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Omnitrans Beautiful Benches Project


Omnitrans is seeking artists to paint unique art designs on concrete bus benches throughout the San Bernardino Valley in spring 2025. Fill out this survey and submit your artistic concepts for consideration to paint one of 45 bus benches.

IMPORTANT DATES
  • Submissions open: Monday, September 9
  • Submissions close: Sunday, November 3 (at 11:59 pm)
  • If selected, artists will be notified sometime in January with artists completing the benches in spring of 2025.
  • Community Clean Up Day and Art Event (showcasing some of the benches): late April or early May
REQUIREMENTS
  • Artist must be age 13 or over. (If 17 or younger, must have signed waiver by parent or guardian).
This project is funded by CalTrans' Clean California Local Grant Program.

RULES/TERMS OF PARTICIPATION
  • Artists are highly encouraged to create artwork that reflects local culture, history, resources and character of the community and San Bernardino Valley region.
  • Per CalTrans requirements, art cannot contain text.
  • Artists will be selected based on the criteria below (experience, concept, & connection with local community)
  • Artists selected will receive a $1,500 stipend to cover time and materials.
  • Artists must provide their own art supplies/materials, including permanent, long-lasting paint suitable for concrete, a sealant to protect the design during regular bench cleaning/maintenance as well as a drop cloth to prevent damage to the sidewalk at the event location.
  • Omnitrans does not discriminate on any basis.
  • All artworks must be appropriate for public viewing by all ages - no lewd, graphic violence, gore, nudity, or copyrighted content.
  • No political or commercial advertisements or statements, written, visual or implied are permitted.
  • All artworks must be original and not include text.
  • Omnitrans reserves the right to remove any inappropriate art or writing as deemed necessary.
  • Omnitrans is not responsible for damage or defacing of artwork post-event.
  • Artists must fit artwork to a 7' long, 2' deep, and 40" to the top of the back (as shown in photo above) concrete bus bench.
  • Omnitrans reserves the right to take photographs or videos of artists and their work for marketing, promotion, and publicity purposes, and to share the photographs with CalTrans for use in progress reporting and promotion of the Clean California Local Grant Program.
  • Omnitrans employees and their immediately family members/dependents are not eligible to participate.
  • Non-compliance with the rules will result in removal from participation in the project.
ARTIST SUBMISSION DETAILS
When you have these questions/a sketch prepared, please fill out the survey with your contact information, your responses to these questions and a preliminary sketch. Thank you.
1. Please provide a Statement of Interest and Description of Concept for your artwork (max 300 words).

2. Please provide a brief description of your experience with similar art projects, such as outdoor murals/painting projects. (max 300 words)

3. Please prepare a preliminary concept sketch to upload that demonstrates all visible sides for the bench. Please note the design cannot include text, per CalTrans requirements.
An 8.5" x 11" sketch size is preferred and uploaded as a PDF, DOC, DOCX, PNG, JPG, JPEG, or GIF file. For a bench template, click this link. You can right click and then us "save image as" to download the templates.

4. In what ways do you engage and contribute to your local community? How will your art contribute to the local community? (max 300 words).

Here is also an interactive map to see the locations of benches to paint. If there is a particular bench you would like to paint, you can note up to 3 preferred locations in this survey. Be sure to note the intersections of the streets at the bench location (which is also visible by clicking on the star).
SCORING INFORMATION
Submissions will be evaluated in accordance with the following 100-point criteria. At most, 45 artists will be selected, for one bench per artist.
  • Experience with similar art projects (25 pts)
  • Proposed Concept (50 pts)
    • Originality (25 pts)
    • Highlights area’s history, resources, or character (25 pts)
  • Familiarity with local community (25 pts)
    • Engage (work/volunteer) in the local community

Question Title

* 1. I understand and agree to above-listed Terms and Conditions of Omnitrans’ bus bench painting opportunity through the CalTrans Clean CA Local Grant Program.

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