Page last updated on January 26, 2023 at 11:54 am
Each week, Mayor Hamilton, Deputy Mayor Carmichael, and other city employees provide video updates on recent news and key initiatives. Access all of the weekly video updates at bloomington.in.gov/videoupdates.
Join Mayor Hamilton and Assistant Director for the Arts Holly Warren as they discuss the arts feasibility study released in October 2022 and the progress made since its publication.
Based on extensive public input and analysis, the Study Team made several key recommendations: retain the Waldron Arts Center as a core asset, increase community programming and downtown and neighborhood activation, no new performing arts center, create an arts and culture incubator, and integrate arts and culture into a proposed expanded convention center.
The City of Bloomington, in partnership with Trahan Architects, released recommendations in October 2022 to advance the arts across the city. The 2021 Waldron Recommendation Task Force recommended the study and was part of the Recover Forward initiative to help the community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Access the full report and background information at: https://bton.in/GFKcc
Questions and report feedback can be directed to Holly Warren, Assistant Director for the Arts holly.warren@bloomington.in.gov.
Transcript
John Hamilton:
Hi, it's Mayor John Hamilton again. Thanks for joining us. Today We are with Holly Warren, the Director of the Arts for the city. Thank you for joining us.
Holly Warren:
Of course.
John Hamilton:
A couple months ago we did an arts update, but we thought it might be useful to give another update on how things are going in this wonderful part of the city. So I know we had a pretty substantial arts study that came out late last year that made a few recommendations. Some I remember. I know they said, you don't need to build a big, brand-new arts facility in the city.
Holly Warren:
That's right.
John Hamilton:
We got a lot going on.
Holly Warren:
We have a lot of resources already.
John Hamilton:
Two, they said our Waldron is a pretty good facility.
Holly Warren:
It's great.
John Hamilton:
To keep using.
Holly Warren:
Yeah. Yeah.
John Hamilton:
Three, they said, if and when you do a convention center expansion, you should really think about pouring the arts into that, making sure that's a great opening. And then there are a couple others, so help me with those.
Holly Warren:
Sure, yeah. So there are a couple others. So again, thinking outside of facilities, we need to think about art not just happening in a performing art center but happening all over, on street corners. We have the idea, you walk outside and you can hear music. So thinking about how can we do programs to get art on the street and with students in K-12 programs?
John Hamilton:
Great.
Holly Warren:
And then we're also thinking, while we have enough venues for people to perform, what we don't have is facilities for artists to make things, whether it's visual arts or a new piece of music or a new work of dance. So we are recommending an incubator facility for artists to be able to make new things.
John Hamilton:
Okay, so new programming, new coordination, all that plus a potential new facility, an incubator. I think of it like the mill for artists.
Holly Warren:
Exactly. That's exactly it, yeah.
John Hamilton:
So those were on the topic, on the recommendation list, and what have we been doing? Where are we on that? Tell me whats' going on.
Holly Warren:
Sure, yeah. So we're partnering with a lot of local entities to do more programs. We're looking at partnering with more entities to do programs in schools and in the downtown neighborhood and in neighborhoods. And again, this is with the idea of getting young students the resources they need from the beginning to engage in the arts and using the arts to just...
John Hamilton:
Are we giving them money?
Holly Warren:
Oh, we are giving them money.
John Hamilton:
Okay, how does this happen?
Holly Warren:
Yeah, we have ARPA funds and the tax increase.
John Hamilton:
The new income tax, okay.
Holly Warren:
To be able to do this.
John Hamilton:
Good.
Holly Warren:
So we're so grateful to have that. And again, that's just going to make sure that K-12 students have access to arts resources. And it also means we're going to be able to do more public art programming both downtown and in neighborhoods to help our community members feel like they have a sense of connection with each other through the arts. So this is incredibly exciting, and I can't wait to start digging into this work in these months.
John Hamilton:
So people should watch out for that stuff.
Holly Warren:
They should
John Hamilton:
See that. And is one other thing, we're doing kind of a communication effort to help?
Holly Warren:
Right, and that's key because one thing that was recommended throughout this entire study is, hey, you have got these amazing facilities to present performances, and now we're going to start doing these things to get more artists involved in programs and get more audiences involved in seeing programs. So we also need a communications platform to make sure this information is effectively getting out to the world.
John Hamilton:
So you're working on that?
Holly Warren:
We are working on that, yes.
John Hamilton:
Okay.
Holly Warren:
That was a high recommendation.
John Hamilton:
Good.
Holly Warren:
So we're very focused on that. We're actually working with partners at IU and the community to create this resource platform. We're so excited about it. We're really hoping this is just going to get people feel like they know where they need to go if they want to take a class if they want to see a performance if they want to sell or show their visual work. It's super exciting.
John Hamilton:
Great.
Holly Warren:
Yeah.
John Hamilton:
That's good. I know that was part of it. And then lastly, I just wanted to touch on that incubator idea which is, I know, we've looked at different places. You may mention that Hopewell was one idea, the old hospital sight, but also you're thinking shorter-term too, right?
Holly Warren:
Right, so we have to think about this in two ways. So Trahan did propose a very large-scale, long-term facility for this. But as we know, that will take time. And we want to make sure that artists who are in our community now don't have to wait for that. We want them to be able to make it work now. So we're also going to do some exploration this year of smaller facilities where we can kind of beta-test this incubator model. So we're going to be looking at a smaller site where we can hopefully invite artists to just do their work and experiment, and we'll learn.
John Hamilton:
Can I go watch them, maybe?
Holly Warren:
Sure, I mean, we'll have to get their goods in.
John Hamilton:
And it's not like a public space though?
Holly Warren:
Yeah. We are hoping that there will be opportunities for the public to come in. There will be open studio hours where you can go see what it means to make a work of art.
John Hamilton:
Yeah, great.
Holly Warren:
Yeah, so that's the kind of thing we're working on in 2023; again, we're super excited.
John Hamilton:
Well, Holly, I'm really glad. Thanks for y'all paying attention to this; looking at an update for the arts. There's always more information online. Holly, you're awesome. Thank you for your help in moving all this forward. This art is so important to the city of Bloomington. It's in our DNA. And this new study is giving us some new directions, and I think it will be quite interesting to follow. And I hope you'll enjoy them. Thanks again for your attention.
Holly Warren:
Great, thanks.