City of San Luis Obispo, CA
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Welcome to the Public Art Box Art Program
2024 Box Art
Fall 2024 Timeline
- Application Deadline: September 30, 2024, 5:00 p.m. PST
- Art Jury Review & Selection: October 15, 2024
- Community Development Director Approval: Mid-October 2024
- Artist Selection Announcement: Late-October 2024
- Installation of Artwork: November 2024
Program Process
RFP Released: A Request for Proposal is released outlining the requirements of the design request. The RFP can remain open for many weeks, with deadlines commonly extended.
RFP Closes: The RFP for the Summer 2024 Box Art Expansion round ran for 7 weeks, including one, 2-week deadline extension. A jury of 6 community members including local arts orgs, local artist(s), interested community member(s), and other city stakeholders is complied.
Art Jury Meets: In the weeks after the RFP closes, the submissions are sorted and labeled with random ID numbers. An art jury gathers and selects the finalists to be recommended to the Community Development Director.
Community Development Director Review: The Community Development Director reviews the recommended finalists and either approves or denies the designs. They are looking for any significant engineering or maintenance issues that may arise out of the placement of art
Artists Notified: The 11 finalists are notified and awarded an honorarium for their design. This year's artists will be paid $800 per design chosen. The same artist can be chosen for multiple boxes with multiple designs. Contracts are signed during this time.
Application of Art: In past expansion round years, artists would then paint their design directly on the boxes. This year the artist’s designs will be turned into vinyl wraps and installed by a local company. This is first year we have been able to accept art of all media and welcome artists of all abilities.
About the Box Art Program
SLO Box Art is a streetscape showcase for talented local artists, students, and community members to transform standard utility boxes into new public artworks, adding to the vibrancy of our cityscape while creating a sense of place and identity.
Utility boxes throughout our community have been serving as “canvases” for original art pieces since 2010 as part of the City’s Downtown Maintenance and Beautification project. Initially conceived as a graffiti abatement measure in the Downtown core, widespread popularity of the Box Art Program quickly grew and enabled the pilot program to expand.
The Box Art project is a great opportunity for “SLOcals” to add their personal touches to the City’s public art collection and community members of all ages are encouraged to submit a design during one of the two annual Requests for Proposals.
2010 – Launched in 2010, the Utility Box Art pilot project was part of San Luis Obispo's Downtown Maintenance and Beautification initiative, initially aimed at graffiti abatement on high-visibility utility boxes.
2012 – Supported by the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association and Arts Obispo, popularity led to the program's expansion enhancing the cityscape and fostering the community’s identity.
2015 – Officially adopted into the City's Public Art policy in 2015, the SLO Box Art Program became a regular, ongoing public art program with planned expansion rounds and expected rotation of artworks that serve as a temporary canvas through which artists and community members can express themselves and their identities. Boxes are repainted every 3-10 years depending upon the location, maintenance needs and rotation schedule. Currently there are 65 painted utility boxes in the SLO Box Art collection.
2016 – Further updates to the program in 2016 addressed maintenance procedures, program expansion, artwork lifespan, and archival methods for the murals. Thirteen works of art were cleaned and touched up bringing a true vibrancy to SLO.
2018 – 18 new painted utility boxes popped up all over town. Meet the Artist programming occurred during the days the artists were actively painting. Families could stop by and see the process in action.
2019 – One large lift station was commissioned in 2019, and it was the last box added to the collection. After nine years and four expansion rounds, the total number of box art pieces is 65.