(REOPENED) Call for Artist Entries: Request for Proposals for Georgetown Animal Shelter Mural

Beginning October 15th, 2020, The City of Georgetown’s Arts and Culture Board will invite artist entries for the Georgetown Animal Shelter Mural Project. The mural design should relate to the purpose of the shelter by addressing the rescue and adoption of pets.

Submission Deadline: Nov 30th, 2020

ELIGIBILITY: This opportunity is open to all professional artists over the age of 18.

BUDGET: An artist stipend of $4,000 will be paid to the artist selected to install the mural. The City of Georgetown will also fund the cost of materials and equipment necessary to install the mural. The selected artist will be responsible for their own travel costs, housing, and personal liability insurance.

INSTALLATION DATE: Mural will be completed by March 31st, 2021.

APPLY: Full submission guidelines can be found here: Call for Artist Entries_Georgetown Animal Shelter. Applications will be submitted through Submittable.com; no application fee required

The submission form will open on October 15, 2020. Click on the following link to submit: https://artsgeorgetown.submittable.com/Submit

SELECTION: From the entries submitted by the deadline, the City of Georgetown Arts and Culture Board will select up to (3) submissions for consideration and final selection by the Georgetown Animal Shelter staff. Artists will be notified of the final selection by mid-January.

Questions: Contact Amanda Still at 512-930-8471 or Amanda.still@georgetown.org

Please click here to view the full submission guidelines, project schedule, and other info: Call for Artist Entries_Georgetown Animal Shelter

Healing Arts for Veterans Program

The Georgetown Arts and Culture Program has teamed up with Resilient Me Community Based Resiliency Programs, Austin Classical Guitar, country music artist Wynn Williams, Wag Heaven, and artists Jay Rivera and J. Muzacz to provide arts components to the Rotary Club of Georgetown’s 2020 Field of Honor® that include healing and outreach to veterans, military service-members, and first responders through music, visual art, and community engagement in a public art project. There is currently insufficient capacity and funding within the health care community to serve the physical and mental health issues of veterans, service-members, and first responders. We needed to create an arts program to raise awareness of the issues confronted by this underserved population and present options for artistic programming that help address these issues.

The first arts component of the Healing Arts for Veterans Program, “Storytelling Through Music”, is a program that was originally created by Austin Classical Guitar as part of the ACG Veterans Songwriting ProgramThe local nonprofit Resilient Me: Community Based Resiliency Programs for Veterans has facilitated the collaboration between Austin Classical Guitar and Georgetown’s Healing Arts for Veterans Program to provide this music component. The music program includes adapting stories by veterans into lyrics and set to music by professional musicians from Austin Classical Guitar and country music artist Wynn Williams. The storytelling is designed to help veterans process trauma from their service in the military. The music will be performed on November 7th by country music artist Wynn Williams. The music performance was planned for the Field of Honor® location; however, the public performance at the field was cancelled due to COVID. Instead there will be a small outdoor performance at Cimarron Hills Country Club with very limited seating and reservations required in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines. A small Field of Honor® display will be set up, and guests will have the opportunity to purchase flags. For more information on the event and to register for the event, please click here to visit our Facebook event page

Veterans participating in the music program include William Childress, Bobby Withrow, and John Hill.  To learn the story of William Childress and to view the video featuring his song, click here. To view the process video featuring Bobby Withrow and John Hill, click here. This video has two excerpts from the last zoom songwriting sessions with Wynn and Travis where John and Bobby heard their complete songs for the very first time. The first song is called A Prayer for the Living, and was written by John Hill with Travis Marcum and Wynn Williams. John was an Army medic in Afghanistan, and wanted to write a song for fellow service members struggling with the pain they hold onto after the experience of war. The second song is called When Blue Stars Turn Gold, written by Bobby Withrow with Wynn Williams and Travis Marcum. Bobby served in the Navy and now runs the Texas Fallen Project where he supports families all over the state who have lost loved ones in battle. A Gold Star Family is one that has lost a member in service. Bobby wanted to write a song that helps people understand the need to honor our fallen soldiers and to support their loved ones who are fighting their own battle every day.

