4th Annual Artful Inlets
Deadline for submissions: 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 25
Information session: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, February 24
INFO SESSION CANCELLED
Presented by Norman Arts Council, Norman Public Arts Board and the City of Norman
The City of Norman operates and maintains a series of underground pipes, open channels, ditches, and roadways used to collect or convey stormwater runoff from our homes and businesses to the nearest body of water, such as a creek, stream, or lake. In urban areas, stormwater runoff from hard surfaces, like roofs and driveways, flows along the side of the road until it reaches a storm drain, which is an opening or grate in the curb connected by pipes to the nearest waterbody. Water and other materials that enter these storm drains are transported directly to our creeks and streams without any treatment. Some of the pollutants that enter our local creeks and streams with stormwater runoff include grass clippings, oil, trash, fertilizers, pesticides, and pet waste.
For the 4th Annual Artful Inlets program, the Norman Arts Council, Public Arts Board, and City of Norman are inviting artists to submit designs that will transform city storm drains into works of public art. These artful inlets will educate and raise awareness that pollutants that go down storm drains have a devasting impact on our local water quality.
There are currently nine Artful Inlets on Main Street and five on Jones Avenue from Main Street to Acres Street. This year we will be adding an additional five (5) drains identified for this project. They will all be in or around Lions Park, more specifically three bridge crossings located within the park, the sidewalk entryway to the park located on the west side of the park, and the bridge crossing located east of the park within the sidewalk across Flood Avenue from the park. The artwork should have a stormwater and/or water quality theme, incorporating the slogan Cool Cats Keep It Clean! #lionspark, and must be adaptable to any of the five specified drains. Each selected artist will incorporate their original design into the prescribed area around the storm drain.
This year Earth Day coincides with the Artful Inlet event. Earth Day is Friday, April 22 and will be celebrated on Saturday, April 23 in Lions Park with Environmental Control Advisory Board members on hand at several educational stations to discuss several interesting environmental topics! The stations include the Yard by Yard program and native plants, micro-solar applications with a charging station, and dealing with waste. These stations will be in place during the painting of the Artful Inlets on Saturday, April 23, 2022.
Artists must be 18 years or older and residents of Cleveland County, Oklahoma. All designs must be original and submitted no later than Friday, March 25, 2022.
Selected artists will receive a $750 stipend, as well as paint and other materials needed for installation.