Raleigh’s Arts Community Creative Spaces Plan

Request for Proposals #274-PRCR-RACCSP2026
Title: Raleigh's Arts Community Creative Spaces Plan
Issue Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Due Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
no later than 5:00PM EST
*LATE PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED*
Issuing Department: Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Resources
Direct all inquiries concerning this RFP to:
Bekah Torcasso
Park Planner
Email: Bekah.Torcasso@raleighnc.gov

Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 PURPOSE ............................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 BACKGROUND - ABOUT RALEIGH ........................................................................................................................ 3
1.3 BACKGROUND - PROJECT CONTEXT ................................................................................................................... 5
2 SCOPE OF SERVICES ........................................................................................................................................ 6
2.1 WORKING WITH RALEIGH ARTS ............................................................................................................................ 6
2.2 GUIDING PRINCIPLES ............................................................................................................................................ 6
2.3 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................................................................... 7
2.4 PART 1: DEVELOP PROJECT FRAMEWORK: ......................................................................................................... 7
2.5 PART 2: RESEARCH, ASSESSMENT, AND ANALYSIS ............................................................................................ 7
2.6 PART 3: STRATEGIC PLANNING ............................................................................................................................ 8
2.7 PART 4: SHARING THE PLANNING PROCESS AND PLAN: COMMUNICATION & DOCUMENTATION ....................... 8
3 REQUST FOR PROPOSAL PROCESS ............................................................................................................10
3.1 REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) TIMELINE ....................................................................................................... 10
3.2 PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE ........................................................................................................................... 10
3.3 PROPOSAL QUESTIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 10
3.4 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND CONTACT INFORMATION........................................................... 11
4 PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS ..........................................................................................................................13
4.1 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS REQUIRED DOCUMENT FORMAT ........................................................................... 13
4.2 RFP DOCUMENTS ............................................................................................................................................... 16
5 PROPOSAL EVALUATION ................................................................................................................................16
5.1 PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA (STAGE 1) ................................................................................................... 16
5.2 INTERVIEW/DEMONSTRATION (STAGE 2) ........................................................................................................... 17
5.3 FINAL SELECTION ................................................................................................................................................ 17
5.4 NOTICE TO PROPOSERS REGARDING RFP TERMS AND CONDITIONS .............................................................. 17
5.5 CONTRACT TERM ................................................................................................................................................ 18
6 ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS ............................................................................................................18
6.1 BUSINESS ENGAGEMENT & OPPORTUNITIES ..................................................................................................... 18
6.2 RIGHTS TO SUBMITTED MATERIAL ...................................................................................................................... 18
6.3 COMMUNICATIONS .............................................................................................................................................. 18
6.4 LOBBYING ............................................................................................................................................................ 18
6.5 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST .................................................................................................................................... 19
6.6 PROPOSER EXPENSES ........................................................................................................................................ 20
6.7 PROPOSER ACCEPTANCE ................................................................................................................................... 20
Appendix I - Proposal Cost Form ...................................................................................... 21
Appendix II - Proposer Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 22
Appendix III - Reference Questionnaire (Instructions) ........................................................... 25
Appendix III - Reference Questionnaire Form ........................................................................... 26
Appendix IV - Sample Contract ..................................................................................................... 29
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1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose
The City of Raleigh (COR) is soliciting proposals from one or more firms with which to
contract for the development of Raleigh's Arts Community Creative Spaces Plan.
This long-range plan will provide a roadmap of goals, objectives, strategies and tools,
including policy recommendations to realize the vision set forth in the Raleigh Arts Plan
- Art Everywhere, by Everyone - via the built environment. The plan should result in
Raleigh's Arts Community's access to a robust mix of inclusive, sustainable and
affordable creative spaces across the city for artmaking, for sharing that work through
performances, exhibitions and other activities, as well as for arts education, both now
and as the city grows over the next 10 years.
