Read these stories and more here.

Image: Film still from Waterway by Britta Johnson, a stop-animation film about naturally filtering and cleaning water. The film is part of several temporary artworks that address environmental sustainability for The Next Fifty, the 50th anniversary of the 1962 World’s Fair. The performances run May 4 through May 27 at Seattle Center.

SPU is restoring lower Mapes Creek and creating an open-stream channel in Beer Sheva Park to improve habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon in Lake Washington. The project area includes 52^nd Avenue South, between Rainier Avenue South and South Henderson Street, and into the park.

The call is open to professional artists residing in the United States. The total budget for the artwork is $200,000, all-inclusive of fabrication, installation, travel, taxes and other project costs.

The creek restoration is currently in design through early 2013 and construction is expected to begin in mid 2013. Project completion is expected in 2015. The artist or artist team will work with SPU and its consultants to develop the artwork within the schedule of the restoration.

Application deadline is 11 p.m., Friday, May 18 (Pacific Daylight Time). Click here to apply.

The artwork project is in partnership with SPU and Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation.

We’re seeking artists to create temporary art installations along Greenwood Avenue North and the Central Waterfront for the project Art Interruptions. Art Interruptions encourages artists to install artworks on city sidewalks and parks and offer passers-by a brief interruption in their day with a moment of surprise, beauty or humor. Possible locations for artworks include street and park infrastructure and furniture (utility poles, trees, tree pits, walls, railings, stair risers, etc.). Up to 12 artists will be selected to develop artworks to be displayed for six weeks this summer.

Possible sidewalk and park locations include Greenwood Avenue North between North 65th and North 87th streets, Waterfront Park, Piers 62 and 63, and Pike Street Hill Climb between Alaskan Way and Western Avenue. 

The call is open to artists residing in Washington state. Each selected artist will receive a $1,000 stipend. Application deadline is 11 p.m., Friday, May 4. Click here to apply.

For more information, contact Jason Huff, public art project manager, (206) 684-7278.

Art Interruptions is administered in partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Image: Suzanne Tidwell, Artificial Light, a large-scale knitting (acrylic yarn), 2011. Located at Occidental Square as part of ArtSparks 2011. Photo by Suzanne Tidwell.

Our director talks about investing in the arts and preserving admission tax funding. We joined with Mayor Mike McGinn and a few of our funded partners in announcing more than $1.6 million in investments in 137 Seattle arts organizations through our Civic Partners program.  Join in a lively panel discussion and community forum about arts education, creative learning and student success. Storefronts Seattle seeks artists to develop art projects for vacant storefronts in various Seattle neighborhoods.

Artist John Fleming will serve up a side of sidewalk art at the Bitter Lake Community Center’s Annual Pancake Breakfast, Feb. 26. The 2013 Youth Arts funding program applications are due Feb. 15. And our office and 4Culture present ceramic artworks from their public art collections in the exhibition Enduring Clay: Four Decades of Collecting Ceramics by the City of Seattle and King County.

Read about these stories and more here.

Image: Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) principal dancers Maria Chapman and Jeffrey Stanton with PNB Company dancers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, choreographed by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. PNB is one of the 137 organizations funded through the Civic Partners program in 2012. Photo © Angela Sterling.

Storefronts Seattle is accepting applications in three tracks: Installation (two-dimensional, three-dimensional or new-media artworks); Artist Residency (meeting, rehearsal or studio space); and Creative Enterprise (retail art gallery, boutique, museum, etc.). Artists selected for the Installation track will receive $250 to $1,000 per installation. Participants in all tracks will receive the use of a retail storefront space at no cost for three months, with a possible extension in the Creative Enterprise track. All projects are subject to early cancellation with 30 days notice if the storefront leases during the project period.

The call is open to all artists and arts groups. Application deadline is 11 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 22.

Apply online for:

• Storefronts Installation
• Storefronts Artist Residency
• Storefronts Creative Enterprise

The request for proposals is intended to create a roster of projects from which to program storefront spaces as they become available. Roster inclusion does not guarantee placement in the program. The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs will manage the application and roster selection process for Storefronts Seattle projects. Storefronts Seattle will pair artists with spaces they lease from property owners.

Launched as a pilot in September 2010, Storefronts Seattle promotes neighborhood vitality by bringing art and creative enterprise to available storefronts.

For more information, contact Matthew Richter, Storefronts Project Manager, (206) 905-1026.

Each selected artist will create up to two artworks that may be two- or three-dimensional to hang on walls. The artworks should capture the “electricity” of City Light’s activities.

Five finalists will each receive $750 to present proposals. Two selected artists will each receive $23,500, all-inclusive, for the creation of artwork.

The call is open to individual artists residing in Washington, Oregon, Alaska or British Columbia.

Click here for more information and to apply.

Read these stories and more in the October eNews.

 Application deadline is 11 p.m., Monday, Oct. 17 (Pacific Daylight Time). Go here for more information and a link to the online application.

 The artworks will enhance up to two walls in each of the service center’s auditoriums where City Light employees gather for meetings and training. The artworks may be two- or three-dimensional but must hang on the auditorium walls.

 A panel of arts professionals will review the applications and select five finalists, who will each receive $750 to create proposals. The panel will select two artists, who will each receive $23,500 to create the installations.

 The semi-permanent commissions will be part of City Light’s Portable Works Collection.

We’re seeking approximately 50 to 75 artists for a juried roster of professional artists eligible for consideration for future public art projects. The projects will be at city utility facilities, parks, in the street right-of-way and at other locations. The roster will include pre-qualified artists who can create free-standing or integrated, site-specific artwork for locations managed by Seattle City Light,  Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Parks and Recreation and other city of Seattle departments.

We’re also seeking an artist-in-residence to highlight Seattle City Light’s conservation projects. The residency will begin this fall. The artist will study the utility’s energy conservation programs and develop a series of innovative projects to bring awareness to conservation.  The artist will then develop his or her own projects and identify conservation-related art projects for other artists.

Both calls are open to individual artists residing in the United States. Click here for more information and for a link to the online application.

Seattle Public Schools just announced a $1 million planning grant to enhance arts instruction in the schools. We opened two calls for artists. The 2011 Mayor’s Arts Awards are coming up soon. The Seattle Mural at Seattle Center’s Mural Amphitheatre is getting a facelift. And Pioneer Square’s Occidental Square has turned into an experimental art gallery.

Read about all this and more here.