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TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL y <br /> Public&Cultural Arts <br /> 200 Plant Road <br /> Chapel Hill,INC 27514 <br /> pboae(919)96$-2750 jas(919)932-2923 <br /> www.townofchapelhil1.org <br /> November 26,2012 <br /> Orange County Arts Commission <br /> 501 West Franklin St. <br /> Chapel Hill,NC 27514 <br /> Artist Program Grant Selection Committee: <br /> This letter of partnership and support is for the Mobile Mural Project as submitted by Mary <br /> Carter Taub. <br /> One of the Chapel Hill Town Council's goals for the next few years is to focus on downtown to <br /> create a cultural and economic destination. With that is mind,the Office of Public&Cultural <br /> Arts created a Downtown Art Project,whereby artists would be commissioned to create <br /> temporary or permanent works of art that would bring attention to downtown. Mary Carter <br /> Taub's proposal to create a mobile mural on a Chapel Hill Transit bus was one of four projects <br /> selected for implementation. Taub was selected due to her well respected artistic abilities and <br /> experience with creating artwork and installations around the nation and region that re-define <br /> how people experience her work(exhibiting inside truck bays,in store windows,etc.). <br /> Raleigh was the first city in the area to offer the sides of buses as an artist pallet. Their Art-in- <br /> Motion Program has been successful,both from a ridership as well as a positive media <br /> standpoint. With the advent of using Chapel Hill Transit buses as billboards since 2011,the door <br /> was opened for a similar mobile mural program in the Chapel Hill area. Chapel Hill has always <br /> been supportive of its mural program with some 20 murals in the downtown area and two more <br /> coming soon. This project expands that program in a completely different direction. <br /> Taub's proposal represents a real partnership between the artist,the Public Arts <br /> Office./Commission and Chapel Hill Transit. Transit is agreeable to using one of its buses free of <br /> charge for this project,a 51,500 contribution.Their agreement represents much more,as the <br /> transit system is jointly funded by Chapel Hill,Carrboro and UNC. When the selling of ad space <br /> began, the three entities made an agreement that only one free wrap per entity would be allowed <br /> each year. Chapel Hill,to emphasize its effort to brand the Town as an arts destination,chose <br /> the Taub project for its freebie for fiscal 2012-13. The design abstractly replicates the routing <br /> system of the transit lines and the bus selected will make frequent passes through the downtown <br /> area. In addition,the Office of Public Arts is providing funding for the manufacture of the bus <br /> wrap in hopes that the mobile mural program is so noticed,it can be expanded in the future. <br /> Unfortunately,due to the higher costs of a single bus wrap(Raleigh does 12 per year and thus <br /> receives a discount per bus)and the required insurance,the project,even with the Town's <br /> funding and bus donation,requires additional funding support,which is wily Taub is seeking <br /> Orange County Arts Commission assistance. <br />