The City is seeking proposals that demonstrate expertise in strategic planning, research
and data analysis, thoughtful and inclusive constituent and key stakeholder
engagement, municipal planning processes, arts and cultural facility assessment, and
project management to effectively carry out this project as described in Sections 1.2
and 1.3: Background - About Raleigh and Project Context and Section 2: Scope of
Services.
All information related to this solicitation, including any addenda, will be posted to the
North Carolina electronic Vendor Portal (eVP) at https://evp.nc.gov/.
All questions related to this solicitation must be submitted in writing (via email) to the
following individual - questions submitted via telephone will not be answered:
Contact Name Email Address
Rebekah Torcasso bekah.torcasso@raleighnc.gov
The budget for this scope of work shall not exceed $250,000, inclusive of all expenses
and fees.
1.2 Background - About Raleigh
Arts & Culture in Raleigh
Raleigh is the state capital and home to a vibrant community of nonprofit arts and
cultural organizations, major statewide cultural institutions, and many community-based
groups and collaboratives. There is also a robust and growing community of individual
artists ranging from student to avocational to professional, from beginner to nationally
acclaimed. Raleigh residents value all arts and cultural experiences, from the rigor of the
North Carolina Symphony to the vibrancy of the African American Cultural Festival, to
informal participatory street bluegrass jam sessions during the Raleigh Wide Open
Music Festival and Community Music School's $1 lessons for families with economic
constraints.
Raleigh strongly values its sense of community. Residents often note that Raleigh has an
unusually open culture, with less hierarchy than other regions and a broadly shared sense
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of community and civic engagement. The overall demand for arts activities within the city
is very strong and significantly higher than national averages. As a result, there are often
fewer steps between beginners, amateurs and professional artists, between teaching
artists and eager students, between arts appreciators, performers and creators. And there
is a commitment to decreasing the number of steps between each of them by extending
the arts throughout the city while connecting already well-established arts and culture
nodes.
The Raleigh Arts Plan
The Raleigh Arts Plan, a community cultural plan, sets the creative vision for the capital
city as "a community connected through arts and culture, where every person is
empowered to lead the creative life they envision." It is rare for a community to focus so
directly on the cultural interests of all of its residents. Ahead of its time when approved in
2016 and unique across the South, this vision puts equity and inclusion at the heart of
Raleigh Arts' work and sets its strategic direction.
Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Department
Raleigh Arts is part of the City of Raleigh's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources
Department's (PRCR) Resources Division. The department plays a key role in
supporting
access to a high quality of life for all Raleigh residents and adding to the character and
charm of the Capital City. PRCR is responsible for 120 miles of greenway trails, 10,000
acres of land, and 1.3 million square feet of facilities, including community centers,
theatre facilities, visual art centers, cultural centers, and historic sites. PRCR offers a
wide range of creative programming opportunities, all year long, that promote social,
cultural, mental and physical well-being. The City's vision for its parks, recreation and
cultural resources system is "bringing people to parks and parks to people."
Raleigh Arts
Raleigh Arts administers the programs of the Raleigh Arts Commission and the Public Art
and Design Board, as well as managing Pullen and Sertoma Community Arts Centers and
facilitating arts programming across other City departments. Current Raleigh Arts
programs include:
* Raleigh Arts Partner Program, which partners with over 40 Raleigh-based nonprofit
organizations to actualize the Raleigh Arts Plan's Creative Life Vision via annual
funding ($2.7 million in FY27), capacity building, technical assistance, multi-year lease
agreements and other resources.
* Community art programs and awards, including Neighborhood Arts Funds,
Community-Initiated Public Art Projects, Poet Laureate Program, and the Raleigh
Medal of Arts.
* Public art initiatives focused on highlighting the histories, stories and cultures of
Raleigh's many communities through its Percent for Art Program, Raleigh Municipal
Building visual art exhibitions, the Municipal Art Collection and temporary public art
initiatives.
