In order to find the right artist and the right work, you must first know your options.

• Arts Council On-line Artist Database - If you know specifically what style, medium, size and price range you are looking for, you may search the on-line database to narrow down your options. Using the keyword search option is the easiest way to locate artists that fit your criteria.
• Call to Artists - If you are looking for something unusual that may not be represented in the on-line artist database, you may need to send out a special request to artists. The Arts Council's Artist Services department sends out a weekly communication to over 2,000 area artists alerting them of opportunities including commissions, audition notices, art fairs, employment in the arts and more. To have your "call" listed in the weekly artist e-news, simply e-mail a brief summary to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
• Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and Request for Proposals (RFP)- In order to get the right pool of artists to choose from, an RFQ may be necessary. This allows artists to share with you their previous experience, past works and other aspects that relate to your project. Because artists often have the materials for an RFQ readily available, this type of call will usually garner a bigger response and will take less time. A RFP on the other hand will take longer because you are asking the artists for not only their qualifications, but to create a proposal for your specific project. It is customary to pay the artist a fee if you invite them to create a proposal for your project. Ideally, you would review the artist's information gathered by the RFQ, select a short list of potential artists then invite these artists to prepare a proposal.

Click herefor examples of RFQs and RFPs.