Short Description

Fairytale Town is a children’s storybook park in Sacramento, covering 3.5 acres. It is an independent nonprofit organization. Opened in 1959, it now hosts over 200,000 children and their families each year who pay a modest admission fee. The park features over 25 playsets, each themed on a classic folktale or fairytale (Cinderella, Old Woman in the Shoe, Anansi the Spider, Mr. McGregor’s Garden, etc.) The park is also home to a family of live barnyard animals (three little pigs, billy goats gruff, Mary’s little lambs, etc.).
Its mission is to promote the imagination, creativity and education of children. A core philosophy is outdoor unstructured play. None of the playsets move (no carnival rides); instead, the beautiful playsets encourage children to be physically active, and they require the child to furnish the play narrative. Each playset is high-quality artisanry – both artistically meritorious and functional.

Eligibility

The artwork opportunity is for an approximately 20’ x 30’ interactive playset installation for kids
ages 1-10 to climb, walk through, and explore.
The artwork should:

  • Engage children ages 1-10.
  • Be made with durable materials suitable for the outdoors and for children to play and
    interact with.
  • Be inspired by (but not necessarily be a literal interpretation of) the Monkey King. The
    Monkey King (or Sun Wukong) is a trickster and a main character in the 16th-century
    novel Journey to the West: Legends of the Monkey King, a classic of Chinese literature.
  • Encourage children to be physically active and inspire them to furnish a play narrative.
  • The selected artist/artist team must be a practicing artist living in the United States, be 18 years of age or older, and be available to begin work immediately and complete the project by January 2027.

Submission Requirements

  • Resume (four (4) pages maximum)
  • A brief cover letter (no more than one page) explaining why you are interested
    in this project
  • Ten (10) images of past work. Images can be JPEG or in a PowerPoint program
    presentation format. Artists submitting as a team, may submit up to 20 images.
     Annotated Image List:
    A numbered list of corresponding submitted images that includes the artwork title,
    date, medium, and dimensions.
  • Names and contact information of three references.
  • Application Form

How to Apply

Qualifications must be submitted by email to ksmithfagan@fairytaletown.org or mailed/hand-delivered to Fairytale Town at
3901 Land Park Dr, Sacramento, CA 95822.

Program Benefits & Awards

Fairytale Town Public Art project’s total budget of $325,000 includes all costs to design, fabricate, and install the artwork.

Entry Fee

None

Location

Sacramento, CA, United States

Timeline

  • Application Deadline: 1 May 2025

Website Link: https://www.fairytaletown.org/

Production budgetProjectPublic Presentation