* Individual Artist Support through public art initiatives, paid artist residencies, Municipal
Art Collection purchases and paid exhibition opportunities.
* Universal Access and the Arts Program, which takes a universal design approach to
engaging people with disabilities in Raleigh's arts and cultural life via exhibitions by
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disabled artists, incorporating accessibility into public art projects such as audio
versions of printed text and audio description of visual art, prioritizing universal design
in the current Sertoma Arts Center renovation, and running a nationally-recognized
annual capacity building program for arts and cultural organizations.
* Collaborative arts programs across City departments, as well as with other arts
councils and community groups.
Documentation
* Raleigh Arts
* Raleigh Arts Plan
* Public Art Strategic Plan
1.3 Background - Project Context
To fully understand this long-range planning project, it is helpful to have some additional
information and context.
Project Impetus
Local nonprofit arts organizations and artists have been increasingly unsuccessful in
obtaining and maintaining creative spaces, a problem not uncommon to fast growing
municipalities. If the root causes of the problem are not found and solutions developed
to resolve them, it is likely that Raleigh will lose arts organizations and artists as they
move to other communities or close. It is also likely that Raleigh will not be able to grow
new, healthy, local arts organizations and artists in addition to the ones we already have
at a rate that matches the city's overall growth rate.
Project Goal
The goal of this planning project is to help the Raleigh Arts Community flourish across
the city by addressing and resolving issues related to obtaining and maintaining creative
space in ways that are authentic to Raleigh. Therefore, this project's goal is to develop
long-term, sustainable solutions and a roadmap to address:
* growing adaptive challenges faced by the Raleigh Arts Community in terms of
inclusive, sustainable and affordable creative spaces; and
* disparities in the geographic distribution of artmaking, art sharing (performance,
exhibition, events), and arts education sites across the city.
Primary Project Constituents - Raleigh's Arts Community
For this planning project, Raleigh's priority is cultivating a vibrant, flourishing, and
expansive arts ecosystem of nonprofit organizations, collaboratives, avocational and
professional artists. Therefore, Raleigh's Arts Community is this planning project's
primary constituency and focus.
Raleigh's Arts Community Definition: For this planning project Raleigh's Arts Community
comprises only arts groups and artists who struggle to obtain and sustain facilities on
their own. Specifically, we are talking about nonprofit arts organizations, collaboratives
and grassroots or community-based groups with budgets up to about $2 million.
Individual artists, whether part-time or full-time, who are in the process of growing their
career but are not yet at a point to afford studio, rehearsal or other spaces on their own,
are also considered members of Raleigh's Arts Community.
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What is "Creative Space"?
"Creative space", for the purposes of this project, includes any built structure or portion
thereof in which artmaking, sharing via performances/ exhibitions, learning, and/or
convening can occur. Anecdotally we know that Raleigh's Arts Community struggles to
find a wide range of spaces, such as rehearsal and classroom space, studio space,
performance and exhibition spaces, as well as storage, office and meeting spaces. We
chose the term Creative Spaces for this project to be open-minded about the ways and
types of structures that could address Raleigh's arts community's space needs.
2 SCOPE OF SERVICES
The awarded Firm shall provide services, all as set forth in this RFP and more particularly
described in this Section 2.
2.1 Working with Raleigh Arts
Raleigh Arts is typically an active and collaborative thought partner on projects. In
addition, staff will help with introductions to City and community leaders, obtaining City
plans and other documentation for review, booking City meeting sites and helping with
logistics, etc.
A steering committee comprising Raleigh Arts Commissioners, representatives of
Raleigh's Arts Community, City staff and community members with expertise in key
project areas will also partner on this project. The Firm can expect to engage with City
staff across multiple departments as well.
2.2 Guiding Principles
Guiding principles for this planning project include
* Creative Space as City Infrastructure: Developing a wholistic, vision for embedding
arts and culture across the city via the built environment is key to this planning
project.
