Call to Artists: InterCHANGE

Call for SubmissionsMay 19 2025

Halifax Regional Municipality’s Temporary Public Art Gallery at Cogswell by IOTA

Digitally rendered bird’s eye view of an irregular shaped park in a city centre, at dusk, with an angular pedway stretching overhead. The park is full of people, surrounded by a street with cars, and 5-story buildings. Angular pathways cut through the grassy park, with freestanding rectangular planters, green trees, and a wooden structure with a transparent roof and no walls.
Blue logo that says "Halifax"

Submission Deadline: May 19th 2025, 11:59 pm AST

Artist Fee: Opportunities range from $4,000 to $15,000.

Download pdf

The Halifax Regional Municipality and IOTA Studios welcome artists based in Canada to apply for a new program of temporary public artworks within the redeveloped Cogswell District titled InterCHANGE. IOTA Studios is a creative agency that supports writing, curatorial research, presentation, and cross-disciplinary artworks in new media, the web, visual, interactive, performance, and public art, and they will be managing this exciting programming, with new temporary artworks set to launch Summer 2025.

Background

A new neighbourhood will soon be built – where the Cogswell Interchange once stood – designed to connect downtown Halifax with the north end and waterfront, creating a stronger, more inclusive network of communities. Through the Public Art Policy, HRM Regional Council provided direction to staff to continue with public engagement with Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian communities to finalize placemaking and commemoration aspects of the Cogswell District. 

In early 2024, HRM developed a project called The Cogswell Storytelling Project – a community-led project that outlined how Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian storytelling will be accomplished in the Cogswell District. Both the Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian engagement reports noted that art and art opportunities for community play a critical role in incorporating community history and ownership into the redevelopment of the Cogswell District.  InterCHANGE is one of the results of that engagement work and will provide temporary art opportunities throughout the Cogswell District as the sites become accessible to the public over the next two years. Selected artists will receive highlights of both the Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian engagement reports for a more detailed review of what we heard.

In 2025, HRM partnered with IOTA Studios to produce the temporary outdoor art gallery program for the Cogswell District as a pilot project. The focus of the pilot project is to provide professional public art opportunities prioritized to Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian artists. This is an initial pilot project and not the full scope of the community commemoration program in Cogswell. 

To learn more about the Cogswell District Redevelopment Project, head to the LINK HERE

History

The Cogswell Interchange was one of the early manifestations of an urban renewal plan to invigorate downtown development to keep pace with Halifax’s suburban growth. This was a controversial project, due to concerns from community activists, displacement of African Nova Scotian and Urban Indigenous communities and concerns from heritage and tourism sectors around preserving Halifax’s Heritage buildings. Several downtown streets were closed,  and numerous city blocks were demolished to make room for what became known as Scotia Square and the Cogswell Interchange. 

To learn more about the history, read here: LINK HERE

The Opportunities

Artists are invited to submit their applications to be considered for one of three opportunity sites listed below: 

1. Granville Park Gallery Walkway

Artist Fee: $10,000 (exclusive of fabrication and installation costs)

*This work will be awarded to an African Nova Scotian Artist*

This opportunity will support a vinyl mural on the walkway of the newly developed Granville Park Gallery.

2. Banner Program

Artist Fee: $4,000 (exclusive of fabrication and installation costs)

This opportunity will support a series of vinyl banners installed on light posts within the Cogswell District Redevelopment. Each banner is 12 inch by 84 inch (The artists may choose to create one design for both sides or a different design per side). There will be 3 artists awarded this opportunity, and each artist will have 15 banners to display their work. Once awarded this opportunity, the artist must provide 15 unique images, and can be from the same series of work. 

