ArtsFairfax invites bids for a Covid memorial
ArtsFairfax has put out a request for proposals for a public art project to memorialize the experience of Covid-19 in Fairfax County.
“The selected artist/team will design, fabricate, and install a permanent work of art that will commemorate the suffering of people in the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the heroism of the people who responded to the emergency,” ArtsFairfax states.
An information session for interested artists will be held Feb. 1 at 3 p.m. on Zoom. Register here.
The Board of Supervisors approved the development of a Covid memorial in May of last year.
As of Jan. 27, 1,743 residents in the Fairfax Health District died from Covid and 5,298 have been hospitalized. Since the first Covid case was reported in Fairfax County in March 2020, 264,080 people have been infected with the disease.
Covid is far from over, although vaccines have lessened the death rate. The seven-day average number of new cases reported by the Fairfax Health District is 173. That number exceeded 1,000 at the height of the pandemic.
Related story: Fairfax County plans Covid memorial
The artwork would be located in the center of a circular brick plaza at 12055 Government Center Parkway, close to several county government offices. The plaza has benches and a small stone fountain.
The budget for the project is $200,000, which would include the artist fee, design, materials, fabrication, insurance, travel, packing, shipping, installation, and a maintenance plan for the artwork.
The competition is open to all artists living and working in the metropolitan corridor encompassing, Richmond, Washington, and Baltimore.
The deadline for submissions is April 15, 5 p.m. Applications should be submitted online.
15 responses to “ArtsFairfax invites bids for a Covid memorial”
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We can’t get county codes enforced or litter picked up – but there is 200K for a vanity art project?
Is this for people who died with covid or from covid? Last I understood from CDC, they didn’t design their data collection to make that determination.
Seems strange to commemorate something in FFX that literally happened to the entire world. Doyle Falls Church, Annandale, and Oakton have memorials? Should Arlington and Prince William have memorials? Will anyone from outside the area care to visit the FFX covid memorial? Sorry but this seems absurd to me. Just when everyone is trying to move past covid, BoS wants to commemorate it. In case their memory is short, it was a very divisive time in FFX.
mfs making a memorial for a virus but cant support there dying community 😂😂
Seriously, this is one of the most absurd ideas I’ve encountered in a long time. Ideas such as these just stoke the attitudes that the arts and government are wasteful and useless.
200k for an ongoing event to be memorialized?!? What’s next, a memorial for the Monarch Butterfly’s decline? A starting teacher is paid $54k, and there is a shortage of teachers- so many better uses of our taxpayer funds. Go on folks, keep voting for the same clowns with myopic victimhood that must be addressed with taxpayer dollars, and keep enjoying the wasteful circus of distractions like this instead of solving real problems.
Count me among residents who would welcome such a memorial. The arts – in all forms – need to be supported in our County much more than they are. The cultural and economic value of investments in the arts is higher than most people realize. It is easy to deride supporting the arts; this attitude reflects a small-town mindset that still exists in some corners of our large, wealthy, modern County. We need to be able to look forward to our more urban future, one in which arts and arts facilities are an essential part of our community.
My only concern in this case is the proposed location at the Government Center, enclosed and isolated. If we are funding memorials, they should be in locations accessible to the casual passerby. I don’t feel that County parks are the appropriate location for memorials as well, only if there is a direct connection. Densely developed areas (or planned developments) – Tysons, Merrifield, Rt. 1 Corridor, for example – are more central and obvious. The wonderful Suffragette Memorial, recently completed, is located at Occoquan Regional Park, far from the heart of the County. The events referred to did partially occur at the old DC Prison at Lorton, but the selected site is too far from the heart of the area.
Well, I am on my third bout of COVID now–not as bad as the first, but way worse than the second– and in spite of being boosted and shot. It will be heartwarming to walk by the memorial at the government center to honor and remember these experiences, the ones I wish I could forget. Be that as it may, I think there are better ways to embrace the arts than this, I agree that the arts are an important part of our civilization. But putting this memorial where few will see it feels like a token. For those who have lost loved ones, I don’t get how this will help. I just feel like we could do better.
This so the most inefficient and ridiculous idea of them all! This is just more evidence that government doesn’t care about its citizens. If they did, they would have spent the money to offset some of this inflation. SPENDING MORE DOESN’T DECREASE INFLATION DEMOCRATS! Cut your “d***” budget MORE!! VOTE like your lives depend on it people, because it does!
I’m missing where the Fairfax county budget is empowered to affect the consumer price index…
CPI is not a reliable inflation benchmark as it grossly underreports real inflation. For instance, most peoples’ grocery bill has almost doubled. CPI would have you believe your grocery bill only increased by a single digit percentage.
Secondly, the county could lesson the inflationary burden in several meaningful ways, including direct payments, alleviating local tax burden, and fiscal restraint. 200k on a vanity project does not demonstrate fiscal restraint, and undermines confidence.
First law of holes… when you’re in one, stop digging.
So what metric would you suggest for folks that don’t have an economics degree? I think most people agree CPI, while imperfect, is a good enough indicator. CPI has gone up 13.9% since 2020.
Since CPI is supposed to measure the cost of a basket of goods, look at your grocery bills.
Scenario: You pay 75% more at the grocery store (and have more inferior goods in your basket), and get a 2% pay raise.
Your real inflation is 73%.
I do not want Fairfax County spending any money for a statue for COVID.
I must have missed something. How was this decided? What is the purpose of this?
How about using “this money” to help get the homeless off the streets. I have lived in this area for more than twenty-five years and have NEVER seen as many homeless out on corners. I am so concerned that they will even get hit by traffic with the way they come to vehicles asking for a donation.
Very SAD
Another statue to be taken down, in another century when “individuals” feel negative towards the display!!
Could they spend that 200k to hire a better engineering firm to propose cost effective lake Accotink dredging? Whoever they hired gave the most p-ss poor analysis of cost.