Omaha Central Library New Call for Public Art

Public Art Project: Omaha Central Library Permanent Collection, New Public Artwork   

Budget: $75,000 for one new commission   

Eligibility: Any artist, artist collective, or collaborative group maintaining a residence within an 80-mile radius of Omaha, NE is eligible to apply. Applicants must be 19 years of age or older.   

RFQ Deadline: Sunday, August 2, 2026, 11:59 pm CST  

Installation Deadline: March 31, 2027

 

 

 

 

Request for Qualifications (RFQ): Omaha Central Library’s New Call for Public Art

To celebrate the April 2027 first anniversary of Omaha Central Library, OPL is partnering with Amplify Arts and looking for applicants working at the intersection of art and technology to create a new permanent public artwork for Omaha Central Library that sparks public participation and interaction.  If your creative practice connects ideas, information, and people through emerging media, creative coding, or other interactive technology, this may be the perfect opportunity for you. 

 

This call is the first phase in a process that will result in the selection of one project. Thanks to the investment of generous donors, coordinated by Heritage Omaha, the selected project will be awarded a budget of $75,000 and a place in Omaha Central Library’s collection of public artwork. Applications are open June 29 - August 2, 2026. 

 

This artwork will celebrate Omaha Central Library’s role as a vital community hub and third place—a space beyond home and work where people gather, connect, and grow. The innovative, interactive commissioned work should honor the library as a site of shared experience: where lives intersect, ideas unfold, and community is continually created and deeply nourished through connection. 

 

In preparing their application, we invite prospective applicants to consider:

 

• Community as Something Made, Together  Community is not a given—it is something formed over time through shared stories, everyday encounters, and mutual care. The artwork should reflect this layered, collective identity, emphasizing that each person’s presence contributes to a larger whole. It should welcome participation in ways that feel meaningful, playful, and human.
• Libraries as Living Connectors  Libraries hold questions. They build bridges across generations and cultures — through books, conversations, and chance meetings. The commissioned work should express the library’s role as a locus of connection, an interstitial space where the expected and unexpected collide in magical, revealing ways.
• Art as a Way of Seeing  Art invites us to pause, reflect, and reimagine. This work should offer moments of intellectual and emotional engagement. It should create openings—for delight, for thought, for connection—mirroring the experience of browsing a shelf, stumbling into a conversation, or seeing something familiar in a new light.

 

About the Process

This RFQ is the first phase in selecting one new work for Omaha Central Library’s public art collection. As a part of the RFQ, applicants will be asked to provide the following via submittable.com: 

• An Artist Statement that describes how they incorporate technology and interactivity into their work.
• A Work Sample that includes examples of fully realized past work. (Please do not include sketches, mock-ups, renderings, and/or proposals at this stage.) 
• A Works Cited page that offers more information about individual works in the Work Sample.

 

Following this RFQ process, up to eight artists will be invited to submit proposals for a new permanent public artwork that connects ideas, information, and people through emerging media, creative coding, or other interactive technology. A $750 honorarium will be provided to the selected artists for their time to create proposals, including a preliminary budget, for the work they envision. Selected artists will connect with the project team during site visits and office hours while they develop their proposals.

 

Then, a panel review process will result in the selection of one proposal, which will be awarded a project budget of $75,000 thanks to the investment of generous donors, coordinated by Heritage Omaha. This amount must include all costs associated with the design, fabrication, delivery, and installation of the artwork, as well as artist fees and any required collaboration or support. The selected artist/artist team should expect to incorporate feedback from the project team into their work and remain open to a collaborative working process. Applications are open June 29 - August 2, 2026.

 

Who Should Apply?  We seek to be expansive and inclusive in our definition of artist by extending it to encompass those working in technology, engineering, programming, information architecture, visual and performing arts, language and literature, media arts, education, design, and research.

 

Artists and artist teams working in any discipline, including new and emerging media, are encouraged to apply. We welcome creative practices that connect ideas, information, and people through interactive and participatory experiences. Preference will be given to applicants whose work invites viewers to engage with it directly by manipulating, contributing to, altering, or shaping it through their participation and interaction. This could include, but is not limited to, creative coding, augmented and virtual reality, projection mapping, motion sensing, immersive technologies, film, video, 3D printing, laser cutting, stereolithography, and sensory design. 

 

Applicants who reflect our region’s diverse populations, yet remain underrepresented in public artwork collections, such as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), LGBTQIA+ identifying people, and Disabled people, are strongly encouraged to apply. 

 

Eligibility

• Any artist, artist collective, or collaborative group maintaining a residence within an 80-mile radius of Omaha, NE is eligible to apply. This includes Audubon, Cass, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, and Shelby Counties in Iowa, and Burt, Butler, Cass, Colfax, Cuming, Dakota, Dodge, Douglas, Gage, Johnson, Lancaster, Nemaha, Otoe, Platte, Polk, Saline, Sarpy, Saunders, Seward, Stanton, Thurston, Washington, Wayne, and York Counties in Nebraska.
• The 16 artists selected in Omaha Central Library’s initial call for art are ineligible. 
• Limit to one submission per artist, artist collective, or collaborative group. 
• Applicants must be at least 19 years old.
• All applicants who meet eligibility requirements and submit a complete application, including an Artist Statement, a Work Sample, and Works Cited Page will be considered. 
• A formal education is not required to apply. 

