[Promotion-technology] Invitation for Entries to Design Rosa Parks Statue for U.S. Capitol, Will It Be "Accessible?"

[Everett Gavel]

Hello,

I'm passing along a notice I found in my grant research 
this morning, regarding efforts to find a design and 
designer for the upcoming Rosa Parks statue to be 
placed in Washington, D.C.

My thought on it is, why can't it be made along the 
lines of all these museum and parks initiatives, to be 
more accessible?  For instance, they could make it with 
some audio devices embedded or included, to share 
recordings of Rosa herself, or at least a description 
of why she is famous, and what she did, etc.  There 
could also be the ability to have a statue people could 
get their hands on, and feel, tactily.  So as to allow 
those who can see the statue, and those who cannot, all 
to know (if they wish) just how tall she actually was, 
or how large, or whatever.  By feeling the statue's 
shape, you know?

Below is the contest notice, if anyone cares to move 
forward with such an effort, to make sure the designers 
at least are thinking of accessibility and benefit to 
all.


God Bless Your Efforts,
Everett
www.everettgavel.com



National Endowment for the Arts Invites Entries to 
Design
Rosa Parks Statue for U.S. Capitol

Deadline: May 30, 2008.

The National Endowment for the Arts ( 
http://www.nea.gov/ ) has
 announced a design competition, in partnership with 
the Joint
 Committee on the Library and the Office of the 
Architect of the
 Capitol ( http://aoc.gov/ ), for a statue of civil 
rights pio-
 neer Rosa Parks. Commissioned by the U.S. Congress, 
the sculp-
 ture will be permanently installed in National 
Statuary Hall
 in the U.S. Capitol Building. The Chrysler Foundation 
has pro-
 vided  $100,000 to support the administration of the 
competition.

The design competition, to be administered by the 
endowment,
 is open to U.S. citizens. Interested artists should 
submit an
 application, including a proposal for the sculpture 
and work
 samples that demonstrate their ability to cast 
large-scale
 bronze sculptures and to work in the portrait mode.

 Proposals will be reviewed by a peer panel of experts 
and judged
 on artistic excellence and artistic merit. Up to ten 
semifinal-
 ists selected by the panel will be contracted by the 
Architect
 of the Capitol to produce a maquette, or small-scale 
model, of
 the proposed sculpture as well as a portrait drawing 
of Ms. Parks.
 Up to three finalists will be recommended to the Joint 
Committee
 on the Library, which will award the commission. The 
selected
 artist will receive up to $250,000 to create the 
bronze statue
 and pedestal.

Competition guidelines are available on the NEA Web 
site.

RFP Link:
http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10012005/rosaparks