Call for Submissions from Indigenous Artists: Pin Designs for the St. John’s 2025 Canada Games
Call for Submissions from Indigenous Artists: Pin Designs for the St. John’s 2025 Canada Games
Deadline: Friday April 19, 2024 1pm NL Time
First Light is seeking proposals from Indigenous designers for enamel pins that will be distributed for the St. John’s 2025 Canada Games taking place August 8-25, 2025. These designs may also be incorporated into a larger art piece to commemorate the Games.
There will be six (6) artworks selected, one from each of the following groups:
- Miawpukek First Nation
- Qalipu First Nation
- Nunatsiavut
- NunatuKavut
- Innu First Nation
- Urban Indigenous Peoples
Successful applicants will be paid a $4000 artist fee (+HST if applicable) for the use of their artwork, in perpetuity. All successful artworks will be reviewed/digitized by a graphic designer to ensure the integrity of the design is maintained when translated to different mediums.
Designs must draw inspiration from the communities they represent, with consideration of lived experience, nature, culture, community, and history.
Submissions will be reviewed by either the community representatives on the Indigenous Steering Committee or the Arts and Culture team at First Light. Five designs from each community will be “shortlisted” for consideration by the Indigenous Steering Committee for the 2025 Canada Games.
Deadline for submissions is Friday April 19, 2024 at 5PM Newfoundland Standard Time. Successful applicants will be informed in July 2024, and will have until September 2024 to work with the graphic designer on final revisions. Final designs will be unveiled at the opening ceremonies for Spirit Song Festival, on November 19th in St John’s Newfoundland and Labrador. Pins will be manufactured in the spring of 2025 and available to collect at different sites of the 2025 Canada Summer Games that August.
PROJECT GUIDELINES:
- Digital submissions must be high resolution (300 PPI or higher)
- Hand Drawn submissions will also be accepted, when scanned and included in the application package (more information below)
- Manufactured pins will be 1 1/8″ – 1 1/2″ in size.
- Color Choices: Enamel pin designs should have solid colors with no shading
- Writing: Writing should be minimal so that it can still be read when scaled to pin-size.
- More helpful tips on design here: Points for Lapel Pin Design
- For further questions about design choices, please contact [email protected].
ELIGIBILITY:
Artists must be from, and/or a member of the community they are representing in their design. Artists must write a brief summary of their community affiliation with their application.
WHAT WE PROVIDE:
- An artist fee of $4000 (plus HST where applicable)
- Connection to a professional graphic designer for finalization of the design
- Coordinating with the 2025 Canada Games Host Society for all manufacturing and distribution of pins
- Scheduled information sessions and ongoing project support as needed
APPLICATION PROCESS:
Submissions should be sent via email to [email protected] with the subject line: “Artwork Proposal – Canada Games Pin Project”. If possible, we ask that proposals be sent as one PDF document, with links to external resources (like videos) where needed. Proposals should include:
- Name, email, mailing address, and phone number.
- A brief description of your practice and interests (max. 500 words)
- A brief description of your affiliation to the community you intend to represent in your work (max 250 words)
- A brief description of your intention for the artwork (max 250 words)
- Concept sketches or designs for the proposed pin design (max 2 designs per applicant)
- We recommend that submissions include a larger view of the design (full page at 8.5” x 11”, in any shape or size) and a smaller “to scale” view of the design, so that the selection committee can view how it will translate to the pin itself, the artwork inspired by the pin designs, and any accompanying promotional materials of various sizes.
- An example of previous work. You may include a link to video clips with accompanying descriptions. (max. 10 min)
- Confirmation of your ability to complete the finalized work within the above timeline.
Click below to download the full RFP!