“Removing the Mask” was planned as the second component of the project and included artwork created by veterans through the Resilient Me art therapy program featuring mask making. Artwork created at this workshop was planned for exhibition at the Field of Honor®; however, due to COVID, the workshops could not be facilitated. So the mask making workshop was cancelled, and the music program was expanded.

Component three includes a public art mural located in the Texas Cultural District encompassing downtown Georgetown. The Arts and Culture Program is collaborating with the local pet supply business, Wag Heaven, to create a service-dog themed public art mural to honor our K-9 service heroes while commemorating the Rotary Club of Georgetown’s Field of Honor®, as well as War Dog Hero, Nemo A534. The mural will begin installation during the week of Veterans Day and will include a community painting event on Veterans Day, November 11th. The artists awarded for their artwork, “Best Friends”, are artist Jay Rivera who served 18 years in the military and artist J. Muzacz who has completed another Georgetown mural, “El Arbol, (The Tree)” located at the Georgetown Municipal Court. The public art mural component of this project is also sponsored in part by Wag Heaven.

This collaborative program was proposed in applications to both the National Endowment for the Arts: Arts Engagement in American Communities Grant Program and the Texas Commission on the Arts: Arts Respond – Health and Human Services Grant Program funded through Creative Forces. Georgetown’s Healing Arts for Veterans Program was awarded $10,000 from the NEA and $4,000 from the TCA. The Arts and Culture Board is very excited to receive this funding and bring this type of healing arts programs for veterans to Georgetown.  With the established success and prestige of the Rotary Club of Georgetown’s annual project: the Field of Honor® – Honoring Service Above Self, this program will expand the reach of both the Georgetown Arts and Culture Program and the Field of Honor® to continue building community through the arts!

For more information on the Rotary Club of Georgetown’s Field of Honor®, please click here.

Call for Artist Entries: Request for Proposals for Red Poppy Mural at the Wolf Ranch Starbucks

Wolf Ranch Town Center would like to commission an artist to design and install a mural on an exterior wall of the Starbucks located at Wolf Ranch.

Application Deadline: September 30th, 2020

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Beginning September 1st, 2020, the City of Georgetown’s Arts and Culture Board will invite artist entries for the Wolf Ranch Town Center Mural Project. Georgetown, Texas is known for being the Red Poppy Capital of Texas. The mural design should feature red poppies and imagery designed to remind patrons of the role Wolf Ranch plays in the community and the partnerships between Wolf Ranch and the Downtown Georgetown Cultural District – which is the location of the Annual Georgetown Red Poppy Festival and is located only 5 miles from Wolf Ranch Town Center.

ELIGIBILITY: This opportunity is open to all professional artists over the age of 18.

BUDGET: An artist stipend of $5,000 will be paid to the artist selected to install the mural. Wolf Ranch Town Center will fund the cost of materials up to $1,000. The selected artist will be responsible for their own travel costs, housing, and personal liability insurance. Artist owned scaffolding to complete the installation is preferred.

INSTALLATION DATE: Mural will be completed by November 25th, 2020.

APPLY: Applications will be submitted through Submittable.com; no application fee required: https://artsgeorgetown.submittable.com/Submit

SELECTION: The artist will be selected by Wolf Ranch Town Center in collaboration with the Georgetown Arts and Culture Board. Artists will be notified by October 21st, 2020.

Please click here to view the full submission guidelines, project schedule, and other info: Call for Artist Entries_RFP_Wolf Ranch Mural

Questions: Contact Amanda Still at 512-930-8471 or Amanda.still@georgetown.org

Arts and Culture Grants Awarded in the 2020 Round II Cycle

At the August 2020 Board meeting, the City of Georgetown Arts & Culture Board approved $9,340 in grants to local arts and culture organizations for the 2020 Round II grant cycle. The grants will help fund local arts and cultural events that include visual art, music, film, and historic exhibition programming in Georgetown.

