Application deadline: February 29, 2024, 11:59pm
Office of the Provost, Massachusetts Hall, Harvard Yard
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
This memorial project is a key component of the broader Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative which launched after Harvard University released the report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery in April 2022. That report exposed the interconnections between Harvard, slavery, and its legacies, revealing difficult truths about the University’s direct, financial, and intellectual ties to slavery. Harvard is committed to reckoning with these difficult truths. Underscoring this commitment is an endowment of 100 million USD, which will support this reparative work in perpetuity and transform the recommendations from the report into action.
The Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) Memorial Project Committee invites artists, architects, designers, multi-disciplinary teams, and other creators to express their interest in conceiving a site or sites on Harvard’s Cambridge campus for commemoration and reflection, as well as for listening to and living with the University’s legacy of slavery. We seek expressions of interest from those with investments of thought and practice in memorialization, ritual, community-building, history, and questions about the future.
In particular, we are interested in creative visions that activate and make visible complex dynamics, such as: permanence and vitality; honor and rebuke; ecology and the built environment; institutional interest and the common good. We welcome submissions from individuals, collaboratives, and teams rooted in traditional or non-traditional memorial practices at any stage of their career.
The anticipated timeline for completion of the memorial is summer 2027. The University has provisionally budgeted approximately $4M for this project inclusive of artist fees, materials, fabrication, and construction costs. Additional funds from the Legacy of Slavery endowment may be available for short and long-term planning, programming, and engagement. Upon review of all RFQ submissions, the Memorial Project committee will invite a small group of finalists to visit Harvard, meet with community members, and submit formal proposals to be considered for the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Memorial. Questions may be emailed to LegacyofSlavery_Memorial [at] harvard.edu. RFQ submissions are due on the online application portal by Thursday, February 29, 2024 11:59PM EST.
