Memorial RFQ Page

The Memorial Project Committee intends for the proposed memorial to recognize and honor the ongoing legacies of the enslaved; engage with the complexities of history as they relate to our collective future; and activate new vocabularies of grief, hope, reckoning, and remembrance.

In conceiving and elaborating this memorial, we seek to engage with candidates capable of making visible and palpable such complex dynamics as permanence and vitality, honor and rebuke, ecology and the built environment, institutional interest and the common good.  

The following criteria will be used to evaluate all RFQ submissions and inform the selection of finalists:

VISION 

Via their submitted written statements and portfolio materials, candidates should demonstrate the following: 

• Nuanced understanding of the themes of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Report, particularly as it relates to the voices and histories of those who were enslaved and the ongoing impacts of enslavement on direct descendants and descendent communities 
• Recognition of the active and continuous presence, growth, and aliveness of Indigenous communities and their complex relationship to enslavement 
• Competencies necessary to envision and materialize a public artwork in step with the priorities articulated by the Memorial Project Committee
• Ability to collaborate with institutions, work with fabricators, and engage in sustained dialogue with diverse communities of people 

COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIP 

Candidates should demonstrate willingness and capacity to do the following: 

• Engage a diverse community of stakeholders in dialogue on topics of public art and memorialization as it connects to their creative process 
• Collaborate with municipal offices and civic institutions 
• Engage with the Memorial Project Committee, University leadership, and community stakeholders throughout the creative process, including design and installation 

DESIGN EXPERTISE 

Candidates should be able to demonstrate evidence of experience with or interest in some of the following: 

• Public space, sculpture, interactive design, architecture or building/construction methods, public performance, landscape design and gardening, and the ethical and logistical complexities of art in and for the public 

• From the submissions solicited by this RFQ, ten to twenty semifinalists will be asked to provide further materials for review. From that group, four finalist artists/teams will be invited to submit proposals in the RFP stage.
• A $40,000 stipend will be provided to each of the four invited finalist projects to develop initial design concepts.
• Each of the four finalists will make two campus visits to engage with community stakeholders. The first visit will include a site visit and community listening sessions. The second visit will be an opportunity for finalists to share their proposal in a series of public gatherings and conversations.

Submissions will consist of one (1) online application and must be submitted through the RFQ application portal; the committee will not accept hard-copy materials. All submissions must be submitted electronically. As of February 29, we are accepting RFQs on a rolling basis. We will provide an update by May 31 on the final submission date for the RFQ. Thank you to those who have already submitted an RFQ. Please do not hesitate to email us with questions at  legacyofslavery_memorial@harvard.edu.

1. Applicant Info:

• First Name/ Last Name of primary contact:
• Company Name:
• Primary Contact Email Address:
• Primary Contact Phone Number:
• Mailing Address:
• Website:

2. Are you applying as an individual or as a team/ collective?

• If team/collective: Additional Team Members [up to 8 individuals]
  • Insert fields: first name, last name, title/ position, email address
  • Please include description of team structure

3. A portfolio of past work [maximum 10 files].

• Acceptable files include: PDF, MS Word, PowerPoint, .avi, .mp4, .mov, .wav, .mp3, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, YouTube, Vimeo (please include relevant timestamps if applicable)

4. Resume (2 pages per person maximum) from each of the Key Team Members.

5. Names and contact information for up to three references (first & last name, email, nature of work relationship).

6. Do you agree to share portions of your submitted material to the Memorial Committee public archive? Candidates are under no obligation to share their submissions, and selecting “no” will not affect evaluation of your submission. If you elect to share your material, then by making this submission you grant the President and Fellows of Harvard College a limited, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, worldwide license to reproduce, transmit, display, distribute in the Memorial Committee archive, including in any online, print, or video versions thereof, the first and last name of all artists and team members making the submission, any applicable website(s), and, in the case of semifinalists, the content of their submitted portfolio materials. Finalists will also be asked to share their proposed design concepts.

7. Narrative Statement responding to the following prompt: “How does your work reflect on questions of reckoning and commemoration?” [maximum 500 words].

This Request for Qualifications is solely an invitation to artists or design teams to provide information about their professional qualifications to Harvard and is not an offer to contract. Submission of materials in response to this RFQ does not guarantee an invitation to advance to the next stage of review or to participate in the Request for Proposals (RFP) process. Furthermore, this request does not obligate Harvard to pay any costs that any Respondent may incur in the preparation of their response. The funds provisionally budgeted for this project may be subject to change. All costs associated with the preparation of a response to this request including without limitation any responses to clarifying and/or follow-up questions asked by the Memorial Project Committee upon review of Respondent’s submission shall be borne solely by the Respondent.