The City of Atlanta, Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA) is seeking an artist to create 30 color drawings or paintings for an exhibition dedicated to the victims of the Atlanta Child Murders.
All metro-Atlanta artists living in Fulton and Dekalb County are welcome to apply. Interested artists should review the full Request for Proposals (RFP), linked here.
In addition, artists pursuing this opportunity must submit a digital portfolio and a single drawing of one of the victims, Clifford Jones (photo linked here), to the information below.
The deadline to submit your digital portfolio and original artwork for the project is Friday, November 22 at 11:59 pm. The selected artist will receive $18,000 for their work.
Submission Guidelines:
Artists who wish to submit proposals must send a complete digital portfolio, as one (1) PDF document, to Robert Witherspoon via email at rwitherspoon@atlantaga.gov, with the subject line:
ATLANTA MISSING CHILDREN PORTRAIT COMMISSION – [YOUR NAME HERE]
Also, artists must mail their submission of the Clifford Jones portrait in a self-addressed, postage paid, envelope to the address below. The portrait should measure no smaller than 16 inches by 20 inches in size.
Attn: Robert Witherspoon
Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs
233 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 1700
Atlanta, GA 30303
Selection Criteria:
Artwork will be selected through a competitive process with an Artist Selection Panel based on the following criteria:
Project Background:
The Atlanta Child Murders were a series of killings committed between 1979 and 1981. At least 30 people, all African American, and mostly children and adolescents, were targeted. The legacy of Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered Children profoundly impacted a generation of Atlanta’s youth.
In 2019, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an administrative order to establish the “Mayor’s Advisory Committee: Atlanta Children’s Memorial Taskforce”. The taskforce, comprised of mayoral appointees from the community, is charged with determining an appropriate acknowledgment of the lives cut short during the Atlanta Child Murders.
“It is important for Atlanta to acknowledge the innocent lives lost during one of our City’s darkest hours,” said Mayor Bottoms. “This taskforce will determine a lasting and appropriate tribute for the victims and their families, and serve as a testament that those lives mattered. That African American lives matter.”
The Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children’s Memorial Portraits will be displayed at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in the main atrium. Along with the exhibition of these 30 framed portraits, the City plans to publish a catalog of the images with commentary and remembrances memorializing the victims.
The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs is sponsoring this installation, which will join the City of Atlanta’s Public Art Collection after the airport exhibition.
Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children Drawings in Memorial Project RFP
