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Artists: Pretty up the city by painting ugly old traffic barriers

Just don't make it nice people crash their bike while admiring it. via NYC DOT Flickr
Just don’t make it nice people crash their bike while admiring it. via NYC DOT Flickr

Hey frustrated artists working at day jobs that are crushing your dreams, the city wants to hear from you. Well, to be fair, you don’t have to be a frustrated artist. But, the city is looking for artists to paint the traffic barriers separating bike lanes from car lanes, so why shouldn’t be you?

As part of the Barrier Beautification program, the Department of Transportation seeks proposals from artists to paint traffic barriers, and the winning artists get to have their work displayed in the out of doors for 11 months. You also get up to $2500 to cover the project costs, so if you’ve been worried about finishing that $2499 painting, it looks like your ship has come in.

To get the DOT to pick your design, you’ll need to submit a final proposal to them, show them you’ve got the stencils ready to get your design from your brain on to the concrete and be sure you can lead a team of volunteers who will help you get the painting up. So you know, don’t be a prick to them while they’re helping you. You can grab an application right here, and check out the request for proposals here if you want to see the nitty gritty details of it. And if you get picked, you’ll have a year to be on dates and “just happen” to be walking by the barrier and say, “Oh hey, I did that. Cool, huh?” and then get the requisite tongue-in-mouth action.

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