P-Town Opens Call for Artists to Design New AIDS Memorial

The Provincetown Cultural Council and the Town of Provincetown, acting by and through its Cultural Council, is seeking expressions of interest from qualified artists to develop a site-specific Memorial commemorating the lives lost to AIDS in the Town of Provincetown, and the Town's response to the AIDS crisis.

"We want to be able to see how many responses we get," Grace Ryder-O'Malley, chairwoman of the Provincetown Cultural Council, told the Cape Cod Times. "We conceive of it as sort of a contemplative space. We don't have an idea of what it would look like. We really want to leave it open to what artists think best."

Responses to this request are invited from established professional artists and artists' collaboratives. The deadline for the submission of expression of interest is May 1, 2015. Review by the PCC of the responses to this Request for Expressions of Interest will be followed by issuance of a formal Request for Proposals by the Town of Provincetown.

The PCC seeks to use responses to this Request to assist it and the Town to develop a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria that will be incorporated into the RFP and will form the basis upon which the successful artist will be chosen. Responses will also help the PCC gauge interest from the broader artist community in this project.

Submission of a response to this Request for Expressions of Interest is not a pre-requisite to submitting a response to the RFP and will not be used as a basis upon which to select the successful RFP respondent.

The PCC is the Local Cultural Council of the larger Massachusetts Cultural Council Program and is proud to administer this project.

"It's taken a long time," Joe Carleo, executive director of the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, told the Cape Cod Times. "The epidemic is very much a part of Provincetown's already rich history. In those days no one knew what was going on. There was a lot of fear. But everybody responded."

The worldwide epidemic of AIDS has had a grievous effect on the Provincetown community for more than three decades. By public vote, the Town has decided to create a Memorial to serve as a permanent, public reminder of the lives lost over the years, the community's achievements in response to the crisis, and the continuing impact of AIDS on the community. The PCC is committed to honoring those lost and those still fighting.

The Memorial will be located at Town Hall on the lawn next to the path leading to the Ryder Street entrance. The final, successful Memorial, selected pursuant to the RFP, will become part of the Town of Provincetown's permanent art collection.

"It's going to end up being something beautiful," Carleo said. "It's a great reminder of what the town went through. It's the biggest epidemic of our time."

The expected cost of the memorial is $50,000, half of which has already been raised. Donations are currently being accepted through the AIDS Memorial Gift Fund, C/o The Town of Provincetown, 260 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657.

For more information, visit www.ProvincetownAIDSMemorial.org