Ann Arbor is celebrating its bicentennial in 2024, and in many creative, inclusive and unique ways. The Ann Arbor Bicentennial Murals project will incorporate abstract art on basketball courts at two Ann Arbor parks -
Bicentennial Park (formerly Southeast Area Park) and
Leslie Park.
Update
As the City of Ann Arbor celebrates our bicentennial, we also reflect on the past and the lessons we have learned over these 200 years and beyond. One of those lessons is that we are constantly growing and learning in our work to ensure our efforts are always equitable and respectful of all. To that end, it has come to our attention that the inclusion of imagery depicting historical figures, certain historical events, and the cultures of those who live, work, and play in our community are not appropriate for inclusion on a basketball court, a surface that is heavily used for recreation, a purpose which may be viewed as disrespectful depending on the imagery included. Because of this, the Bicentennial Murals committee has decided that we will not be installing murals depicting such imagery on the basketball courts at Leslie and Bicentennial Parks. In order to ensure that the selected designs do not contain imagery along these lines, we will be adding a requirement that the designs must be abstract in nature. Since this criterion was not included in the original call for designs, in order to ensure that our decision-making process is fair to all the artists who submitted proposals, we have made the decision to release a new call for proposals, which will include the updated criteria. The new call for proposals and designs will be accepted until May 3rd, with a public voting process to take place in mid- to late-May. We encourage all who submitted a design previously to look through the updated call for proposals, edit your design as needed to fit the new criteria, and re-submit. We also welcome new submissions. Thank you for your understanding and patience as we move this work forward to equitably celebrate 200 years of our City.
New Call for Artist Proposals
Important! Carefully read the
April 2024 Call for Artist Proposals - Ann Arbor Bicentennial Murals PDF
for details regarding required design criteria, guidelines, specifications and more.
Proposals must be submitted
by 5 p.m. Friday, May 3, 2024 by email to [email protected].
New Timeline
-
May 3, 2024 - Proposal deadline.
-
Summer 2024 - The selected artist will install their design on the basketball courts at Bicentennial Park (formerly Southeast Area Park) and Leslie Park. The community will be invited to participate in the painting process, with volunteer painting events planned by the city.
Celebrate A200
Learn more about all celebrations and initiatives planned on the official
Ann Arbor Bicentennial site.
