INDIANAPOLIS — While leveraging sports to raise Indianapolis’ profile, city leaders since the 1960s also have employed the arts in their revitalization efforts. On Feb. 5, the past, present and future of public art in the American city is the focus of a day of expert discussion at the University of Indianapolis.
Building Vibrant Cities Through Art is the third Richard M. Fairbanks Symposium on Civic Leadership, presented by UIndy’s Institute for Civic Leadership & Mayoral Archives in partnership with Indiana Humanities and the Arts Council of Indianapolis.
Featuring local and national arts leaders, the event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 5, opening with lunch in UIndy’s Schwitzer Student Center and closing with a reception in the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Attendees must register at uindyfairbankssymposium2016.eventbrite.com.
Participants will include:
• Penny Balkin Bach, executive director of the Association for Public Art in Philadelphia, the nation’s first private, nonprofit organization dedicated to integrating public art and urban planning
• Karen Freeman-Wilson, mayor of Gary, Ind., which is pursuing an arts-based placemaking strategy
• Michael Kaufmann, director of special projects and civic investment, Health & Hospital Corp. of Marion County
• Dave Lawrence, president/CEO, Arts Council of Indianapolis
• Mark Ruschman, chief fine arts curator, Indiana State Museum & Historic Sites
• Joanna Taft, executive director, Harrison Center for the Arts
• Jim Walker, executive director, Big Car Collaborative
In conjunction with the event, the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center Gallery will present Public Art in Indy: Roland Hobart and a New Era in the City, an exhibition of historical images and documents open Jan. 19 through Feb. 12.
Spotlighted in the show is the work of Hobart, designer of one of the city’s first substantial public art projects: a towering outdoor mural along Delaware Street commissioned for the Indianapolis Urban Walls Project in 1973. Other featured works will include Milton Glaser’s 1975 mural “Color Fuses” at the Minton-Capehart Federal Building and James McQuiston’s 1976 mural “The Runners” at 11 S. Meridian St.
Much of the material on display will come from UIndy’s Mayoral Archives, which detail efforts dating back to the Richard Lugar and William Hudnut mayoral administrations to spark urban renewal and enhance quality of life through the arts.
For more information on the symposium and exhibition, call (317) 788-2196.
