LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) voted recently to designate official cultural districts in three Indiana communities: Bloomington, Carmel and Lafayette-West Lafayette.

“I congratulate the Indiana Arts Commission for bringing to life the vision of House Enrolled Act 1017,” said Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford. Koch authored the 2008 legislation to establish the state designation.

During its December quarterly meeting in Indianapolis, commissioners representing all areas of the state voted to accept proposals from Bloomington, Carmel, and Lafayette-West Lafayette. Rep. Koch officially announced the designations today during the annual Arts Day at the State House program sponsored by the Indiana Coalition for the Arts.

“These initial three communities have set the standard for future cultural district plans around the state,” Rep. Koch added. “As our nation continues to shift from an industrial manufacturing economy to one based on ideas, information, and experiences, the arts and culture are becoming important economic assets and can be an engine for economic growth in Hoosier communities large and small. Our state cultural district designation is an important tool within a policy portfolio designed to help us capitalize on our cultural resources in ways that encourage both economic prosperity and civic wellbeing.”

The official state designation provides significant opportunity for marketing, promotion, and potentially leveraging resources through various partnerships.

“The development of arts and culture is an essential tool for the City of Lafayette in many ways,” said Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski. “It is a component of overall economic development and quality of life strategies that are vital to attracting and retaining business and residents. It is also central to our efforts for downtown revitalization. The newly designated Tippecanoe Arts and Culture District will further our goals for downtown as a destination for living, working and entertainment. We expect to work with the IAC to promote our district and leverage its assets for tourism and business development opportunities.”

“We are proud to receive this designation from the Indiana Arts Commission,” said West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis. “To be recognized as a community that embraces and supports the arts is important to our continued commitment to provide a quality of life that is attractive to our residents.”

Communities interested in applying for the 2010 Cultural Districts certification must submit letters of intent by June 30, 2010 and applications are due by August 11, 2010.

On behalf of the people of Indiana, the Indiana Arts Commission advocates engagement with the arts to enrich the quality of individual and community life.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) and the Arts Council of Indianapolis announced today that 24 cultural program providers will receive federal economic stimulus funds totaling more than a half-million dollars.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds will be coming to Indiana from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help retain jobs at local arts organizations and cultural programming providers threatened by declines in philanthropic support during the current economic downturn.

The first installment of federal stimulus grants was announced early this week by the NEA and in the form of direct grants to five Indiana organizations. Those organizations include Elkhart Center, Inc. ($50,000); Fischoff National Chamber Music Association, Notre Dame, ($25,000); Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, ($50,000); and South Shore Arts, Inc., Munster ($50,000).

The Arts Council of Indianapolis will also receive stimulus funds directly from the NEA. A total of $200,000 will be combined with the IAC’s funds and will be granted to nine organizations within Marion County. The IAC will receive $273,000, all of which will be granted to 15 Indiana arts providers.

In addition to the stimulus grants to the IAC and the Arts Council of Indianapolis, the Endowment will also provide a direct grant of $514,400 to Arts Midwest, a regional arts organization based in Minneapolis that works in collaboration with the IAC. Through a special arrangement, Arts Midwest is partnering with the IAC to provide ARRA funding to selected Indiana organizations. A total of $52,942 will come from Arts Midwest to Indiana organizations.

“We accepted grant applications earlier this summer and received more than 80 applications,” said IAC Executive Director Lewis C. Ricci. “These grants will help preserve jobs critical to maintaining professional arts organizations.”

All total, about $650,000 in federal stimulus funds will be coming to Indiana to preserve jobs in the arts. According to a recent NEA study, more than 19,000 Hoosiers consider the arts as their primary career and source of income.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) announced today the implementation of a new regional funding formula designed to more equitably distribute public arts funding throughout the state.

“This new funding formula was developed with the input of all 12 of our Regional Arts Partners, and represents their joint recommendations,” explained Lewis C. Ricci, IAC executive director. “The purpose was to adjust our regional block grant distributions in such a way to more fairly reflect the geographic size and population of each region, as well as its unique cultural needs.”

Early this year the Regional Arts Partners formed a taskforce to tackle the problem of under-funding in some of the more rural IAC regions. The primary challenge was to redistribute the available funds – regardless of any future changes in the IAC’s budget allocations.

“The Regional Arts Partners all agreed some regions were severely under-funded,” said Jeff Kuehl, chair of the Regional Arts Partner Consortium and Regional Coordinator for the Columbus Area Arts Council. “With the limited funds available the Partners knew some regions could experience a modest reduction in their block grant, but they also recognized that for the future health of the partnership initiative and the cultural interests of all 92 counties, something needed to be done to level the arts funding in Indiana.”

Recommended jointly by the 12 Regional Arts Partners and ratified by the Indiana Arts Commission at its June meeting in Fort Wayne, the new funding formula is almost totally based on region population as documented by the U.S. Census.

“The Regional Arts Partners really took the initiative in trying to resolve this issue knowing that in some cases it could mean a slight funding reduction to some regions,” Ricci said. “The Partners agreed that a more equitable funding formula was not only needed, but should be maintained regardless of what may happen with state budget allocations.”

The resulting formula will be applied each year based on available state funding for the Regional Block Grant. The new regional funding formula will be introduced in stages to allow for a period of budget adjustment. Fifty percent of the funding change will occur in Fiscal Year 2010 (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010) with 100 percent of the change taking place in Fiscal Year 2011.

For more information on the Regional Block Grant revisions, please visit: www.IN.gov/arts/3047.htm.
For more information about the Regional Arts Partnership, please visit www.IN.gov/arts.

The Tippecanoe Arts Federation is the Region IV Arts Partner. Region IV serves 14 surrounding counties. Activities of the Tippecanoe Arts Federation are provided, in part, with support from the Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency, with funds from the Indiana General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.