautifying neighborhoods, reducing graffiti, and creating elements of surprise and delight.

Identified utility boxes are located in Bloomington’s South Loop District at the following intersections:

• American Boulevard and Thunderbird Road
• Lindau Lane and 24th Avenue

Applications are due August 31, 2018. Selected applicants/designs will receive a $1,000.00 honorarium.

To view the application and guidelines, please visit blm.mn/placemaking, or contact 952-563-8744 or apelinka@bloomingtonmn.gov.

About the South Loop District

South Loop is a rapidly developing neighborhood in Bloomington, which is adjacent to Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, and home to Mall of America, Bloomington Central Station and the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. By 2020, on a typical day South Loop there will be 6,000 residents, 9,000 hotel guests, 35,000 employees and 115,000 Mall of America visitors. For more information, visit bloomingtonmn.gov/development-districts/south-loop-district.

About Creative Placemaking

The City of Bloomington in partnership with Artistry are working together to build a sense of community in Bloomington’s South Loop through creative placemaking. Creative placemaking leverages the arts to help shape and revitalize the physical, social, and economic character of neighborhoods, cities and towns, making use of their existing human, physical, social, and economic assets. Creative placemaking engages stakeholders, artists, and others in building social fabric and local economies while making physical place-based improvements. It highlights the distinctive character and creative and cultural resources of each place. For more information, visit blm.mn/placemaking.

About Artistry

Artistry is an independent theater and visual arts nonprofit that serves a regional audience of more than 94,000 people annually. In pursuit of artistic excellence, Artistry engages the region’s most talented artists in work that welcomes and develops audiences and opens hearts and minds.

Artistry’s vision is a diverse, distinctive, and progressive community widely recognized for making art and artists essential to a vibrant social fabric and civic life.

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Staff contact

Alejandra Pelinka
Creative Placemaking Director
952-563-8744
apelinka@BloomingtonMN.gov

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