Indy Arts Council’s five-year strategic plan is a “collaborative roadmap” to making the city a daily destination for accessible arts and culture.
Indy Arts Council announced the strategic plan for 2025-2030 during a public meeting on June 25 at the Indianapolis Arts Garden. The plan is informed by data gathered from public surveys, focus groups and interviews, combining the voices of nearly 3,000 stakeholders, including artists, arts organizations and administrators, funders, civic partners and community residents, according to Judith Thomas, Indy Arts Council president.
The plan includes Indy Arts Council’s new mission, vision, values and pillars in addition to its top five priorities. “To champion arts and culture” goes hand in hand with the Indy Arts Council’s vision of “A creative life for all.” The organization’s new values aim to center care, community and creativity — in that order, “because at the end of the day, we care for our arts community,” Thomas said.
“The idea was to dream big, but ground ourselves in actionable, measurable strategies to achieve our priorities and our goals,” Thomas said, “It’s simple yet powerful, and we love how it conveys the energy and optimism of our winning mindset and our momentum in this great city that we live in. To champion arts and culture, and if we do this every day, we will deliver on our vision of a creative life.”
The pillars — invest, advocate and connect — ground Indy Arts Council to the work they do and their commitment to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, access and belonging all that they do, Thomas said. These things are embedded throughout the entire strategic plan, including key priorities, strategies and actions.
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The five key priorities Indy Arts Council is directing its focus on over the next five years include:
Sustainable funding
Indy Arts Council aims to expand and diversify sustainable funding for local artists and arts-based organizations in hopes of becoming one of the top five annual funding ounces for Indy-based creatives.
Everyday arts access
The strategic plan also aims to ensure arts, culture and creativity are accessible to all regional residents every day. This means having “more art for more people in more places,” according to the strategic plan.
Increased awareness
Lack of awareness poses a barrier to engagement in the arts in Indianapolis, as identified by data collected for the strategic plan. Indy Arts Council aims to be the “go-to information source” for arts and culture regionally.
Professional development and shared resources
Indy Arts Council is also dedicated to increasing professional development and services for regional artists and arts-based organizations to make Central Indiana a destination for creatives and entrepreneurs.
Arts and culture destination
Lastly, the five-year strategic plan would catalyze investments for an arts and culture hub and festival, which would place Indianapolis in the running to be a top 10 national arts and culture destination.
“We have a lot of community input, and that’s what it’s all about in the city of Indianapolis, working together and collaborating to see this all become a true reality and a working document for the next five years,” Thomas said.
To learn more about Indy Arts Council’s findings and priorities over the next five years, visit indyarts.org/strategic-plan.
Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.
Chloe McGowan is the Arts & Culture Reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. Originally from Columbus, OH, Chloe graduated with a degree in journalism from The Ohio State University. She is a former IndyStar Pulliam Fellow, and her previous work includes freelancing for Indy Maven, Assistant Arts & Life Editor for The Lantern, and editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Chloe enjoys covering all things arts and culture — from local music, visual art, dance, theater and film, as well as minority-owned businesses. In her free time, Chloe enjoys reading, cooking and keeping her plants alive.
