3A: Maximize Artistic Expression

Value to the Community

Art, both visual and performance, distinguishes places from others, reveals and celebrates our diversity, and facilitates critical thinking and conversation in very approachable ways. Artists and the design thinking process they use can engage and celebrate the stories and dreams of our residents and neighborhoods, improving our quality of life while helping our community be more inclusive of all people and places.

Value to the Hospitality Industry

The arts are a draw of their own, and using them in more public ways helps to create a more distinct visitor experience, leading to increased satisfaction and destination appeal.

Updates

• April 2025. Plans for new Tamika Catchings Mural. In anticipation of the WNBA All-Star events in Indianapolis, the Indy Arts Council is commissioning a new portrait mural honoring Indiana Fever legend Tamika Catchings. The mural will be featured on a building in the Massachusetts Avenue area. Four finalists were selected, and public voting to choose the artist has now closed.
• July 2024. Public Art Project Grants. Art for Neighborhoods allotted nine grants to art projects that would be going up in various neighborhoods throughout the city. Art for All granted two art projects that would address public art equity issues.
• April 2024. Herron Art Students’ Eclipse Posters. Indianapolis was in the path of totality for the solar eclipse on the 8th. In commemoration, three Herron Art and Design Students designed themed posters and gave them out at the airport and White River State Park. The students included Frances Dimaranan, Ines Galindo, and Marissa Eckert.
• March 2024. Artists with Disabilities Display. In honor of March being National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, the Indianapolis International Airport partnered with the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities to feature art made by local artists with disabilities.
• February 2024. NBA All-Star Weekend Showcases Art. The NBA All-Star 2024 Host Committee partnered with local art groups Indy Arts Council, GANGGANG, and Indiana Humanities to intertwine the big sports event with art exhibits beyond the stadium for visitors and locals to explore. This included a 19,000 sq ft pop-up exhibit highlighting Black artists, 6-foot-tall basketball statues across downtown decorated to symbolize history, a cultural corridor highlighting local brands, basketball themed film festival, projection map artworks and video arts, two murals, downtown sidewalk galleries, and a graffiti freestyle piece. Participating artists include Rob Bentley, Bezol One, Rafael Caro, Lucian Agape, Tylar Dickmeyer, Tusk 100, Mike Graves, Nathaniel Johnson, Slice, Ess McKee, Ron Lewhorn, Holly Sims, Invisible Hometown, Koda Witsken and Fitz.
• November 2023. Music and Arts Education Expands. The Indiana University Department of Music and Arts Technology will join the IU Herron School of Art & Design on the Indianapolis campus. They hope this will build on the strength of the state’s top accredited arts and design program while expanding opportunities for students and faculty.
• September 2023. Providing Opportunities to Indiana Artists. A New York-based initiative, Artists at Work, recently expanded its efforts to Indianapolis by partnering with Herb Simon Family Foundation and the Central Indiana Community Foundation. This program hopes to provide artists with a living wage and health benefits for up to a year while pairing them with a local service organization. The artist can continue making their choice in art while also supporting the local organization with their artistic talent. The initiative hopes this will help encourage more support for paying local artists and their benefit to one's company.
• August 2023. New Plaza outside Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Bicentennial Unity Plaza, out front of the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, got a $28 million grant from Lilly Endowment to fund the installations focusing on connecting Indiana’s past and present. The site now features green space, a basketball court/ice rink, two large interactive sculptures by artist Hermann Meija, and a mural showing 43 Indiana Legends by artist Anna Murphy.
• June 2023. New Art at the Airport. The Indianapolis airport will be getting a new permanent art installation for the first time since 2008. It was created by a student at the Herron School for Art and Design at IUPUI.
• August 2021. Public Art for All Inventory. In the summer of 2021, an inventory of 3,090 works of art visible from the street were inventoried.