The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, in partnership with the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT), announced its call for artists to participate in the “Paint the Town” initiative to promote and bring more public art murals to downtown Bethesda. This year’s project is a 30,000 square-foot mural that will cover the outside of MCDOT’s Woodmont-Rugby Public Parking Garage 35 located at 8216 Woodmont Avenue to make it more colorful and welcoming for commuters, visitors and residents.

Artists are invited to submit mural proposals by April 6 that have a transportation theme including, but not limited to, depictions of cars, bicycles, walking, public transportation and more. A fee of $32,500 will be provided to the successful artist to pay for time, supplies, fabrication, installation, travel and other project related expenses.

The selected artist must use a paint specifically made for outdoor and concrete use, such as Keim, SherKryl, NovaColor by Artex or Golden Artist Colors, etc. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and a resident of Washington, DC, Maryland or Virginia. Prior experience with design and installation of large-scale murals is required. Proposers are asked to submit a detailed, site-specific plan online at bethesdaarts.submittable.com. The artist will be chosen by June 30 and the project must be completed within four weeks of the start date. 

For more information, call 301-215-6660, ext. 120, or email artist@bethesda.org.

The state of Maryland designated downtown Bethesda as an Arts & Entertainment District July 1, 2002 and the District is managed by the Bethesda Urban Partnership with the mission of creating and implementing arts and entertainment projects that contribute to the artistic, cultural and economic growth of downtown Bethesda.

Browse a collection of colorful murals located within the Bethesda Arts and Entertainment district.

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