The events and programs funded in this grant cycle include:

The Williamson Museum for the Heritage and Horizons Exhibition – $2,000

Southwestern University for the Georgetown Green Film Series – $2,340

The Williamson County Symphony Orchestra for the March 2021 Orchestra Concert – $2,500

The Estrada Garcia Gallery and Artist Cooperative for Special COVID Relief Funding – $2,500

Funds are for events and programs taking place in Georgetown between October 2020 and March 2021, as well as special COVID relief funding for expenses incurred from March through September 2020.

The next Georgetown Arts and Culture grant cycle will open on December 1 – December 31 for events and programs occuring from April through September 2021.

Call for Artist Entries: Request for Proposals for Service Dog Themed Mural

The Arts and Culture Board for the City of Georgetown, TX is accepting mural proposals from artists with experience in the military and/or as first responders – past, present, active, or reserve duty. Call opens July 22nd, 2020.

Application Deadline: August 31st, 2020

 PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The mural will be located in the Texas Cultural District encompassing downtown Georgetown. The Board is collaborating with the local pet supply business, Wag Heaven, to create a service-dog themed public art mural to honor our K-9 service heroes while commemorating the Georgetown Rotary Club’s Field of Honor®, as well as the first canine Purple Heart recipient, Nemo A534. Funding for this project comes in part from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the Healing Arts Program for Veterans and Military Service Members, with matching funds from the City of Georgetown and Wag Heaven.

ELIGIBILITY: This opportunity is open to all professional artists over the age of 18 having military and/or first responder experience – past, present, active or reserve duty. Artists having military/first responder experience may also form a collaboration with another experienced mural artist on this project.

BUDGET: An artist stipend of $4,000 will be paid to the artist selected to install the mural. The City of Georgetown will fund the cost of materials and equipment necessary to install the mural. The selected artist will be responsible for their own travel costs, housing, and personal liability insurance.

INSTALLATION DATE: Installation will begin the week of November 9, 2020. Volunteers from the community will be invited to help paint the mural during the first week of installation and will be coordinated by the City of Georgetown. The mural will be completed by December 31, 2020.

APPLY: Applications will be submitted through Submittable.com; no application fee required: https://artsgeorgetown.submittable.com/Submit

SELECTION: The artist will be selected by the Georgetown Arts and Culture Board in September, with input from Wag Heaven, and will be notified by September 18th, 2020.

Please click here to view the full submission guidelines, project schedule, and other info: Call for Artist Entries_RFP_Wag Heaven Mural

2020-2021 Annual Georgetown Sculpture Tour – Call for Entries Now Open!

2020-2021 Annual Georgetown Sculpture Tour

Starting June 1, 2020, The City of Georgetown’s Arts and Culture Board invites entries for the 2020-2021 Annual Georgetown Sculpture Tour – a juried, year-long outdoor exhibition in Georgetown’s historic Downtown Cultural District. Please click here to view the full submission guidelines, project schedule, and other info: Call for Artist Entries_Georgetown Sculpture Tour Entries

The annual Georgetown Sculpture Tour is one of the first community public art projects of the Georgetown Arts and Culture Program.  The Sculpture Tour was begun in 2009 by Georgetown sculptor Dar Richardson of the Texas Society of Sculptors working with Georgetown Public Library Director Eric Lashley, and it was conceived as an invitational exhibit. Many thanks are due to Dar for his years of invaluable service on the City Arts & Culture Board and with the Sculpture Tour. After years of leading the Sculpture Tour, Dar asked the City to take the Sculpture Tour selection process over. Beginning with the 2017 Sculpture Tour, City of Georgetown Arts & Culture Board members now review entries and make recommendations to City staff for each year’s selections.

Sculpture Tour applications will be accepted June 1 – August 1, 2020 for the 2020-2021 tour. Each sculptor may submit up to three sculptures for consideration. Please provide two or three photographs of each piece, showing different angles. The artist submission form will go live on June 1, 2020 and close at the end of the day on August 1, 2020.

Sculpture Tour Entry Form

From the applications submitted by the deadline, the City of Georgetown Arts & Culture Board will select up to 15 2020-21 Sculpture Tour pieces. All applicants will be notified of the board’s decisions in September.

