The county is looking for artists to spruce up a community aquatic center
Bernalillo County is searching for an artist or team of artists to create a public art piece for the North Valley Aquatic Center. The Aquatics Center is currently under construction at the Raymond G. Sanchez Community Center located in the North Valley.
Whoever is chosen for this project will be tasked with creating a piece with the help of the local schools in the area. The artist or artists will be given a budget of $75,000 that will be distributed over two phases of the project.
All artists who apply for this project have to meet some requirements to be considered. They must reside in New Mexico, have the ability to complete projects on time and within budget, have an understanding of the region and its history and population, and experience with community engagement, especially with youth. The chosen artists should also consider the North Valley as a source of inspiration when coming up with a design for the project.
The application process opened this week and will close on Feb. 16. Once the county receives applications there will be a “jurying” process to choose who will move forward with the project. The jury will be made up of local folks from the North Valley who are closely associated with the Aquatic Center.
“The local selection committee is made up of neighborhood association representatives, Arts Board members who serve on the county’s Arts Board, the manager of the community center, and the engineer is managing the reconstruction of the pool in the facility,” says Kent Swanson, Public Art Project Coordinator for Bernalillo County.
The effort to revamp the North Valley Aquatic Center comes after the community center’s pool was demolished back in 2010.
Since the reconstruction of the aquatic center, voters approved using one percent of all county facility funds for public art.
“It actually applies to all county facilities that have that bond funding attached to it,” says Swanson.
The project is expected to be completed by the Summer of 2025.
More information about the “Call to Artists” can be found at www.bernco.gov/community-services/