Keep Prince William Beautiful called for local artists to beautify bus stops in Dumfries. The project is being facilitated to improve the community and ridership experience.
The Adopt-A-Shelter program, managed by the Keep Prince William Beautiful non-profit, partnered with both local bus service provider OnniRide, and the Dumfries Town Government to encourage the community to keep the stops clean.
This program hopes to provide dedicated and consistent litter removal and the installation of public artwork that contributes to the interest and aesthetic appeal of designated bus shelters across the town.
The program began as a pilot program in August of 2022. It was originally started as a partnership between Keep Prince William Beautiful(KPWB), Omniride, Prince William County Neighborhood Services, county parks, recreation, and tourism, Apple Federal Credit Union, and AWS InCommunities as an effort to place public art in Prince William county.
But has since then grown with four fully painted bus stops and five more in the process. The public will see three in Dumfries and two in Prince William County.
The local steering committee composed of the aforementioned partners chose bus stops that were the most visible to capture public interest. Artists from the area are selected through a public call for artist request for qualifications (RFQ) to compose art around the project’s theme, “Clean communities, Clean waterways.”
Any artists who submit their applications by the April 28 deadline are judged by the steering committee and are notified of their award on May 3.
Each selected artist receives a $500 grant to complete their work and named attribution in all public notifications and media surrounding the program. QR codes are used as nameplates on the shelters that direct the public to the artist’s websites.
Furthermore, at the end of the one-year display period, the artists receive half of the proceeds gained from the sale of the artwork at auction. Visit kpwb.org for more information.
