Raleigh’s Arts Community Creative Spaces Plan

The City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Department is requesting proposals for the development of Raleigh's Arts Community Creative Spaces Plan, a long-range strategic plan addressing creative space challenges for nonprofit arts organizations, collaboratives, and individual artists, with proposals due September 25, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. EST and a non-mandatory pre-proposal conference on August 28.

The scope spans four parts: developing a project framework; conducting research, assessment, and analysis of creative space needs and geographic distribution; strategic planning with stakeholder engagement; and communications and documentation with universal design principles. The City seeks firms with demonstrated expertise in strategic planning, research and data analysis, constituent and stakeholder engagement, municipal planning processes, arts and cultural facility assessment, and project management. Proposers must submit comprehensive proposals not exceeding 75 pages, including corporate background with at least three references from similar projects within the past five years, project manager qualifications and experience, detailed project understanding and approach with timeline, constituent engagement strategies, team experience and certifications, financial statements demonstrating stability, and itemized cost breakdowns with fully burdened hourly rates.

The contract budget shall not exceed $250,000, inclusive of all expenses and fees, with compensation structured as a not-to-exceed total amount paid according to NET 30 terms from invoice date. Contract term will be defined upon award and may include renewal options as specified in the executed contract.

Evaluation uses weighted Stage 1 scoring: firm background 15%, project manager experience 15%, project understanding and approach 30%, constituent engagement strategy 10%, team experience 15%, submission quality 5%, financial stability 5%, and cost 5%. Stage 2 interviews may award up to five additional points. The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and is not bound to accept the lowest cost submission.

Written questions are due September 4, with anticipated City responses on September 11. Evaluation meetings are anticipated for mid-October 2026, with interviews potentially in late October and selection announcement expected in late 2026 or early 2027. Proposals may be submitted electronically via email (maximum 24MB) or by U.S. Postal Service mail with both hard copy and electronic versions on USB flash drive.