Porgram Overview
The New Arrivals Institute (NAI) seeks a Guilford County-based visual artist with a strong, original artistic vision and experience with arts-focused community engagement to create artwork for three bus shelters in Greensboro, NC. The artist should demonstrate both an ability and desire to collaborate with community members to combine their voices and input with the artist’s vision to complete the project.
The application deadline is February 18, 2026 at 5 p.m.
This project is in partnership with Creative Greensboro’s Neighborhood Arts program, which brings artist-led and community-led arts experiences and beautification projects close to home in neighborhoods across Greensboro.
NAI has organized a stakeholder committee to lead this project and ensure that their voices shape the final art for the bus shelters. Public transportation plays a visible and vital role in providing affordable and reliable access to work and recreational activities, helping us navigate our surroundings and, especially for newcomers, developing a sense of home. The stakeholder group offers the initial vision that the bus shelter art:
- Uplift newcomer voices
- Represent accomplishment and achievement
- Promote peace, love, belonging, unity and community pride
- Weave personal and collective stories of newly arrived residents from a variety of places
- Foster dignity and healing
- Symbolize hope, resilience and new beginnings
The Bus Shelters
New Arrivals Institute has selected three bus shelters located in west, central and east Greensboro to be sites for artwork on the back panels of shelters. The artist will receive specs for each shelter and be expected to provide a vector file, high quality JPEG or PDF of the artwork design for reproduction onto metal panels by a vendor selected by the City of Greensboro.
Project Scope and Budget
$12,000 for all artist fees, design, materials, supplies, equipment, community engagement sessions/marketing, printing/production of posters, and installation costs required to complete the project.
Artist will conduct at least three arts-centered community engagement sessions with NAI clients to get input for the design. The New Arrivals Institute community stakeholder group will review and approve the final designs.
The final approved designs will printed onto metal panels and installed into the bus shelters.
Creative Greensboro will assist the artist with working with the Greensboro Transit Authority and a vendor who will fabricate and complete the installation of the approved designs. Artist should provide final bus shelter artwork design in a digital format for reproduction and installation by vendor. This production and installation will be paid for out of the project budget.
Artist will also design an 11” x 17 poster/advertisement to create awareness about the new bus shelter art for use inside selected City buses. Posters should connect to or relate specifically to the newly created bus shelter artwork.
Timeline
February 18, 2026 at 5 p.m. is the application deadline.
First week of March – NAI stakeholder committee invites up to three finalists for in-person interviews and selects artist for project.
Mid-March to May - Selected artist conducts arts-centered community engagement sessions to get input for designs. Artist will be expected to work with New Arrivals Institute to schedule the community engagement session.
First week of May – Artist submits proposed bus shelter artwork designs to NAI stakeholder committee for review. There may be up to two rounds of revisions.
By June 1 – Approved artwork submitted to Creative Greensboro for installation.
Questions? Contact:
Sejla Kalender, New Arrivals Institute, skalender@newarrivalsinstitute.com or 336-210-2759
Karen Archia, Community Partnerships Coordinator, Creative Greensboro at karen.archia@greensboro-nc.gov or 336-433-7362