Traffic Signal Box Beautification Program

The City of North Charleston is engaging in a public beautification effort that will use digital art by North Charleston youth artists to cover traffic signal boxes throughout the city. Middle and high school artists working in digital media are invited to submit their original design(s) for this opportunity. Ten designs will be selected in this first round of the program to cover a traffic signal box in each of the City’s 10 Council districts. The selected designs will be reproduced on a vinyl wrap that will cover the traffic signal boxes.

Each year, the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department receives hundreds of entries of student artwork for the North Charleston Arts Fest Tri-County Youth Art Competition & Exhibition, which calls for artwork made with traditional materials. In recent years, the department has noted an increased interest from local art educators who are looking for opportunities to showcase their students’ digital artwork. “When we were asked to establish this traffic signal box beautification program, we felt it was the perfect opportunity to showcase the digital artwork of our North Charleston students,” explains Maria Martin, Arts Outreach Coordinator with the City’s Cultural Arts Department. “The printing process provides a real-life application of how digital art can be used in public spaces. The student artwork will brighten corners around the city for years to come and can be used as a portfolio piece or added to their artist CV, just as any digital artist or illustrator would document the publication of their work.”

Artist Solicitation
The City of North Charleston invites middle and high school artists working in digital media to submit their original design(s) for this opportunity to have their work reproduced on existing traffic signal boxes at intersections throughout the city. Ten designs will be selected in this first round of the program to cover a traffic signal box in each of the City’s 10 Council districts. The selected designs will be printed on a vinyl wrap that will cover the traffic signal boxes for this public beautification effort.

-Selected artists will receive a $100 prize awarded by the City of North Charleston.
-Selected artists and their designs will be recognized in press releases, as well as on the City of North Charleston’s website and social media accounts.

Design Specifications
-Each entry must be the artist’s original work. Original work is the artist’s sole creation, not created as a copy, in any part, from another’s work or photograph.
-There is no theme for this round of submissions. Designs may be representational or abstract. All styles are welcome.
-Artwork must be appropriate for public display.
-Designs may not include logos, text, copyrighted or trademarked images, advertisements, or contain political, religious, or sexual symbols, themes, or messages.
-The City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department will choose the winning selections, which will then be sent to SCDOT for final approval before installation.
-Dimensions of the metal traffic signal boxes to be wrapped may vary but are similar in size and shape. Average dimensions for the wrap are approximately 54” h x 122” w.Eligibility
-Artist must be in grade 6-12 and reside in North Charleston.
-Artist may submit a maximum of three (3) entries.
– Entries should be full-color, high-resolution images (minimum 300dpi) created with a digital art app or software such as Procreate, Illustrator, Photoshop, Corel Painter, Clip Studio Paint, etc.
– Work created using AI-generators like DALL-E2 is not considered original to the artist and is ineligible.
– Entries must be submitted in one of the following file formats: PDF, TIFF, PNG, JPG

Terms of Agreement
– The artwork submitted must be original, solely owned by the artist, and reproductions will not violate the rights of any third party.
– The City of North Charleston retains the right to use selected artwork for this program and to use images of the artwork for promotional materials. Designs may be cropped to fit the final dimensions of the vinyl wrap. The City of North Charleston may not sell the art to a third party for profit.
– The City of North Charleston has the right to remove or replace the artwork at any time.

Deadline: 12pm, Friday, March 31, 2023