Organizer Information
The Library, Arts & Culture Department (LAC) of the City of Glendale, California, was founded in 1907, growing out of library services first provided in the city in 1906. Today it includes six neighborhood libraries, the 93,000-square-foot Central Library, and the Brand Library & Art Center, a regional visual arts and music venue housed in a 1904 mansion. Within the department, the Arts & Culture Commission (ACC) — whose mission is to enrich the human experience, reinforce Glendale's identity and civic pride through arts and culture, and recognize the importance of the arts to the city's quality of life and local economy — advises the City Council on arts matters, facilitates interaction among artists, and integrates arts and culture into daily civic life through urban design, planning, economic development, and education. The Library and the ACC issue this Request for Proposals on behalf of the City of Glendale, in partnership with the city's Public Works Department, as part of the Creative Crosswalks program, a public-art initiative first piloted in June 2023 that uses street murals for traffic calming, pedestrian safety, and neighborhood improvement.
Title & Description
Creative Crosswalks Murals — Request for Proposals
The Library and the Arts & Culture Commission of the City of Glendale are requesting proposals from qualified artists, artist teams, arts organizations, or schools for professional crosswalk mural designs at multiple locations across the city, aimed at enhancing traffic safety through public art. The Creative Crosswalks program is run in partnership with Glendale's Public Works Department, which will separately hire a General Contractor to perform the underlying street, intersection, and crosswalk construction or rehabilitation before the murals are installed. Selected artists are commissioned only to produce the design concept rendering; installation of the mural itself onto the pavement is carried out by the City's contractor.
Theme
Glendale Sister Cities. Proposals should celebrate Glendale's sister and friendship cities (the city currently has 11 sister cities and 4 friendship cities), honoring the traditions, culture, landscape, cuisine, and artistry of each city; all artistic genres are welcome in interpreting the theme.
Categories
- Public Art
- Mural
- Street Art
- Design
Eligibility
- Open to local and international artists/artist teams of all artistic genres, as well as arts organizations or schools
- Artists of all cultural backgrounds and experiences are encouraged to apply, to celebrate the diversity and demographics of the Glendale community
- If applying for multiple of the listed projects, a separate application must be submitted for each project
- Artwork must be suitable for individuals of all ages and sensitive to social, environmental, historical, or other relevant contexts
- Ineligible artwork includes work containing copyrighted/trademarked images or logos, brand or business names, website/social media links, addresses or phone numbers, plagiarized or stolen content, material that defames or invades any person's rights (living or dead), content likely to incite unlawful acts or disrupt facility operations, or material that could reasonably be construed as false/fraudulent, obscene, harmful to minors, or child pornography under the relevant sections of the California Penal Code
Program Benefits & Awards
- Project design budgets of $1,000–$20,000, at $1,000 per individual crosswalk leg design (budget is for producing the design concept rendering only; the artist's budget does not need to cover materials or labor for installation, which is handled by the City's General Contractor)
- Project #1 (North Glendale Avenue Multi-Modal Improvements): $1,000–$20,000 across 5 intersections (20 individual crosswalks) plus a Creative Design Area
- Project #2 (California Avenue and Adjacent Streets Stormwater Capture Project): $1,000–$16,000 across 4 intersections (16 individual crosswalks)
- Project #3 (San Fernando Road Beautification Project – Phase 2): $1,000–$18,000 across 5 intersections (18 individual crosswalks)
- Artwork may be exhibited on the City website, social media, Glendale government television (GTV6), and in regional press releases; the City will endeavor to identify and credit the artist when using their images or artwork for promotion, where possible
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 16 October 2026
- PM PST Step 1 Review: November 16–20, 2026
- Step 2 Review: November 30–December 4, 2026
- Final Commission Approval: December 17, 2026
- Artist Notifications: 18 December 2026
- Paperwork Completion: January 2027
- Installation: 2027–2028
Location
Glendale, California, United States
Additional Details
- Application materials required: a detailed proposal (title of work, concept description, dimensions, statement of value, and location preference); an artist statement; a résumé or biography outlining experience (including education); digital images or sketches of the design concept (title, size, medium) in JPEG format; digital images of past artworks/installations; and, if proposing to exhibit work by multiple artists, written authorization or proof of rights of ownership from those individual artists
- Design/technical requirements: artwork must be contained within the existing white "stop arm" and regulatory continental crosswalk lines; must not depict traffic signals, sign icons, or directional markings, and must not include logos, text, advertising, or commercial content; pattern elements must be uniform, consistent, and repetitive (not random, and not using pictographs/symbols/multi-color arrangements that could communicate with roadway users); colors must not degrade the contrast of white/yellow crosswalk lines or be mistaken for a traffic control application, must be non-retroreflective, and must be reproducible (color name/number must be submitted with the application); recommended colors are earth-tone equivalents per FHWA guidance; designs must not use an illusion of depth/3D rendering effects, and must be easily replicated via stencil; the City's contractor will use Ennis-Flint® by PPG Traffic Patterns Preformed Thermoplastic material or equivalent; minimum crosswalk interior width is 10 feet, extending curb to curb
- Selection process: the ACC expects more than 100 submissions, reviewed in three steps — an initial staff review and scoring, a secondary review by staff and Commissioners to select finalists, and a final review/approval by the Arts & Culture Commission; selected artists are notified by email and formal letter approximately two months after the submission deadline, and assigned a specific crosswalk leg and/or intersection
- Selection criteria weighting: Quality of Proposed Work (35%); Artist Experience (25%); Alignment with the "Glendale Sister Cities" theme (25%); Appropriateness/fit to medium, scale, and public accessibility (15%)
- Selected artists must sign a City of Glendale Library, Arts & Culture (LAC) Public Art Work Commission Agreement; after signing, the artist submits a final design rendering, from which the General Contractor prepares a mural stencil for the artist's approval before installation
- By submitting a proposal, the Proposer irrevocably grants the City an unconditional, royalty-free right to photograph, record, broadcast, reproduce, copy, sell, exhibit, publish, and otherwise use images/recordings of the artwork in any medium, for any purpose, without compensation to the artist
- Artists and/or artist teams are solely responsible for complying with California prevailing wage, payroll records, apprenticeship, and contract award reporting laws (Labor Code §§1770–1781) where applicable, and must indemnify and defend the City against related claims