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Background
The Public Art Challenge, launched in 2014, engages mayors of U.S. cities to collaborate with artists and arts organizations to develop temporary public art projects that address significant local civic issues, engage communities, catalyze economic development, and enhance the quality of life.
After receiving applications from 154 cities across 40 states, the eight cities selected as winners for the third Public Art Challenge were announced in the fall of 2023: Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Honolulu, Hawaii; Houston, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; and Salt Lake City, Utah. More information on the Public Art Challenge and the third-round winning projects can be found at: https://publicartchallenge.bloomberg.org/
This request for proposals is concerned with the third Public Art Challenge and local evaluation of the winning project, Wake the Great Salt Lake, by Utah’s capital city, Salt Lake City. Throughout 2024 and 2025, temporary public artworks will take place throughout the city, addressing the drying of the Great Salt Lake through an artistic lens. This critical issue is being addressed from many different angles by people with very diverse perspectives, and the Salt Lake City Arts Council intends to engage a very broad range of stakeholders, including artists, arts organizations, educational institutions and students, indigenous communities, governments, researchers, ecologists, and more.
The evaluation context
In addition to a local evaluation, Bloomberg Philanthropies has commissioned BOP Consulting to serve as the program’s national evaluator to support cross-site data collection, reporting, and insights.
As such, the evaluation is composed of two elements, aiming to provide evidence of impact at both the local and national/program levels:
- A local evaluation – led by the local evaluator focusing on developing an approach for Wake the Great Salt Lake data collection, analysis and reporting. This request for proposal seeks out to select the local evaluator.
- A nationwide evaluation – led by BOP Consulting, the nationwide program level evaluator, focusing on collating standard program-wide data points applicable to all projects. The local evaluator is expected to support BOP Consulting with 1) the submission of monitoring information dashboards (provided by BOP Consulting); 2) participation in nationwide research i.e., surveys and interviews.
Past evaluations produced as part of the Public Art Challenge can be found at: https://publicartchallenge.bloomberg.org/evaluations/
The Opportunity
Salt Lake City is looking for an evaluator to capture the impact of the Public Art Challenge project. Working in close partnership with Salt Lake City, and collaborating with BOP Consulting and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the evaluator will lead on local data collection for both quantitative and qualitative measures seeking to understand the impact of Wake the Great Salt Lake on, but not limited to, the following areas:
- Civic issues being addressed
- Citizen engagement
- Civic pride and community development
- Government collaboration and public-private partnerships
- Public art knowledge and appreciation
- Local arts and culture ecosystem
- Economic benefits
- Press and social media
Though there is an existing set of key measures and indicators for monitoring and measuring impact as part of the national evaluation, further Wake the Great Salt Lake project specific measures will need to be developed for this local evaluation. The additional project specific research is something that we will further discuss with the selected evaluator.
Scope of Work
- Implement a qualitative and quantitative evaluation to assess the impact of Wake the Great Salt Lake on the dying of the Great Salt Lake which includes
- Evaluation measurements in the focus areas outlined above
- Additional evaluative measurements specific to the project goals as outlined by Salt Lake City
- Collect baseline data to assess changes over time
- Provide timely updates to Salt Lake City, and Bloomberg Philanthropies (via BOP Consulting) throughout the consultancy period including regular calls, written updates, and immediate notification of any major issues or impediments
- Produce a final written report and executive summary that provides
- An overview of key metrics
- Description of evaluation methods and process
- Impact of project on civic issue and key focus areas
- Lessons learned
This report should seek to communicate on both a technical and a more broadly accessible level, to ensure the greatest possible reach.
Budget
The evaluation has a budget of up to $30,000. We require a single fixed price inclusive of all fees, costs, and expenses, and exclusive of taxes. Payments will be made in the following schedule:
- $7,500 upon execution of the contract
- $7,500 at two mid-project milestones, as mutually-agreed to by the evaluator and Arts Council Foundation
- $7,500 upon delivery of the final report
Timeline
- Phase 1: Evaluation Program Design March 1, 2024 – July 1, 2024
- Phase 2: Evaluation Program Implementation and Project Monitoring/Reporting July 1, 2024 – October 1, 2025
- Phase 3: Evaluation Wrap October 1, 2025 – December 31, 2025
Qualifications
- Experience and knowledge of local context
- Experience developing and implementing qualitative and quantitative evaluations across underrepresented, harder to reach communities
- Ability to collaborate across the public and private sectors
- Ability to assemble a strong team consisting of experienced researchers as well as reliable and consistent support staff and research assistants
- Strong communication skills and an ability to distill complicated concepts in a clear and concise manner
Response
Interested parties should provide:
- A narrative with the following sections
- Your approach to the opportunity including any additional questions this evaluation should address to more fully understand program impact
- Present the method for demonstrating the additionality of the local evaluation to existing internvetions aiming to preserve the Great Salt Lake,
- Refined scope of work and deliverables including the analytical, reporting and management tasks
- A project plan including key deliverables/milestones. and how you intend to structure daily project management
- An organizational chart and biographies for key staff
- Proposed budget along with a detailed note explaining all costs required to deliver services
- Examples of comparable past work and URL links to your work where possible.
Please do not exceed five pages, excluding the budget and examples of past projects. Submit materials to Andrew Shaw at Andrew.Shaw3@slcgov.com. Open until filled; preference given to submissions received before February 16, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. MST.