Bernalillo County North Valley Area Plan Participatory Art Activities

Bernalillo County invites artists, artist teams, and community-based creative practitioners to submit qualifications for a community participatory art project that will help shape the North Valley Area Plan Update.   We are seeking artists who believe that creative engagement can strengthen community voice, build connections, and make planning more inclusive and accessible. The selected artist will collaborate with residents, businesses, community organizations, and the planning team to design and facilitate artistic activities that encourage meaningful participation during a workshop or other events throughout the planning process.

Bernalillo County invites artists, artist teams, and community-based creative practitioners to submit qualifications for a community participatory art project that will help shape the North Valley Area Plan Update.  We are seeking artists who believe that creative engagement can strengthen community voice, build connections, and make planning more inclusive and accessible. The selected artist will collaborate with residents, businesses, community organizations, and the planning team to design and facilitate artistic activities that encourage meaningful participation during a workshop or other events throughout the planning process. Creative participatory methods can engage different voices not usually engaged in the planning process and lead to surprising outcomes.  It is important to Bernalillo County that historically underserved and disenfranchised communities are included in the planning process.

The North Valley is a unique and cherished part of Bernalillo County. The North Valley Area Plan (NVAP), adopted in 1993, seeks to protect and enhance the unique qualities of the valley while simultaneously enriching the metropolitan area.  The key goal of the 1993 North Valley Area Plan was to preserve and enhance the environmental quality of the North Valley Area by:

• maintaining the rural flavor of the North Valley;
• controlling growth and maintaining low-density development; and
• providing a variety of housing opportunities and lifestyles, including differing socioeconomic types.

Over the past thirty years, many things have changed while others remain the same.  Bernalillo County Planning and Development Services (PDS) has engaged Bohannan Huston and Anthropopulus to facilitate a community-led process to review and update (as needed) the North Valley Area Plan based on community values and goals.  The planning process will include rigorous land use and existing conditions analysis that will inform a robust community engagement process. The updated North Valley Area Plan will serve as a policy framework to guide future planning efforts and development in the unincorporated North Valley.  You can find more information about this effort at  www.northvalleyareaplan.com

Planning is a dynamic process involving active, hands-on engagement with community members and stakeholders.  It can be surprising and take unexpected forms.   With that in mind, we have developed the following goals for our engagement activities: 

• Foster a sense of belonging for all community members;
• Build positive relationships between community members and between community members and Bernalillo County;
• Create a shared community vision for the future of North Valley;
• Cultivate new community leaders, including leaders from underrepresented groups; and
• Create opportunities for joy.

The selected artist will create opportunities for community members to express their ideas through creative methods that may include, but are not limited to:

• Interactive art installations
• Community workshops
• Story collection and oral histories
• Collaborative murals or temporary public art
• Creative mapping
• Photography, audio, or video projects
• Performances or cultural events
• Pop-up engagement activities
• Other innovative participatory approaches

The Anthropopulus team is looking for art activities that are playful and that lend themselves to capturing the joyful vibrancy and diversity of the North Valley. The art activities can also capture a glimpse of the participating community’s lived experiences and provide insight into the community’s wants and needs, as well as their concerns for their community. The team is interested in not just visual art-marking but is open to the idea of other artistic mediums such as theater, poetry, movement and dance, and song.  The planning team is looking for an artist, or artists, who can collaborate on developing and leading workshops and/or smaller activities focused on using art making to tap into the community’s creativity, identify core values, and/or tell their stories.

One option for implementing the project may be a collaborative workshop with the planning team that provides education about the planning process and integrates a creative component into a Public Meeting. The workshop may serve as an educational engagement activity and may collect qualitative data about the community’s lived experiences, aspirations, and/or values within the North Valley. Alternatively, other methods to engage the community will be considered.  The artist will also be asked to advise and collaborate with the planning team on how to strategically incorporate art into smaller events and activities. 

Required Application Materials

• 6-12 images/videos or art samples
• Professional resume not to exceed two pages
• Statement of Interest which answers the following questions:
• Why are you interested in this project?
• Describe your connection to the North Valley (this may include personal, professional, cultural, or experiential ties that inform your perspective as an artist)?
• What experience do you have making art with community members, including disenfranchised and underserved communities?
• Describe a time when your art helped shape policy or a public project?
• Brief Bio (not to exceed 400 words)

This is a call for artists residing in Bernalillo County, NM