* This opportunity is open to all applicants and will prioritize artists from the following communities; African Nova Scotian, Mi’kmaw, 2SLGBTQIA+, and Disabled artists. *

3. Transit Terminal Shelters

Artist Fee: $15,000 (exclusive of fabrication and installation costs)

*This work will be awarded to a Mi’kmaw Artist*

This opportunity will support vinyl wraps to the glass panels of bus shelters within the newly developed Cogswell District. Each glass panel is 48 inch by 120 inches, and the artist will have up to 11 total panels to work with, spread across 11 bus shelters. 

Art Opportunities Map

View map

Artist Selection Process

Artists are not required to provide concepts at the time of application. If selected, artists will be required to provide a vector-based digital file of their artwork(s).  While we do not ask for design proposals at this phase, if accepted, we will consider previously created designs for these opportunities. Fabrication and installation of artworks will be installed and viewable to the public for a range of 4 months up to one year, depending on the art opportunity. These opportunities are designated for practicing artists, however, previous public art experience is not required. Artist selection, design, fabrication and installation process will be managed by IOTA Studios.

Selection Panel Process and Scoring Criteria

The selection panel for this call will consist of local artists and cultural workers, who are members from our identified priority groups (African Nova Scotian, Mi’kmaw, 2SLGBTQIA+, and Disabled artists). There will be non-voting members from IOTA Studios and the Halifax Regional Municipality present during the selection process. The panel will be reviewing the applications in early May, and based on the below scoring criteria.

  • Personal or Artistic connections to the sites  20%
  • Interest and future potential within the public art sector 20%
  • Overall quality of submitted works 50%
  • Suitability for a public outdoor gallery space 10%

How to Apply

Fill out the google form linked here: https://forms.gle/AJM8Wm7fWbNHkXdy6 

Material Submission Requirements will include:

  1. Artist Bio (250 words)
  2. Artist Statement (250 words)
  3. Brief Statement on your interest in creating artwork for this site (250 words)
  4. Upload 1 pdf with 5 examples of previous artwork, including dates, dimensions, materials, and brief artist statement on your artistic approach and interests.
  5.  *Optional* Link to website or online portfolio (can include social media platforms)
Apply here

Timeline

  • Call to Artists goes public: May 6th 2025
  • Call to Artists closes: May 19th 2025
  • Artists awarded: May 26th 2025
  • Artists Design completed: July 18th 2025
  • Fabrication: August- September 2025
  • Installation: September – October 2025

If you have any questions, you can direct them to IOTA at IOTAgeneralinfo@gmail.com. 

(please note: applications will not be accepted over email and must be submitted via the google form link above.)

Site Images

Granville Park Gallery Walkway
Photo of a city sidewalk next to a black building, with lightposts and a pedway stretching overhead. The sidewalk has been digitally drawn over the photograph to outline the visible sidewalk.

Temporary vinyl mural on the sidewalk of the newly developed Granville Park Gallery, near 1895 Hollis Street.

Banner Program
City street with lamp posts, bus, and busy traffic. Three vertical yellow rectangles have been digitally drawn over parallel to each lamp post, indicating where a banner would go.
Side of a city street bordered by wood guard rail, and four tall poles, each with a gold ball on top. Four vertical yellow rectangles have been digitally drawn parallel to each lamp post, indicating where a banner would go. In the distance is a highway exit for a navy base, and an ocean harbour.

Each artist will be awarded 15 of the 45 banners spanning from the Scotia Square transit terminal shelters (1930 Barrington St.) to the new roundabout (2240 Barrington St.)

Transit Terminal Shelters
Photo of a cityscape in bright daylight with an overcast sky. Across the street are bus shelters, an overhead pedestrian pedway, and five story buildings. Two yellow rectangles have been digitally drawn over the glass panes of the bus shelters.
Photo of a glass bus shelter in front of a glass facade building. Three yellow rectangles have been digitally drawn over the glass panes of the bus shelters (two vertical panes on each end, and one pane on the roof of the bus shelter).

11 total panels (48 inch by 120 inches each) on 11 bus shelters on both sides of Barrington St, in front of Scotia Square (1930 Barrington St.)

Apply here
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