Asheville Airport Seeks Artists for Two $400,000 Terminal Installations

Lew Bleiweis wants travelers arriving at Asheville Regional Airport to know immediately where they've landed. To close the gap between generic airport and genuine sense of place, AVL launched a nationwide search for artists capable of delivering two large-scale permanent installations inside the terminal it is building under the $400 million-plus AVL Forward modernization program.

The airport issued a Request for Qualifications on April 1, inviting artist teams from across the country to submit credentials for two distinct commissions: one sited in the new terminal's grand hall, the main entrance point, and one in the airside concessions area. The total commission budget is $400,000, intended to cover artwork production, fabrication, and integration with the terminal's architecture.

Bleiweis, AVL's president and CEO, framed the program as both an aesthetic and civic statement. The airport offers "an opportunity to bring world-class art into the heart of our airport" and to "reflect the region it serves," he said.

The selection runs in stages. Artists and artist-led teams submit qualifications through CallForEntry.org, the industry-standard CaFÉ platform used for public art procurement, by the June 22 deadline. A shortlisted group of finalists will then be invited to develop full proposals before a selection panel makes final awards. The RFQ is open nationally, though AVL has signaled it is seeking work rooted in Western North Carolina's identity: mountain landscapes, natural materials, Indigenous and Appalachian cultural references, and community narratives are the types of themes the airport highlighted as relevant to the program's intent.

The public art solicitation builds on two programs AVL already operates, Art in the Airport and Music in the Airport, but the scale and permanence of these new commissions marks a significant step up. Rotating gallery work is one thing; a $400,000 integrated installation in a grand hall that will greet every arriving passenger is another.

That exposure matters as context for Buncombe County artists weighing whether to apply. AVL has recorded record travel numbers in recent years, meaning commissioned work will have genuine public visibility on a scale few regional commissions can offer. The new terminal is designed to make the airport a more memorable entry point to the mountain region, and art is, by the airport's own framing, central to that goal, not decorative afterthought.

For the broader AVL Forward program, the art call signals continued forward motion on a multi-phase construction effort that represents one of the largest public infrastructure investments in Western North Carolina's recent history. The $400,000 art budget is modest against total construction costs exceeding $400 million, but it is the clearest measure of whether the airport intends to build something travelers remember or simply a place to catch a flight. AVL has not specified how it will evaluate success beyond the selection process itself, a question worth revisiting once installations are complete and the terminal opens.

The June 22 deadline gives prospective applicants roughly 11 weeks from the RFQ's release to assemble their submissions through CallForEntry.org.