Call for 2026-2028 Urban Design Roster
/Organization:
City of Nanaimo
Deadline:
October 12, 2025
Organization Description:
The City of Nanaimo is seeking artists for the 2026–2028 Urban Design Roster!
Urban design describes the physical features that define the character or image of a street, neighbourhood, community, or a city as a whole. Urban Design contributes to the fabric of Nanaimo, contributing to the creation of unique, dynamic and engaging public spaces.
The Urban Design Roster Program offers artists and designers an opportunity to be involved in urban design by creating small-scale artwork or design treatments that can be integrated into civic infrastructure. Artists and designers who join the Urban Design Roster are indicating they wish to be contacted to work with the City’s Public Art team and other City service areas such as Bylaw Services, Engineering, Parks, Roads & Traffic, and Transportation, to apply their talents to a particular design challenge.
The Urban Design Roster is open to all artists, working individually or in collaboration, and especially encourages applications from those who experience barriers of accessibility due to gender identity/expression, racial identity, or perception of disability. For the purposes of this call, the definition of an artist is a professional who:
has completed basic training in art or an apprenticeship with an accomplished practitioner in the field, or
maintains an artistic practice and has publicly shared an independent body of their work for at least two years, or
is recognized as a professional by peers within their community.
You do not have to be a resident of Nanaimo, but you must have a good understanding of, and relationship to this place. This understanding/relationship should be clearly demonstrated in your application.
Job Description:
N/A
Responsibilities:
N/A
Qualifications:
N/A
How to Apply:
Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM Pacific Time, October 12, 2025.
There are two ways to submit:
Submit your application and required documents online using the form on the website
ORUsing the fillable PDF form provided on the website, drop off your hardcopy application and required documents in-person to the Culture & Events Dropbox, located at the Bowen Complex, 500 Bowen Road. The Dropbox is located on the lower level of the building near the tennis courts (Pine Street Entrance).
Hand-delivered applications MUST include:
One (1) hard copy and one (1) electronic version on a flash drive
The application must be enclosed and sealed in an envelope/package clearly marked:
Your Name
Urban Design Roster
City of Nanaimo
Culture and Events
Submitting Your Portfolio:
When considering what to include in your portfolio, we suggest an overview of the creative styles, practices, and examples of previous works you have undertaken in a public realm, successful design projects, or other examples of your artistic work. Artists who are new to art in public spaces can contribute a portfolio with examples of artwork that demonstrate your abilities, along with a vision of how you plan to expand your practice into a public space.
Please include:
One page of writing about your artistic or design practice. Please include a brief summary of your approach to this opportunity.
A portfolio of your work. You may structure your portfolio in a way that suits your projects. We suggest up to 25 images of relevant work and an accompanying image list, or a PDF up to 25 pages, with images and corresponding descriptions. Your portfolio may include examples of designs, images of installed work, links to videos or video documentation, sketches, and other manners of presentation that are part of your practice. Materials presented should be described so that those reviewing will know what they are looking at. Example: 01 - Artist name, Title of Work, media type, date. A brief description that offers relevant context about the visual materials, such as the context of presentation, whether it was part of a series, if there are collaborators, etc.
A brief biography (250 words)
A resume
A completed information form
Remuneration:
Fees for artistic services follow CARFAC (Canadian Artists Representation / le front des artistes Canadiens) guidelines. CARFAC sets a national standard of fees that accords artists fair compensation for the use of artwork and certain services that artists provide. Artistic services anticipated to be associated with the activities covered by the Urban Design Roster may include (but are not limited to):
Artist Fees (for concepts and designs)
Production/Fabrication Expenses
Installation or other types of Labour
Presentation Fees
Region:
Nanaimo, BC
Contact Name:
Jaime-Brett Sine
Contact Email:
cultureandevents@nanaimo.ca
Contact Phone:
(250) 755-4483
Name:
Jaime-Brett Sine
Email Address:
jaimebrett.sine@nanaimo.ca
Phone:
(250) 268-2165
