Here’s something fun to work on if you have a few minutes – and interest in earning a few bucks.

On Friday, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) posted an invitation to contractors to submit designs for a new “Art Works” logo.  You can download your own copy of the RFP off our site or from the NEA’s site.  The open period for questions (best asked after you’ve reviewed the RFP) ends at 5pm (EST) on Wednesday, February 10.  All material must be summited to the NEA for review no later than 5pm (EST) on Friday, February 26, 2010.

To be honest, this release caught my eye because NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman announced the competition at a Miami-area high school for art and architecture and I immediately thought it was a student competition.  I have an 18 year-0ld, aspiring designer and thought it would be a great opportunity for him to stretch his creative muscles and maybe pick up a buck or two.

Then I saw the government’s estimated budget for this project.

$25,000.

For a logo.

Wow.  Talk about your stimulus package.

Now, it’s important to note that the NEA did say in their RFP that its award would not be made “on the basis of a superior capability without consideration of the amount of its price.”  That is to say, “price does matter.”  But seriously, when you say you’ve got a $25,000 budget – who’s going to come in much under $20k?  In fact, when you dig into the RFP (page 23), you find that price carries just 5% of the total evaluation’s weight.  Technical evaluation is 70% and the remaining 25% depends on “management evaluation criteria” – or, can the image be produced in print and online in both black-and-white and color.

Seriously.

The assignment is to produce a graphic identity for the phrase “Art Works” which, to Chairman Landesman and the rest of the NEA, mean these three things:

  1. “Art Works” as a noun that refers to the works of art that artists create;
  2. “Art Works” as a reminder that a goal fo art is to work on audiences and viewers to inspire, transport and challenge them; and
  3. “Art Works” as a reminder that arts workers are real workers who are part of this country’s real economy.

That’s all well and fine.  But “Art Works” isn’t exactly a new phrase and there are already some executions of it out there.  As an aide to all designers thinking of entering this free-for-all, here’s what I was able to find in about ten minutes of searching:

Good luck.

Bookmark and Share