* Authentic to Raleigh: The final plan should be a road map for addressing Raleigh's
Arts Community needs that provides strategies that are authentic to Raleigh,
leveraging Raleigh's unique assets and strengths while addressing gaps.
* Social Cohesion: Given the collaborative and collegial culture of Raleigh's Arts
Community and the extensive turnover in community members due to the pandemic,
the planning process should incorporate strategies to regrow community connective
tissue across key stakeholder groups and other project participants.
* Inclusive Design: Understanding that universal design makes things better for
everyone, the City values embedding inclusive design throughout the planning
process and in the final plan itself.
* Non-Displacement: This project seeks to improve the quality of life for Raleigh
residents currently living in the City. Creative space strategies that will have a ripple
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effect of shifting the socio-economic mix of a neighborhood making it unaffordable for
current community members are not acceptable.
2.3 General Requirements
General responsibilities include but are not limited to:
* Work collaboratively with City staff, the Raleigh Arts Commission, Public Art &
Design Board, and other key stakeholders.
* Consult on project scope and schedule through the Parks, Recreation and Cultural
Resources project manager and other staff or departments, as needed.
* Attend meetings and prepare meeting summaries, as needed and required, with City
staff and other applicable groups.
* Review existing documents, plans, studies and policies, and other pertinent
information regarding arts programming produced by Raleigh's arts community and
by the City.
* Work closely with City staff to design, lead and facilitate an equitable and inclusive
constituent & key stakeholder engagement plan that engages Raleigh's Arts
Community members and other key stakeholders in substantive and strategic ways.
An inclusive and meaningful engagement process recognizes that those who are
affected by decisions have a right to be involved in the decision-making process and
ensures that City strategic and long-range plans are shaped by the people they are
intended to serve.
2.4 Part 1: Develop Project Framework:
The Firm will work with City staff to develop the project framework. The framework will
outline the project objectives and outcomes, guiding principles, and lines of
communication with the City, identify known stakeholders, define constituent and key
stakeholder efforts, design the research path, chart a project communications plan,
confirm deliverable reports, and finalize the project timeline.
2.5 Part 2: Research, Assessment, and Analysis
Research, analysis and assessment of historic states, current conditions, and
anticipated changes over the next 10 years are required to provide adequate context
and a strong foundation upon which to ground the strategic planning process.
Research focus areas include:
* Raleigh's Arts Community health and capacity to obtain/maintain creative spaces
* Raleigh's Arts Community creative space usage, inventory, needs, and geographic
disbursement
* Local private and public philanthropic ecosystem, including arts and capital support,
and in comparison with other municipalities with flourishing arts communities
* Evaluation of Raleigh real estate landscape - public and private
* Identify relevant City of Raleigh policies, practices, plans, development ordinances,
building codes, and other relevant regulations that impact access to, development
and affordability of creative spaces
In collaboration with City staff, the Firm will design key research questions then develop
appropriate data-driven research, analysis and assessment strategies to answer them.
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The Firm will then carry out those strategies, which should include substantive and
intentional engagement with Raleigh's Arts Community members.
Deliverables: Research, analysis and assessment report that highlights key findings,
summarizes research results overall, and provides a historical look at key focus areas,
articulates current conditions, and identifies continued city growth and development
trends that will impact Raleigh's Arts Community over the next decade.
2.6 Part 3: Strategic Planning
The Firm shall design and facilitate a collaborative group planning process to engage
City staff and steering committee members in the development of key objectives, goals,
outcomes and strategies to achieve this project's overarching goal and incorporate them
into the final Raleigh's Arts Community Creative Spaces Plan.
Elements include:
1) Ensuring City staff and steering committee members start work with an
understanding of the project's overarching goals and foundational context developed
in Section 2.5: Research, Assessment, and Analysis.
2) Engaging these key stakeholders in an ideation process to develop key objectives,
goals and strategies for the final plan.
3) Checking the viability of those results via benchmarking, precedent research, and/or
other assessment mechanisms.
