THE PROPOSAL

Biographical Notes & Resume

These should be provided in detail outlining your past achievements in a resume format. It is crucial to present your material in a professional manner. The important thing to remember is that projects of this nature are often large in scale and require responsibility and commitment. The jury needs to know that you are not only capable and professional, but also responsible.

Resumes should include contact information, including telephone numbers, email and your mailing address. Education, training, certification and career history will help provide a sense of your understanding, experience, and capabilities for your proposed project. Some individuals might focus more on experience, or on the presentation of your information more so than on the actual concept of the proposal. A more personal touch, to show your credibility, would be to submit a cover letter with your resume explaining your background, interests, reason for particular interest in such a project, and perhaps why you are the one for the job.

Documentation of Past Work

The next stage is to provide slides and images of previous work. Showing your finished work is asimportant as the biographical information, resume, and concept. Some judges may analyze more visually, and a proven track record is one of your best assets. If you do not have any Public Art images, you may want to include images of maquettes or models that you have made instead. Documentation of previous work can act as a sort of resume, much like a portfolio. The slides or images should be dated, and placed in chronological order for easy viewing. Choosing images that clearly document the work will help to avoid having to describe the works in lengthy written statements. Works should be choosen for their relevance to your proposal, by material, scale, function, etc.

Concept Development

After presenting your history through bio-information, and slides of previous works, the concept description should follow. Describing your concept in an articulate manner, by expressing the purpose and/or function of the work, once again demonstrating a certain level of professionalism is important. Any reasoning for choices made about the design, scale, colour, function, etc, should be explained in detail, commenting on the characteristics of your work. Referencing other works to describe certain areas or comparing components is not a bad idea either. Illustrating your project with the help of other fairly well-known pieces might help the committee/group visualize the structure better. Your write-up should also refer to slides, sketches, and drafts of the concept that are provided with the proposal.

Sketches or drafts are optional and should depict your concept accurately, and be drawn to scale. The usual practice is to demonstrate the top (plan view), side/front (section view), and foundations (if applicable) of the structure outlining the materials and dimensions of the work. A fair knowledge about the work should be apparent from the draft productions alone. Although drafts are usually quite restrictive, colour can be used to emphasize material, or structural aspects.

Sketches are the area in which artistic initiatives can be taken. It would be desirable to show the work in the environment in which it will be placed. It is recommended that good quality sketches show colours, rendering, and modelling to create an impressive sense of the art work. Sketches also sometimes show figures in relation to the proposed art work. The human figure gives, roughly, a sense of scale and helps to clarify how the public interacts with the work. Photographs of the surroundings can be enlarged and then traced to give a sense of context to your piece. If you have access to Photoshop, you can digitally insert your concept into a photo or simply use a transparency with your sketch on it over a photo of the site. Do not hesitate to use coloured papers or mixed materials for the sketches. The more carefully considered it looks, the greater chances of success.

Finally, slides can be used to present images of the concept. Models can be built, although they are not usually required until the second stage of the selection. Models should be built to scale, and usually imitate the environment's buildings, trees, streets, gardens, etc. Revealing that you have constructed a model before you actually need to in preparation for your concept is a great indicator of confidence and seriousness. It also adds a realistic quality to your proposal.

Now that all these aspects have been considered, another question remains. It is an important one for many of the judges: how are you handling the budget? Regarding the first stage of the proposal, the budget does not need to be totally accurate, or even highly specific. A general budget will do. Remember that you are expected to allocate all of the offered budget funds towards the project and this includes all associated costs. There is some research to be done. There are many components to even a general budget. Showing that you understand how the financial component of the project works is very important. Most budgets require that you deduct the tax immediately from from your overall funding. Of course the amount is subject to change from province to province. In New Brunswick, 15% tax would usually be deducted from the total amount before fund allocation can begin. Consider and plan for your own artist fee - 20% to 25% is standard - after the tax deduction. The remainder must be thoughtfully allotted for expenditures such as consultancy fees, drafting fees, contractor fees, electrician, installation, workers compensation fees, insurance liability fees, etc. The following example shows some of the typical expendituresin a budget.