Request for Proposals:
Newton BoxART
A Juried Public Art Project
The City of Newton through its Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs, the Department of Public Works
Environmental Affairs Division, Newton Community Pride and Newton Open Studios, invites artists to
participate in this public art project according to the specifications and instructions in this CFA.
Mission:
Newton seeks to bring quality art of interest and/or beauty to its’ public spaces. We seek to enrich the
lives of Newton residents by allowing fine art to intersect with every-day life through its character, culture
and history.
Summary
The BoxART Program places artwork from Newton artists on the city's traffic control boxes. Artists may
submit jpegs of work in any media, including but not limited to photography, painting, quilting, collage, and
photos of sculpture. Accepted works will be applied as commercial signage wraps to the traffic control
boxes. A jury team of professional artists (with oversight from City of Newton officials) will make the
selection of art. This will be an ongoing project, with multiple calls for artists.
First Round Submittal Deadline: September 10, 2013
A sample wrapped traffic control box is on view for inspection at Commonwealth Ave and Chestnut
Street. Note that artist attribution has not yet been added to this box.
Details
Newton artists are invited to submit jpegs of work in any media, including but not limited to photography,
painting, quilting, collage, and photos of sculpture. The work may have been originally created for any
purpose (though we will be happy to consider work created specifically for wrapping a traffic control box).
We encourage artists to submit their best work.
A jury of professional artists assembled by Newton Open Studios will choose from submitted images,
with oversight from the City of Newton. Works selected by the jury will be applied to traffic control boxes
as commercial signage wraps.
Understandings: While the city hopes to have each wrap on exhibit for 1 to 3 years or more. No
guarantees are made as to the length of time the art-wrap will be exhibited on the traffic control
box, as the boxes may require upgrading or replacing at any time. The City has the right to remove the
art-wrap at any time. The City has the right to use accepted images for publicity or other uses relating to
the BoxART project, both in print and online.
Artists MAY request that a particular work be placed at a specific location (for instance, if it is thematically
relevant to the location) – this will be taken into consideration, but no guarantees are made. The City
of Newton will make the final determination and order for the all traffic control box sites. BoxART will be
an ongoing project, with multiple calls for artists.
Timeline for FIRST Round of Submissions:
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Deadline for submissions: September 10, 2013.
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Selected artists contacted by October 1 2013.
BoxART Submission Details, page
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Guidlines:

There is no fee.
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Artist must be a Newton artist, defined as ONE of the following:
1. Lives in Newton,
2. Works in Newton or is actively involved in Newton civic life,
3. Creates art in Newton (generally defined to mean currently taking art classes in Newton)

Artists may submit up to 3 images, by September 10, 2013.

Submitted jpegs should be under 2 meg, and at least 1200 pixels in one direction. These files are
for judging purposes only.

Please note that Submitted Jpegs will need to be AVAILABLE as much higher-resolution files if they
are accepted, in order to create the wraps. See below for details.
Positioning of Artwork on the Signal box
Figure 1 shows size of standard traffic control box (but this could vary) and suggested layouts for artwork.
Artists may submit:

artwork intended for a single side

artwork intended to cover 3 sides of a traffic control box

artwork intended to cover all 4 sides of a traffic control box.
Please specify the number of sides your submission is intended to cover.
Artwork need not be the exact ratio of height to width as the traffic control box sides. Work may be
cropped to fit by the artist, or may simply cover MOST of the surface, with a fill color added either by the
artist or suggested by the box art team. File sizes below would include that fill area.
If the artist does not specify preferred traffic control box layout, the box art team will suggest a positioning
or cropping, for the artist to approve. The team may also suggest alternatives to artist-layout. No artwork
will be cropped or repositioned without the artist’s permission.
Attributions:
Artist name and website (or other preferred contact info) will be included at the bottom of the traffic control
box by the signage team. Other than any small signature that may be on the ORIGINAL artwork, please
leave attribution to the signage team.
File Sizes that will be Needed if Work is Accepted
Remember that if artwork is accepted, it will need to be available in High Resolution sizes.
Below are recommended pixels amounts for the 3 placement options. Accepted artists who do not have
high enough resolution images may consult with our signage team or other digital specialist, about
up-sizing a file, or creating a high-res scan of their work.
A: 1 side = minimum of 8,400 pix height by 6,600 width
B: 3 sides = minimum of 8,400 pix height by 14,400
C: 4 sides = minimum of 8,400 pix height by 21,000 width
Artist Benefits:


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Artist name and website (or other preferred contact info) will be included at the bottom of the
traffic control box by the signage team.
Notable mention of all accepted artists in media information relating to this project.
Information will be on the web, linked to the City of Newton’s website – including artist name,
artwork title, and photos of the artwork. It may also appear on printed promotional material for the
City of Newton and Newton Community Pride.
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HOW TO SUBMIT:
Submit jpegs by email with a subject line of “Newton Box Art Submission” to
submission@newtonopenstudios.org
Submission Checklist:

In the body of the email, include your street address if you are a Newton resident, or specifics of
your Newton connection.

Include image list with image number, names of the images and preferred box layout, (see figure
1 below)

submit up to 3 images. Each image should be under 2 meg, and at least 1200 pixels in one
direction.

Please use artist last name and image number (1, 2 or 3) as the title of the images:
for instance:
VanGogh_1.jpg

Be SURE to select “Actual Size” when you attach your images – most email programs have
options that automatically reduce the size if you do not specify “actual size”.
Submissions will receive an acknowledgement email reply. If you do not receive an acknowledgement
email, please send an inquiry email WITHOUT jpegs attached, so we can diagnose why the email failed
to reach us.
Figure 1: Traffic Control Box Specifications
BoxART Committee
Chair:
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Ellen Fisher, Newton Open Studios
Linda Plaut: Director, Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs
Elaine Gentile: Director, Environmental Affairs, Department of Public Works
Ruth Barnett, Newton Community Pride, President
Ana Gonzalez: Director of Community Relations, Executive Department
Board of Alderman member(s)
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