A request for proposals for Wailuku Town's SMALL TOWN * BIG ART initiative, and for its expansion into new Maui County neighborhoods, is now live.

Developed through a 2018 Our Town grant by the National Endowment for the Arts, SMALL TOWN * BIG ART is a creative placemaking collaboration of the County of Maui + Hale Hō‘ike‘ike at the Bailey House/ Maui Historical Society + the newly formed Maui Public Art Corps that is working to develop an arts district celebrating the distinctive sense of place, history and culture of Wailuku, Hawai‘i.

Through the support of new grant partnerships made in connection with Maui Public Art Corps, the collective is now expanding this work into additional neighborhoods throughout the County of Maui, which includes the islands of Maui, Lānaʻi, Molokaʻi and Kahoʻolawe.

Upon panel selection, artists are invited to create a collaborative work of public art (which may include performance, visual or experiential) with community members that aligns with ‘ōlelo from Mary Kawena Pukui’s ‘Ōlelo No‘eau: Hawaiian Proverbs and Political Sayings.

This year, the collective is seeking artists to bring a collection of pre-recorded Maui stories to life through a work of public art. Artists must apply via Call For Entry and Application Management for the Arts(CaFÉ), which is the industry standard call for entries submission and online jurying solution by and for artists, specifically for the arts and the public art field.

There are THREE separate categories from which applicants may choose:

1. Performances & Public Art Inspired by Maui Storytellers, in which applicants select from a menu of audio recording excerpts and describe how they will bring it to life as a work of performance, visual or experiential public art. Up to 6 artists will be selected to participate in this category, which was inspired by our previous work with Leilehua Yuen, StoryCorps DIY and Ball State University. (SAMPLE)

2. Kahului Mural, in which applicants describe how they will translate one or more stories into a large-scale mural that is rooted in a Kahului sense of place. (SAMPLE)

3. Lānaʻi Story Animations, in which applicants will interpret one-to-three of our Lānaʻi-recorded stories into short, animated films that utilize the recordings as a soundtrack. (SAMPLE)

Details regarding the initiative's process, application criteria, budget and more are available at www.smalltownbig.org/rfp. Applications close at 11:59 PM in Mountain Time Zone (Denver, CO, USA) on August 15, 2022.