Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program

Overview

About Us

The Walton Family Foundation is rooted in several generations of family, where no voice is louder than the next and different opinions are valued. By applying this legacy to our work, we are redefining the way philanthropy collaborates with grantees and communities to take on some of the world’s biggest problems.

We do this by bringing diverse perspectives to the same table: caregivers and conservationists, educators and entrepreneurs, farmers and futurists, doers and dreamers. By listening to and learning from their experiences, we can reach a shared understanding and create innovative solutions that achieve true impact.

We work in three areas:

* strengthening the connections between K-12 education and lifelong opportunity,
* protecting rivers, oceans and the communities they support and
* advancing our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta.

In previous years, the foundation awarded $749.5 million in grants to further our mission. We have offices in Bentonville, Arkansas; Washington, D.C.; Jersey City, New Jersey; and Denver, Colorado.

Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program

The Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program promotes the highest level of design in the development of future public buildings and spaces in Benton and Washington counties. Through the Design Excellence Program, the Walton Family Foundation regularly partners with local municipalities and nonprofit organizations by offering financial support for all aspects of design.

Over the last 25 years, the population in Northwest Arkansas has more than doubled, creating opportunities and challenges in planning and design. The Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program seeks to address these opportunities by encouraging the design of inclusive public spaces that put people first. Since its inception in 2015, the program has supported 17 projects across the region, from transformative downtown parks to municipal buildings to performance venues.

This RFQ will result in addition of selected firms to an approved list of design professionals. As projects are determined in future, the Design Excellence Selection Committee will review the project’s unique design needs and choose a core group of design professionals from the approved list who may be a good fit for the project. This core group will be presented to the grantee for consideration and final approval. Final decisions on the design professional and design outcome will be made by the grantee. Addition to the list of approved firms does not guarantee that a firm will be paired with a project or selected by a grantee for a project.

The program funds projects developed with a clear understanding of how people use and experience public space in the intersection of life and the built environment. It places further emphasis on inclusive community engagement and representation throughout all phases of design and development, and by utilizing collaboratively defined metrics to evaluate projects throughout their conceptualization, design and development.

Guiding Principles

The Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program is defined by a set of commonly held principles. The selection of design professionals, participating projects and program success are all measured against these core values. We measure performance to learn, and to apply the lessons learned to future work. These principles are supported by goals and metrics for all stakeholders to stand behind, and they apply to different projects, at different scales and spaces.

* Strengthen Public Life:
* Create opportunities for people to spend quality time in public – moving or staying, alone or with others
* Celebrate Local Cultures and Place:
* Enhance and respond to local social history and cultures as well as climate and geography
* Elevate Standards of Sustainability and Resilience:
* Adhere to standards of sustainability, elevate ambitions and demonstrate relation of resilience to people and place
* Build Regional Capacity:
* Raise local ambitions and build knowledge and skills among the design community and public

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* Design professionals will be able to participate in the Design Excellence Program for up to five years, or until they are selected for a project.
* Selection does not guarantee an interview for a project, nor does it guarantee that a project will ultimately be approved.
* For approved projects, the grantee is provided a limited budget to reimburse each interviewed design firm’s transportation and interview presentation expenses.
* Projects are typically selected through:
* A direct invitation from the Walton Family Foundation to apply for the program based on the organization’s potential to enhance the foundation’s efforts

* An open call for applications that complement the Walton Family Foundation’s efforts to support a specific area of design such as developing green spaces or enhancing urban design at the neighborhood scale
* This selection process is designed to accommodate firms of all sizes, including nationally recognized, multi-disciplinary firms, smaller specialty firms and young professionals who may not yet be discovered.
* The program is expected to generate meaningful partnerships between in-state and out-of state firms.
* However, partnership agreements are not needed during the initial review process and should only be considered after a design professional has been selected as a finalist for a specific project.

* Measuring Success:
* Each Design Excellence Program project is different and will have different outcomes, but all share similar values.
* Below are sample methods that can be used to collect baseline (before) and post-occupancy (after) data for each project:
* Spatial Observation Survey – to document site conditions
* Intercept Questionnaires – to capture data on visitor demographics, experience and perception of a space
* Social Observation Survey – to observe activities and who uses the space
* Civic Engagement – to collect qualitative feedback on what the wider community desires
* Social Media – to see how people share their experiences visiting your space on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms