RFP
Shaping Legacy Press & Narrative Strategy Consultant RFP
RFP is issued by the City: November 13, 2024
Proposals due: December 16, 2024, by 12:00 p.m. (Noon)
Consultant selection and award notification: Anticipated by December 20, 2024
Project begins: Anticipated to start in January 2025
Term: January 2025 to June 2026 (18 months)
Budget: $90,000
San Francisco Arts Commission is seeking a press and narrative strategy consultant to work with the Project team to develop and deliver on a press and narrative strategy plan for shaping Legacy: San Francisco Monuments & Memorials initiative.
Project Overview
SFAC MISSION
The San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy.
OUR GOALS
- Invest in a vibrant arts community
- Enliven the urban environment
- Shape innovative cultural policy
- Build public awareness of the value and benefits of the arts
- Improve operations to better serve the San Francisco arts ecosystem
SHAPING LEGACY
Shaping Legacy is a three-year grant funded project that aims to critically examine the monuments and memorials in San Francisco’s Civic Art Collection and to reimagine the future of monuments and memorial in the City. The project will include an equity audit, engagement of communities underrepresented in the City’s commemorative landscape, and temporary installations that consider the future of monuments and memorials in the City.
Shaping Legacy continues the work of and carries out the recommendations from the Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee Report, the outcome of a directive issued by Mayor London Breed to the City to assess monuments and memorials in the Civic Art Collection following the toppling of statues by demonstrators in June 2020.
This project is an opportunity for our agency to holistically assess the monuments and memorials in the Civic Art Collection, build awareness around the collection and processes, rectify current power imbalances, and engage community in a sustained, relevant way.
PROJECT GOALS
- Enable SFAC to begin to shift the narrative of public art to reflect more equitable stories and embrace a new paradigm for public art.
- Create a vibrant, inclusive and respectful public landscape that prioritizes equity, justice and reflects the complexity of our history and communities.
- Ensure that longstanding public art and agency policies and practices are updated and rooted in equity, inclusivity and representation.
- Educate artists and the general public on how SFAC conducts and implements its public art processes and solicit input regarding change.
- Model how artists can inspire the public imagination and create spaces of belonging for a more inclusive commemorative landscape in the civic realm.
SCOPE OF WORK
Press & Public Relations
- Develop the overall PR strategy and review content for press releases with SFAC staff and distribute press releases to local and national media.
- Manage and maintain media relations outreach and ongoing communications with local and national media.
- Advise on, solicit and review feature stories, opinion pieces and artist profiles to secure media coverage that communicate the goals of the project.
- Design a press strategy that reaches a range of media outlets including print, broadcast, radio and arts & culture publications.
- Plan and organize press briefings and public facing events for the key milestone moments of the project.
- Track media coverage and evidence for effectiveness of campaigns.
Narrative & Visual Media Strategy
- Strategize on media format and platforms to amplify existing key messages for the project.
- Build out the strategy for the short-term and long-term goals of the project.
- Oversee the design of advertising campaign for 40 JC Decaux kiosks along Market Street
- Oversee the creation, design and distribution of marketing and promotion materials including printed materials and online or social media content.
- Oversee the submission and editing of articles, blog posts and featured stories for the project webpage and social media.
- Advise on the video documentation plan to integrate visual storytelling into the overall narrative strategy.
Deliverables
- Provide monthly analysis of PR coverage, pending opportunities, public relations preparedness and recommended refinements to the PR strategy.
- Secure ongoing local media coverage and media engagement for the duration of the 18-month agreement.
- Lead a standing monthly meeting with the Shaping Legacy project team, day and time to be mutually agreed upon.
- Schedule additional meetings as needed around key milestone moments and opportunities.
Project Description
San Francisco Arts Commission is seeking a press and narrative strategy consultant to work with the project team to develop and deliver on a press and narrative strategy plan for Shaping Legacy: San Francisco Monuments & Memorials initiative.
Selection Process
Evaluation & Selection Criteria
- Applicants will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Background and statement of interest
- Qualifications and experience as related to scope of services
- Proposed scope of work and budget
Please submit the Required information by December 16, 2024 by 12:00 p.m. (Noon) PST to: monumentsandmemorials@sfgov.org
How To Apply
Required information
- All submitted responses should include the following materials:
- Provide company name, mailing address, phone number, and main contact’s email address and direct phone number (no more than 1 page)
- A brief narrative including a statement of interest in the project, consultant’s structure, capabilities, relevant background, recent experience, and examples of similar services and/or marketing materials you have provided to other arts organizations. Please include 3 examples of the services provided and a discussion of the outcome, including name of project, description of project and project period and cost (no more than 6 pages)
- Resume or CV of consultant team members (no more than 8 pages)
- Proposed scope of work corresponding to project timeline with budget and line items (no more than 1 page)
- Line items with description should include hours, positions with hourly rates, materials, and reimbursables. Total budget, including reimbursables should not exceed $90,000.
Evaluation & Selection Criteria
Applicants will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Background and statement of interest
- Qualifications and experience as related to scope of services
- Proposed scope of work and budget
Please submit the Required information by December 16, 2024 by 12:00 p.m. (Noon) PST to: monumentsandmemorials@sfgov.org
Project Timeline
Anticipated Timeline & Project Milestones
- Ongoing January 2025 to June 2026 – Community engagement activities, community meetings, artist creative interventions and programming
- January 2025 – Community Collaborators and Artist Circle programming roll-out
- February 2025 – Release of the Equity Audit Report
- Spring 2025 – Release of Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for temporary installations
- Summer 2025 – Announce RFQ finalists and proposals
- Fall 2025 – Announce selection of artists and projects
- January 2026 to June 2026 – Shaping Legacy Festival and programming
Questions & Answers
The City reserves the right to not accept any applications, to initiate an alternate Selection Process, or to reissue the RFP for additional pre-qualified artist candidates.
The City and County of San Francisco, in its effort to provide equality of opportunity and equality of benefits, requires that individuals and businesses doing business with the City comply with Sections 12B and 12D of the Administrative Code. This requires that if you are an employer, and if you provide health or other benefits to the spouses of your employees, you must provide equal benefits to the registered domestic partners of your employees. This section also requires demonstration of good faith efforts to hire local disadvantaged business enterprises.
This requirement only pertains to contractors who have over 20 employees. The selected consultant(s) will be required to agree to comply fully with and be bound by the provisions of the Minimum Compensation Ordinance (MCO), as set forth in S.F. Administrative Code Chapter 12P. Generally, this Ordinance requires contractors to provide employees covered by the Ordinance who do work funded under the contract with hourly gross compensation and paid and unpaid time off that meet certain minimum requirements. For the contractual requirements of the MCO, see paragraph 42 of the Ordinance.
This requirement only pertains to contractors who have over 20 employees, or contractors who may subcontract with a company with over 20 employees. The selected consultants(s) will be required to agree to comply fully with and be bound by the provisions of the Health Care Accountability Ordinance, as set forth in S.F. Administrative Code Chapter 12Q. Contractors should consult the San Francisco Administrative Code to determine their compliance obligations under this chapter.
As a part of the City’s contracting process, the contractor(s) selected and approved by the Arts Commission will be required to enter into contract with the City and County of San Francisco for the entire duration of the project. Applicants should review the Arts Commission standard template contract. While some items specific to individual projects such as scope of work, payment schedule, and schedule of deliverables may be negotiated, the terms of the contract will not be changed. Depending upon the specific scope of the project, prior to the issuance and throughout the duration of the contract, the consultant will also be required to maintain a San Francisco business tax license, go through the Vendor set-up process, fill out specific documents from the Human Rights Commission, and will be required to carry various types of insurance, including Automobile Liability, General Liability, and other insurance as required by the City.
All information contained herein does not constitute either an expressed or implied contract, and these provisions are subject to change.
Eligibility
Consultants will need to register as a supplier with the City, enter into a Professional Services Contract, and carry insurance as required by the City. Consultants who are registered Local Business Enterprises (LBEs) are eligible to receive a 10% rating bonus. For more information on LBEs visit https://www.sf.gov/departments/contract-monitoring-division