INDIANAPOLIS (January 15, 2013) – The Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee (GIPC) has formed a special Cultural Arts Committee, in partnership with the Arts Council of Indianapolis, to coordinate a public competition to install African American art on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick.

The project will create a substantial piece of public art for the City of Indianapolis that will reflect the proud history of the African American community in central Indiana and become an iconic symbol integral to the identity of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, the neighborhood in which it resides, and downtown Indianapolis.

The new effort represents the next phase of a project that was postponed last year after a previous public art proposal failed to gain community support.  Following the postponement, the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), which has helped develop the Cultural Trail since its inception, asked GIPC and GIPC’s Race and Cultural Relations Leadership Network to manage a new public process.

GIPC appointed Bill Shrewsberry, GIPC Board Member and president of local engineering firm Shrewsberry & Associates, and Arts Council President/CEO Dave Lawrence, as co-chairs of the new effort.

“We believe we have an opportunity to advance a process that is informed by the previous effort and embraces, respects and affirms the concerns and interests of our entire community,” Shrewsberry said.

The Cultural Arts Committee will host five community forums to hear public input and ideas for the competition and art selection process.  Input from the forums will impact the nature, design and location of the art, anticipated to be installed in the summer of 2014.   The forums are free and open to the public:

Date                                              Location                                                                                       Time
January 21            Crispus Attucks High School, 1140 Dr. MLK Dr.             3 – 5 p.m.
January 28            Interchurch Center, 1100 W. 42nd St.                                   5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
February 2             Legacy Center, 727 N. Oriental St.                                           10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
February 9             Arlington High School, 4825 N. Arlington Ave.          10 a.m. – Noon
February 21           CAFÉ, 8902 E. 38th St.                                                                       7 – 9 p.m.

The committee also will work to ensure that the process (and the art that emerges from it) conforms to the following objectives: artistic quality, historical sensitivity, engagement and accessibility, and cultural competence and transparency.

“We have to get this right and build an enduring legacy for our city,” says Committee Co-Chair and Arts Council President/CEO Dave Lawrence. “We believe the community will be proud of the outcome.”

“I’m excited about and am proud to assist this new process,” says community activist and committee member Reggie Jones.  Jones had been an opponent of the previous proposal, and is engaged with the new committee providing strategic direction and counsel.

“We have a chance to make history and change the way community projects are done, be it art, education, civic relations or politics,” Jones says. “This entire process affirms the value of listening to the community and involving many people from diverse backgrounds in that effort.”