FIGMENT BOSTON ARTIST FAQs
If you have a question about submitting your project to FIGMENT or what is possible at the event site, please review the following FAQs. If, after reviewing this information, you still have a question, please email BOSTONcuratorial@figmentproject.org.
Who can submit a project to FIGMENT?
Anyone can submit a project to FIGMENT! Adults, children, professional artists or those looking to create their first piece! Anyone who can bring their project to FIGMENT by their own means and de-install it when the event is over is welcome to submit.
What can content be?
In the past, FIGMENT has hosted a wide variety of artistic endeavors: Street theater, costuming, sculpture, inflatable art, dance, performance art, installations, social experiments, mobile art, workshops, games, community building projects, arts & crafts, sound art, bands & DJs, lectures & seminars on themes of participatory art & culture, and anything else you can imagine! Please do remember that FIGMENT is an event for everyone when deciding on subject matter for your project.
Installations, performances, activities, or other projects that can be set up outdoors are welcome. We will have areas available for performances. You can set up your own area or host a scheduled event or performance. If you have an idea for FIGMENT and have questions about whether it’s plausible, don’t hesitate to get in touch. No matter what you do, the one requirement is that it somehow engages audience participation. Just bring it to FIGMENT and try it out!
What are the deadlines?
Key projects will be given placement on a rolling basis. If you have a large project or a project that requires specific placement or infrastructure, please submit it as soon as possible so that we can accommodate it. The final deadline for project submission is April 15, 2011.
What about funding?
FIGMENT is a community-based event organized and run by volunteers. Its success is dependent on community participation. FIGMENT does NOT provide funding for the production, transportation, or insurance of works to, at, or from the event. FIGMENT encourages artists to apply for outside grants and fundraise for your project within your personal capacity. Please note that no corporate sponsorship (including logos and credit lines) is permitted at the event. In addition, nothing may be sold at the event. If you are an artist who would like to sell your work, FIGMENT might not be the place to be for you.
When can I install my project? What are the installation and setup hours?
Artists are encouraged to set up and break down their exhibits before and after FIGMENT, instead of during the event itself. FIGMENT will be located on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. You will work with our placement coordinators to determine the best spot for your installation or performance. All weekend projects will be installed on The Rose Kennedy Greenway on Friday, June 3 (between 11AM–8PM) or between 8AM-10:30AM Saturday, June 4, 2011.
Arrangements must be made with the FIGMENT team for all deliveries, installations, and de-installations to or from the event site. Once you have submitted your project, you can speak about logistical needs in more detail with one of our curators.
When can I de-install my project?
De-installation will occur between 6-9PM Sunday June 5 – immediately after the event has ended but no sooner.
Can I distribute fliers for my band/art project?
Please do not distribute fliers or printed materials at FIGMENT. We are trying to provide as waste-free an event as possible.
Can I sell my CD?
We kindly ask that you do not sell anything – including CDs – at FIGMENT. FIGMENT is an entirely free and non-commercial event in which everyone volunteers their time and effort to participate – the organizers, the artists, the participants. which interactions between people are not mediated by commercial transactions of any kind. Everything at FIGMENT is free, and there is no advertising, nothing for sale, and no one insisting that you have to give a donation to participate. We understand that many of you make your livelihoods by selling your art and we support you… FIGMENT is just not the time or place.
Can I collect email addresses for my mailing list?
Yes, you may collect addresses, but we ask that you manage the list and make it clear to participants that they are signing up for your list and not the FIGMENT list. Please do not leave unattended clipboards around the event; keep the list with you so that you can get participants excited about your project.
Is there electrical power available?
Power is available only for FIGMENT artists who submit a project via our website by April 15, 2011 and also coordinate with a curatorial contact. If you are not able to work with us to meet our deadlines, please plan to operate without power during FIGMENT. These restrictions exist so that we do not blow out the power system, depriving everyone of electricity.
Should I bring an extension cord?
If you have been in touch with FIGMENT and are approved for power, yes, please bring at least a 100′ extension cord. The longer the cord, the better.
Can I bring my car?
There is no guaranteed parking for passenger vehicles, although there is plentiful paid parking nearby in the range of $7 – $12 per weekend day. If you need a vehicle to transport your installation to the event, you may coordinate this with our logistics team.
There are some supplies that I need. Can I get them from FIGMENT?
FIGMENT promotes radical self-reliance, so please make every effort to bring all the supplies that you need for your project. As an all volunteer event, we give our time and passion to the event, but it’s a bit more challenging to buy things. FIGMENT can help direct you to free, donated and low cost resources from which to source materials. Please get in touch with us for more information.
What if I did not submit a project to FIGMENT but I still want to bring it?
We encourage you to bring projects that you can carry while walking. Projects will not be on our map or schedule, but FIGMENT is about serendipity and discovery so that’s quite all right. Unregistered projects will not have access to power. Please take your portable project with you when you leave the event and leave no trace.
When is FIGMENT Boston?
FIGMENT Boston is Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5, 2011.
How do I get there?
See our Getting There page for maps and directions.
Can I put stakes down or make holes in the ground?
Please check with your curator if you need to stake. You may not dig holes.
Submit your project!
Can I hang things from trees?
No, the Rose Kennedy Greenway has a staff of professional arborists who have asked that our artists not involve the trees on the Greenway in any way. This includes hanging, wrapping fabric, attaching fliers, etc.
Submit your project!
Is there access to water?
There is no potable water on site.
Can I have tables and chairs?
We have a small number that we have allocated based on requests for artists who submit projects via our website. We are not able to accommodate everyone’s requests due to sheer numbers, so chairs and tables should be considered an extra. If you have portable tables and chairs that you can carry and really need them for your project, we recommend bringing them if possible.