“One Trick Pony” by Dan Pogue; 1st place award winner in 2019-2020 Georgetown Sculpture Tour

Sculptures will be installed by appointment in November 2020 and remain on display until October 2021. Delivery is the artist’s responsibility; sculptures will be installed by City of Georgetown Parks and Recreation staff working with the artist.

All sculptures selected for the 2020-2021 Sculpture Tour will receive a cash prize awarded by the City of Georgetown Arts & Culture Board. Checks will be mailed in December.

“Remember When” by Anthony St. James; 2nd place award winner in 2019-2020  City Sculpture Tour

Awards will include:
$1,500 First Prize (one will be awarded)
$750 Second Prize (one will be awarded)
$500 Honorable Mention (up to 13 will be awarded)

Artists will be required to sign a Sculpture Tour contract, which includes a 25 percent commission to the City on any sculpture sold during the exhibit. Once installed, sculptures are covered for theft or damage by City insurance.

The Georgetown Arts and Culture Board maintains the Texas Commission on the Arts Cultural District designation and implements the Georgetown Arts and Culture Program. The Georgetown Arts and Culture Program enhances quality of life for residents and visitors of Georgetown by promoting community engagement, cultural participation, and cultural tourism through public art programming and arts and culture collaborations. The annual Georgetown Sculpture Tour program helps the Board fulfill the vision of becoming a nationally recognized arts destination by 2030.

If you have any questions about the application or the selection process, please call Amanda Still, Arts and Culture Coordinator, at 512-930-8471 or email amanda.still@georgetown.org.

City Hall Gallery Features Artwork by Devon Clarkson

The current exhibition at City Hall, is on exhibit from August 10 – September 31. The exhibit features recent work by Devon Clarkson, one of the mural artists for the Preserving History Mural and the artist selected for the Red Poppy Festival Poster 20th Anniversary Edition.

The Gallery Wall at City Hall will exhibit two local artists per year, an exhibition of Georgetown Independent School District Advanced Placement student artwork, and an exhibition of Southwestern University student artwork. The exhibitions are by invitation and are designed to align with current Georgetown Arts and Culture Programming. To be considered for an invitation by the Georgetown Arts and Culture Board, local artists may submit their resume and portfolio to arts@georgetown.org.

Call for Entry: TSOS Video Sculpture Exhibit on YouTube Channel

Opening summer 2020

Background: SculptFest 2020 in Round Rock and the annual TSOS summer sculpture at the Georgetown Public Library was canceled over Covid-19 public health restrictions.  These are the two largest annual TSOS events.

Response by TSOS: Videos for widest possible viewingA YouTube Sculpture Channel.

2020 TSOS Virtual Sculpture Exhibition Video – First Show Coming Soon!

For full guidelines and instructions, click here: TSOS Instructions to SetUp Web Page-R04

 Application Process – May 29, 2020 Deadline:

  • Send One email with Permission to Use Your Images that are on the TSOS website located at www.tsos.org
  • Option to submit other images with descriptions.
  • Send permission by email to: exhibit@tsos.org

✔      Give TSOS permission to use your images as a video show.

✔      Option to attach preferred images with descriptions to the email.

Selection Process:

  • Jury selection from TSOS members with images on TSOS Virtual Gallery.
  • All TSOS members with present dues paid can participate in the TSOS Virtual Gallery by submitting images, descriptions, and contact information.
  • Attached is a pdf containing instructions for creating and updating member web pages.

Future Exhibitions – solo and group:

  • Virtual Sculpture Exhibitions Videos – No Limit on Number of Shows

o   Possibly have a number of shows with new work by members

⮚      By subject or topic

⮚      By sculpture medium

⮚      Small group special interest exhibitions for TSOS member (i.e. mosaics)

  • Solo Sculpture Show by TSOS Members published on a YouTube Channel

o   Videos would be available to post on sculptors’ individual websites

o   Videos for sales via galleries, decorators, corporate art consultants, etc.

  • 50th TSOS Anniversary Show Coming in 2021.  TSOS was established in 1971.

For more Information Contact:

Matt Donner, Exhibitions Committee Chair

mattdonner.tsos@gmail.com