 

For collaborative groups

Submissions from artist collectives and collaborative groups are welcome. Collectives and collaborative groups are eligible if:

• At least one member of the group meets the eligibility requirements outlined above.
• The group is not incorporated into a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
• Members of the group are committed to working on a deeply collaborative level to advance the goals of the group, rather than those of the individuals within the group.
• Collaborative groups may not include artists whose work is currently part of Omaha Central Library’s public art collection. 

 

Collaborative groups should submit as a group and discuss the nature and duration of the collaboration in their Artist Statement.

 

Review Process

For this RFQ, applications will be reviewed in a three-phase review process:

1. Amplify Arts staff will review to ensure applicants meet eligibility requirements and have submitted a complete application.
2. All eligible applications will be reviewed and scored by an external panel of arts professionals residing outside the Omaha area. Top-ranking applications will advance.
3. A panel composed of project team members will review top-ranking applications and invite up to eight artists to submit proposals. 

 

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• The Artist Statement is clear and compelling. 
• The Work Sample illustrates a history of past work that inspires confidence in the artist’s capacity to realize the work.  
• Applicants who demonstrate previous experience incorporating technology and interactivity into their work will be favored.
• Overall application package.

 

Click here to view the full evaluation rubric.

 

Review Process Timeline

• June 29: Applications open
• July 9, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm: Application Office Hours 
• July 13, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Application Office Hours 
• August 2, 11:59 pm: Application closes
• August 3 - September 14: RFQ Application review
• Week of September 14: Application status updates delivered; proposal invitations extended
• September 21 - October 18: RFP open to finalists                         
  • Week of September 28: Library walk-throughs with finalists 
  • Week of October 5: RFP Application office hours 
  • October 18, 11:59 pm: RFP Application deadline

      

• October 19 - October 26: RFP review
• Week of November 2: Interviews for RFP finalists
• Week of November 9: Proposal selection made, proposal status updates delivered

 

The selected applicant can anticipate beginning work in November 2026. Below is a production timeline with general dates and milestones:

 

• November 2026: Concept Refinement and Contracting Phase  The selected applicant will participate in artist onboarding with Amplify Arts and research, develop, and refine their proposed work in collaboration with Omaha Central Library’s project team. Agreements between the selected applicant Amplify Arts, and project partners will be completed. A public announcement will be made and circulated.

 

• December 2026 - February 2026: Artwork Fabrication Phase  The selected applicant will focus on the production and fabrication of their work during this phase, including regular check-ins and/or site visits from members of Amplify Arts and the project team. They will also work with the Omaha Central Library project team and Amplify Arts staff to plan and consider the logistics of installing their work.

 

• March 2027: Installation Phase  The selected applicant will work with Omaha Central Library’s project team and Amplify Arts staff to install their completed work. 

 

• April 2027: Artwork Unveiling

          The selected applicant will attend an art unveiling event. 

 

Application Accommodations 

This application is available in:

• In Spanish (written)
• In Spanish (read aloud)
• In English (written)
• In English (read aloud)

Email info@amplifyarts.org with questions or if you need:

• Help navigating Submittable, the application submission software.
• Access to a reliable wireless connection.

 

To speak with a member of Amplify’s staff about your application, please register for Application Office Hours.

 

Reporting

Applicants selected for the RFP process and the final selected applicant will complete a contract before funds are distributed. All awards in amounts of $600 and more are considered taxable income by the IRS, and selected artists will receive a 1099 form for tax purposes.

 

After their work has been installed, the selected artist will be asked to complete a narrative evaluation that describes their experience. 

 

The artist selected in this Call for Art will be invited to attend any events organized to celebrate Omaha Central Library’s one year anniversary and will receive recognition via announcements on digital platforms and in press releases. 

 

Privacy

All personal information provided in this application is limited to the application review and selection processes associated with the new call for Public Artwork for Omaha Central Library’s Permanent Collection.

 

About Omaha Public Library’s Central Library

Omaha Public Library’s Central Library is a hub for creativity, collaboration, education, innovation, and workforce development, and an investment in literacy, digital equity, and community. The building is designed with accessibility in mind and includes spaces for people of all ages and abilities to learn, gather, and create. The $158 million project was facilitated by Heritage Omaha, which raised $138 million from donors to fund the project, with the rest coming from the City of Omaha. 

 

About Amplify Arts

Amplify Arts provides resources for artists, organizers, and cultural workers to incubate liberatory ideas that move our community forward. Amplify Arts’ Public Art Program seeks to create sustainable, paid opportunities for artists working in the built environment while enhancing civic life through meaningful public art partnerships.

 

Amplify serves as a center pivot between project stakeholders and artists. Amplify organizes application and selection processes, but does not evaluate applications or make selections. Post-selection, Amplify works closely with artists and project stakeholders to coordinate communication, regular check-ins, installation, and project close-out.