4) Looping back with results to City staff and steering committee members to further
refine the plan's key objectives, goals and strategies until consensus is reached.
5) Drafting the initial strategic plan for City staff and steering committee review and
revision.
Deliverables: Draft strategic plan that provides a plan overview, articulates plan
components, includes an implementation timeline and outlines the strategic planning
process used.
2.7 Part 4: Sharing the Planning Process and Plan: Communication & Documentation
For successful implementation, multiple constituencies must understand Raleigh's Arts
Community Creative Spaces Plan, how it is meaningful to them and their roles in
achieving its goals. Those constituencies include Raleigh Arts staff, departmental and
city leadership, elected officials, Raleigh Arts Commissioners, Raleigh's Arts Community
members, and the community at large. As a result, it is expected that a universal design
approach will be taken with all project documentation and reports.
General Communications Responsibilities Include:
* Developing all documentation, reports, slide decks, presentations, graphics, images
and other materials using a universal design approach that incorporates
communications and design best practices for people with disabilities.
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* Understanding the different communication styles and needs of the multiple
stakeholder and constituent groups to be engaged in this project, as well as the
community at large, and developing communications tools and documentation to
meet those specific needs.
* Developing and implementing a communications plan to ensure key stakeholders are
kept informed and engaged throughout the project.
* Preparing presentation documents and materials in formats suitable for public
meetings and other constituent and key stakeholder activities.
* Developing draft written report and/or plan documents as specified for each project
part.
* Incorporating document revisions after review by City staff and presentations to the
Raleigh Arts Commission, Public Art & Design Board, and other key stakeholder
groups.
* Preparing final report and/or plan documents for publication and distribution,
including graphic design elements.
Final Strategic Plan Report:
The Firm will write and design the Final Strategic Plan Report including:
* An executive summary
* Strategic plan, including goals, strategies and timeline, etc.
* research, assessment and analysis methodology description
* research, assessment and analysis results
* strategic planning process, methodology, and results
Deliverables: Communications strategy, meeting materials, documentation and
reports as needed for the planning process.
Final Raleigh's Arts Community Creative Spaces Plan report and documentation that
clearly articulates the plan and provides guidance for multiple constituencies, including
Raleigh Arts staff, departmental and city leadership, elected officials, Raleigh's Arts
Community members, and the community at large.
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3 REQUST FOR PROPOSAL PROCESS
3.1 Request for Proposal (RFP) Timeline
Provided below is a list of the anticipated schedule of events related to this solicitation.
The City of Raleigh reserves the right to modify and/or adjust the following schedule to
meet the needs of the service. All times shown are Eastern Time (EST):
RFP Process Date and time
Solicitation Date Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Friday, August 28, 2026
Join using this Microsoft Teams Meeting
Pre-Proposal Meeting
Link
(not required)
*Please RSVP via this Microsoft Form link
or by email to Bekah Torcasso
(Bekah.Torcasso@raleighnc.gov)
Deadline for written questions Friday, September 4, 2026
City Response to Questions
Friday, September 11, 2026
(anticipated)
Friday, September 25, 2026, by 5:00
Proposal Due Date and Time
p.m. EST
Evaluation Meeting
Mid October 2026
(anticipated)
Interviews
Late October 2026
(if required)
Selection Announcement
Late 2026 / Early 2027
(tentative)
3.2 Pre-Proposal Conference
Pre-Proposal Conference attendance by prospective proposers is strongly encouraged
but is not mandatory. Prospective Proposers are encouraged to submit written questions
in advance. Please register and submit written questions in advance via this link or by
email to Bekah Torcasso (Bekah.Torcasso@raleighnc.gov).
3.3 Proposal Questions
Requests for clarification and questions to this RFP must be received by the City not
later than the date shown above in Section 3.1: RFP Timeline for the submittal of
written inquiries. The firm's failure to request clarification and submit questions by the
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