Overview

The Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission (LAHC) is piloting the Creative Outlets program to continue to enhance the community through art in public places. The project goal is to bring beauty to unexpected places, by adding color and interesting designs to utility boxes in Lyons. 

This project is funded, in part, by the Town of Lyons and the LAHC. The mission of the LAHC is to beautify the streets of downtown Lyons, promote local artists, and educate the viewing public on artistic inspirations and procedures. Learn more at www.townoflyons.com/LAHC. 

Design

The goal of this project is to enhance the Town's beautification efforts, by creating works of art from unappealing utilitarian cabinets. As the utility box is in a public park setting, earth tone and natural palettes are required. 

Designs should be original to the artist or of the artist’s original style, designs should be busy, and designs should be picture based, not word based. Designs must be appropriate for all ages, and the Town will not accept any designs that include logos, copyrighted or trademarked images, advertisements, political, commercial, religious, sexual symbols, themes or messages. The cabinets are functioning pieces of equipment and should be treated as such. Designs and color schemes should not interfere with signage on the box, the ability to open the box, or interfere with any function of the transformer cabinet itself.

Compensation

Compensation for painting the selected utility box is $1,000; $500 upon acceptance and signing of the agreement and $500 upon completion. Materials, including primer, professional paint, and anti-graffiti, are to be provided by the artist. 

Eligibility

Open to all artists or teams of artists regardless of race, color, creed, gender, gender variance, national origin, age, religion, marital status, political opinion or affiliation or mental or physical handicap. Artists are not required to have previous experience in public art. The deadline for submissions for this pilot round is September 16, 2019, by 5:00 p.m. The online application link can be found below.