Request for Proposal – Diversifying the Field of Curation and Conservation Website

Deadline extended to January 24, 2022

The Chrysler Museum of Art (CMA) is accepting proposals to build a website to document and promote the three-year fellowship program: Diversifying the Field of Curation and Conservation: A Partnership between the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Hampton University Museum. We understand that we have an ambitious timeline and that details may be subject to change upon vendor recommendation and/or research. Since the Chrysler Museum of Art is a nonprofit organization, proposals should utilize creative, cost-effective solutions. In your proposal, please feel free to suggest alternatives.

 Fellowship Overview

 CMA has partnered with the Hampton University Museum (HUM) to administer a joint, three-year pilot fellowship program for two postgraduates, one in the institutions’ curatorial departments and one in CMA’s conservation department. Under the supervision and mentorship of CMA’s McKinnon Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, Kimberli Gant, and HUM’s Director and Chief Curator, Vanessa Thaxton-Ward, the fellows will focus on the traditional African collection at CMA and the Harmon Foundation Collection of Modern African Art at HUM. The program’s primary objectives are to increase diversity in the curatorial and conservation professions, provide practical training for recent graduates entering the museum field, enhance the existing partnership between CMA and HUM with a focus on conservation science and curatorial research, and initiate a program of collection-sharing that brings understudied material to light for scholars and the public. 

Project Scope

• CMA and HUM would like a simple, responsive website consisting of approximately 4-5 pages, including project and Fellow overviews, and a blog. We will need the ability to have multiple users and levels of access.
• All original content and media will be provided by CMA and HUM.
• Content will be created throughout the three-year project and the preference is to have user-selectable, predefined templates to choose from that dictate the layout and color scheme.
• Proposal and budget should include training and instruction documentation for Fellows and support staff as well as an hourly rate for support and basic maintenance.
• All content, coding, and graphics will be hosted by CMA and become sole property of CMA and HUM.

Website Goals and Objectives

• To provide the Fellows with an easy and intuitive site to document the three-year fellowship.
• A visually pleasing and informative site to spread awareness of CMA and HUM and the impact of the Fellow’s scholarship.
• Inspire affection and pride for the museums’ efforts in the region.
• Quick to load and operate.

Project Timeline

Project Budget

The budget for this project is approximately $5-7,500 with the potential for an additional budget for support and maintenance over the course of the three-year project.

Contractor Requirements

The vendor should have an initial consultation meeting with the CMA’s Communications Department overseeing the project. The vendor is expected to contact the designated Museum staff throughout all phases of the project by providing progress reports, either verbally or by email.

As a nonprofit, CMA expects the vendor to have cost-effective approaches in production and postproduction.

Proposal Requirements

Proposals must include:

• Overview – Introduction summarizing any relevant experience and production resources. Include examples/samples of past projects, preferably of similar size and scope
• Team – If the execution of work to be performed by your company requires the hiring of subcontractors, you must clearly state this in your proposal. Sub-contractors must be identified and the work they will perform must be defined. In your proposal please provide the name and address of the sub-contractor.
• Deliverables and Schedule – Provide the suggested project schedule detailing the time required for each major step or phase of the project.
• User Training – Provide details on the user training and support included for our content editors along with the training support format (i.e., onsite/in-person, live web, chat, email, phone-based, hard copy, other documentation, etc.).
• References – Provide a list of three references who can speak to services requested in this RFP. Please include contact information and a brief description of work done for those clients.
• Pricing and Payment – The price you quote should be inclusive. If your price excludes certain fees or charges, you must provide a detailed list of excluded fees with a complete explanation of the nature of those fees.
• Point of contact information, including name, title, phone, and email address
• Anything else deemed relevant or important to vendor.
• All terms and conditions.

Selection Criteria

Proposals received will be evaluated by CMA and HUM on the following selection criteria:

• Demonstrated experience in website design.
• Ability to coordinate resources, equipment, and required staff for development and launch of the site.
• Understanding of the purpose and scope of the website project.
• Original and creative vision
• Special consideration will be given to firms located in the Hampton Roads region
• Ability to meet the expected timeline for completing the project
• Cost-effective approaches
• Proposed price

Questions/Inquiries

Please contact Meredith Gray via email at mgray@chrysler.org.

Submissions

All proposals must be submitted by ​January 18, 2022, to Meredith Gray via email at mgray@chrysler.org. The selected proposal will be announced by January 25, 2022. 

Background

The Chrysler Museum of Art

Founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, the Chrysler Museum of Art is one of America’s most distinguished mid-sized art museums. The core of the nationally recognized collection comes from automobile heir Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., who donated thousands of objects from his private collection to the Museum in 1971. Today, the Museum has growing collections in many areas and mounts an ambitious schedule of visiting exhibitions and educational programs each season. The Chrysler also includes the Perry Glass Studio adjacent to the Museum. This state-of-the-art facility is the only one of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic region and complements the Museum’s extraordinary glass collection.

The Chrysler Museum of Art administers the Jean Outland Chrysler Library on the campus of Old Dominion University and a reading room in the Museum. The Moses Myers House is the oldest Jewish home in America open to the public as a museum and introduces visitors to the life of an early 19th-century merchant family.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization, the Chrysler Museum exists to enrich and transform lives. The Museum’s mission is to bring art and people together through experiences that delight, inform, and inspire. For more information, visit chrysler.org.

Hampton University Museum

Founded in 1868, HUM is the oldest African American museum in the U.S. and one of Virginia’s oldest museums. Hampton’s collection consists of 10,000 objects, including traditional art from Africa, Asia, Oceania, Native America, history of the Hampton Trade School, and over two hundred years of African American art, including several works by Henry O. Tanner. HUM currently has ten galleries with one-fourth of its collection on display. It is open to the Hampton University community including mandatory visits for freshman and sophomore students.  Additionally, HUM brings its remarkable collection to the public through an array of educational initiatives including permanent and changing exhibitions, the Childrens’ Curiosity Room, the Center for African American History and Life, publications, lectures, symposia, art and teacher training workshops, school partnerships and the quarterly publication of the International Review of African American Art. The Museum’s membership and community programs offer Museum supporters an assortment of lectures, workshops and children’s programming, like the Tree House, and the Biggers’ Circle that serves as the ambassador to students on the campus.  It is open to students from other universities and colleges, the general public, including regional, statewide and school groups from throughout the country. 

The Harmon Foundation collection includes African American art and an extensive collection of modern African art, along with more than 200 paintings, prints, and sculptures by more than 40 African artists such as Nigerian artists Ben Enwonwu, Akinola Lasekan, and Bruce Onobrakpeya; South African artists Peter Clarke; Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi, and many others.  

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