MUNSTER | Despite funding cuts to art programs in public schools nationwide, the arts create economic development and revitalize entire communities.
That message about Creative Placemaking for the Arts echoed throughout a panel discussion Tuesday sponsored by the Indiana Arts Commission at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts moderated by Lewis Ricci, executive director of the commission.
Audrey II, the monstrous Venus flytrap from the theater’s current production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” was a whimsical and appropriate backdrop for the talk about the state of the arts in Indiana and the United States.
Rocco Landesman, chairman of the Washington, D.C.–based National Endowment for the Arts, joined a group of central and southern Indiana art advocates for the discussion on stage at the Theatre at the Center.
The group toured artistic venues in South Bend earlier in the day. Members delivered the idea that support for the arts needs to come from three areas: nonprofits, for-profits and government.
Panelists included State Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, who has sponsored several bills in the Indiana General Assembly, including the creation of a cultural district designation and recognition of Traditional Arts Indiana, Indiana Artisan and the Indiana Cultural Trust. His district includes Nashville and Brown County where art is “the fabric of the community and economic engine.” Read more…
