Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Festival Producers

INTRODUCTION

The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Public Art, Performing Arts, and Community Arts Divisions are seeking to re-establish a pre-qualified list of experienced and talented festival producers. This Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is open to professionals who possess the knowledge and expertise in creative programming, technical production, and administrative management to oversee small-scale, mid-scale, and/or large-scale events. The Department is interested in working with both emerging and established individuals, teams, collectives, organizations, and firms that meet the qualifications to realize and produce festivals and cultural arts events on behalf of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

CRITERIA

The Pre-Qualified List of Festival Producers will be robust and capture an array of skills and expertise in the production of different types of events. Festival opportunities will vary and range across the City of Los Angeles. DCA requires that the applicant self-identifies the type of Festival Producer category you would like to be considered for, based on prior experience, as defined by the categories below:

•  Technical Producer – Festival Producer who can successfully handle all of the technical production logistics of a pre-existing festival, such as securing all relevant City permits, developing site plans, coordinating logistics for vendors, contracting artists and vendors, overseeing technical event install and de-install, wayfinding, ticketing, security, booths, tents, fencing, generators, toilets, trash, signage, inspections, volunteers, parking and audience logistics/flow, festival follow-up, and any other required logistics.
• Cultural Programmer & Producer – Festival Producer who can successfully conceptualize and curate a new festival, including, but not limited to, music, dance, theater, art installations, digital media and interdisciplinary art projects. This Festival Producer must be able to develop and professionally implement staged presentations based on industry standards, create a timely marketing strategy and social media plan, work with artistically and culturally diverse community partners on the cultural event planning as needed, and enlist community participation and support in order to create the event. This Festival Producer must also possess the professional expertise and skills of a Technical Producer, as described above. All Festival Producers must be available to attend planning and coordination meetings with City agencies, create and manage a budget, address artist and audience services, assess venues and sites for festivals, and be responsible for the marketing and outreach of the event. Festival Producers who apply as a team must demonstrate both the qualifications of individual team members, as well as the team’s qualifications to work together on projects. Festival Producers pre-qualified through this RFQ are not guaranteed a contract and will be allowed one contract per Program area per fiscal year.

BUDGET

Project budgets will vary, based on the event, location and scale, and are inclusive of all costs associated with the production of the event. Budgets range from the following categories:

• Small-scale ($20,000 – $39,000)
• Mid-scale ($40,000 – $79,000)
• Large-scale ($80,000 – $200,000+) events
• Fiscal receiver (budgets and scope of work are restricted)

Funding for the festival may be through the Arts Development Fee Trust Fund and/or other art programs administered by the Department of Cultural Affairs. Project budgets are determined at the time a festival producer is invited to develop a proposal.

ELIGIBILITY

This RFQ is open to Festival Producers residing in Los Angeles County. Employees of the City of Los Angeles are ineligible to apply. Interested agencies residing outside of Los Angeles County must make the case for eligibility based on working in the Los Angeles area and must submit an application with a Los Angeles based partner. Applicants are encouraged to register on the City of Los Angeles Business Assistance Virtual Network (BAVN). If your organization has previously received commissions, grants or contracts from the City of Los Angeles, then you have already registered on BAVN. If you are a new applicant, go to <https://labavn.org> to register to bid for a City of Los Angeles business commission, grant or contract. Technical support for BAVN may be requested by emailing <ita.bavn@lacity.org>. Sometime thereafter you may receive requests from BAVN to verify your location, the percentage of your workforce that lives in the City of Los Angeles, your status as a minority owned/operated business, and your status as a women owned/operated business. We encourage you to respond accurately so that individual artists are understood as a significant contributor to equity.

SELECTION PROCESS

A selection committee, comprised of, but not limited to, independent arts professionals and representatives of the Department of Cultural Affairs will convene to review the applications received in response to this RFQ. Festival Producers will be evaluated based on both their festival producer category selection, budget experience, and portfolio submission of successfully produced past events. The selected applicants through this RFQ will be included on DCA’s 2024 Pre-Qualified Roster of Festival Producers, which will remain active for up to three (3) years. Once selected, pre-qualified festival producers will be eligible to submit a proposal for a festival initiated by DCA. This is not a grant opportunity to implement your own preconceived festival projects or proposals. Selection to this list does not guarantee a festival contract.

HOW TO APPLY

All applications must be submitted electronically via Slide Room. The deadline to apply is Monday, February 26, 2024 at 5PM. Incomplete and late applications will be deemed ineligible and not be considered.

A complete application must include:

1. CONTACT INFORMATION Including full name, business name (if applicable), mailing address, telephone and email. Please identify one person to be DCA’s primary contact, and include their direct contact information. List partner organizations if applying jointly.
2.  STATEMENT OF INTEREST (PDF format only, 2 pages max) for producing a City-initiated festival event, including your organizational capacity. Describe past experience as Technical Producer and/or Cultural Programmer & Producer.
3. CURRICULUM VITAE (PDF format only, 4 pages max); Please submit a CV for each staff person on the primary team.
4. TEN (10) IMAGES (JPG format only, 72 DPI min + 5 MB max per file) of a festival that you have produced; image files must be labeled sequentially (i.e. 01, 02, 03…) and include information such as the name of the event, year, approximate attendance, the client, budget and location. Please do not submit more than 10 images total.
5. BUDGET EXPERIENCE Indicate your level of experience (1-5; 5 being the greatest) in producing festivals in each of the financial scale categories; small-scale ($20,000 – $39,000), midscale ($40,000 – $79,000), large-scale ($80,000 – $200,000+); and fiscal receiver role. Include a sample budget of your experience. *Additional material included that is not requested by DCA will not be reviewed.

RIGHTS + RESPONSIBILITIES

DCA reserves the right to decline all applications to this RFQ, and/or cancel this RFQ, or any roster of prequalified artists, at any time. This RFQ is subject to the City’s Campaign Finance, Contractor Responsibility, Equal Benefits, Equal Opportunity, Living Wage, Minority/Women Business Enterprise and Slavery Disclosure Ordinances, Border Wall Disclosure Ordinances, as well as any other ordinances in effect in the City of Los Angeles.

RAMP

Applicants are encouraged to register on the Regional Alliance Marketplace for Procurement (RAMP) website: https://www.rampla.org/s/. Technical support for RAMP may be requested on their support page: https://www.rampla.org/s/support.