JAUNT joins CAT in 4th Annual mobile mural initiative enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of commuters
Tom Tom Founders Festival, Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT), and JAUNT have opened the public voting process for finalists of the City Art Bus Competition. The 2018 Art Buses will transform a 35’ clean diesel CAT bus and a 28’ JAUNT bus into moving murals that will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people.
Public voting opens today and closes Friday, December 15th at 11:59pm. The winner will be chosen from among the 10 designs by combining the results of the public vote, votes from both CAT and JAUNT Bus Drivers, and a juried panel. All the designs will be featured in a public art installation this spring as part of the Tom Tom Founders Festival in CAT bus shelters throughout the city.
More details and the public voting form are available at: tomtomfest.com
2018 Finalists:
The competition invited artists throughout Virginia to participate in Tom Tom Founders Festival ‘City as Canvas’ initiative, which transforms public spaces through murals, public performance, art installations, and innovative collaborations with local organizations during the Tom Tom Founders Festival, which will occur again April 9-15, 2018.
“One of Tom Tom’s most popular public art projects is the City Art Bus,” said Festival Director Paul Beyer. “ In the spirit of the festival, we crowd-source designs, and then offer the public an opportunity to engage with the artwork and vote on their favorites. The project also couldn’t be done without the tremendous community spirit of our partners, CAT and JAUNT, who embrace the project as a wonderful addition to the public transit experience.”
“The Art Bus initiative has been a great project that not only brings smiles to the faces of our passengers but helps furnish a medium for artists to showcase their work,” said CAT’s Marketing Coordinator, Westley Kern. “Over the years, we’ve been able to create something our community can truly be proud of. I can’t wait to see what the public selects for the next design!”
“JAUNT has always thought of itself as the community’s canvas,” said PR and Marketing Director Brian Cohen. “For over 40 years, we’ve displayed our area’s diversity in terms of our ridership. Now we get to exhibit that as locally created art while we travel through a collage of neighborhoods.” JAUNT makes over 300,000 trips annually in Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Louisa, and Nelson Counties, as well as Charlottesville.
The inaugural Art Bus was completed in 2015 by prolific Richmond muralist Mickael Broth. The 2017 Art Bus, which can still be seen driving on various CAT routes today, was designed by Paul Hostetler.
