Dear friends of CAAC, 

As we continue to “Propel the Arts Forward”, we would like to extend our gratitude to everyone who supported this year’s Uncommon Cause! Your contributions directly impact our youth, provide resources to local creative talent, and enhance our community. We are grateful to each of you for valuing what the arts bring to Columbus. Thank you!!

Our team has been at full speed ahead, completing the 16th Street Neighborhood Asphalt Art Project, launching two new pilots, the Youth Arts Summer Program led by our 2021 Arts Educators In-residence, and hosting two visiting artists as part of our Creative Residency at Studio 207. Jennefer Hoffmann and Jamie Lynn Williams each spent a week working in the studio, connected with our community, while being immersed in all that Columbus has to offer. 

In celebration of the Columbus Area Bicentennial, we have two inspiring exhibits on view, Making: 200 Years at The Workshop, highlighting artists and designers with connections to Columbus and Anchor, Move, Connect: Henry Moore’s Large Arch, curated by Tricia Gilson from the Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives, at 411 Gallery. We invite you to learn more about these exhibits and join us for the public receptions in September. Those events are listed on the CAAC Calendar. 

You may have noticed some upgrades to 6th Street! Thanks to our generous sponsors, the 6th Street Arts Alley Project is well on its way. With the wall and ground plane mural implementation scheduled for this fall, CAAC and LAA Office will be announcing specific dates and details on how you can participate in this creative placemaking project. Stay tuned! 

It’s been rewarding to see the evolution of these programs and projects. More importantly, to experience the transformative power that the arts have on our daily lives, challenging us all to be better together. 

With gratitude, 

Kathryn Armstrong
Executive Director

Work has begun on the 6th Street Arts Alley!
With close proximity to art and cultural organizations and local businesses, this urban activation project designed by LAA Office is shaping 6th Street into a dynamic space for programs and community activities at the heart of the city!

6th Street was recently repaved and custom planters have been installed in preparation for the project. 

We are looking forward to installing the street mural in October!
Stay up-to-date on the project at artsincolumbus.org/6th-street-arts-alley, and sign up to volunteer at https://forms.gle/D7Pt9wAgj9R2PWT86.

CAAC and LAA Office have created a survey to get more community insight into the 6th Street Arts Alley project. 

Let us know your thoughts about the programs and activities you'd like to see downtown at forms.gle/dJcUNER9j4DLzkq29.

The 6th Street Arts Alley is supported by the City of Columbus, Columbus Area Visitors Center, Indiana Arts Commission Cultural District partnership, CREA and First Financial Bank, Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, IU Presidential Arts and Humanities and J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program, and by individual contributions from the community.

A new exhibition is open at 411!

In the spring of 1971, Henry Moore's Large Arch was installed in the heart of Columbus. Situated in a broad plaza between the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library, First Christian Church, and the Irwin home, the monumental bronze sculpture serves as a visual anchor, inviting us to move our eyes and our bodies through the plaza. Large Arch connects us as a community to our immediate surroundings, and to places far away. 

This exhibition features photographs, drawings, documents and recordings from the Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives.

Gallery hours are 12:00–4:00 pm on Fridays, or by appointment: contact Susana Villegas, svillegas@artsincolumbus.org. 10 guests welcomed into the Gallery at a time; masks are required.

Mark your calendars for the Anchor, Move, Connect exhibition reception:

See the exhibition and celebrate Large Arch's 50th anniversary! 

As part of the current exhibition, we are glad to present an IN Context essay by Jason Hatton, Director of the Bartholomew County Public Library.

IN Context is a series of essays by local and regional authors on the work exhibited at 411 Gallery. 

Read Jason's essay on the current exhibition, and find the full collection of writings at artsincolumbus.org/in-context.

Visit The Workshop to see Making: 200 Years, on view through September 21!

In celebration of the Columbus Area Bicentennial, CAAC organized this juried group exhibition to showcase artworks from a diverse group of creative talent who live or work in Columbus/Bartholomew County or have significant ties to the area. 

Stop by The Workshop for Tour Tuesdays, each Tuesday, 4:30–6:00 pm.

For at-home viewing, we have also made the exhibition available online:
Visit artsincolumbus.square.site to see and purchase artwork now!

Read more and stay up-to-date about this exhibition at columbusworkshop.com/art.

Join us September 14, 5:00–7:00 pm for the Making: 200 Years exhibition reception!

Celebrate the artists and artwork with a public reception at The Workshop. Light bites and drinks will be served, and The Banister Family Bluegrass Band will be our featured musical guests! 

We are excited to host an Artist-led Workshop: Relief Poster Printing with Cat Head Press!
September 24–25 at Studio 207
$40 for two-day workshop

Cat Head Press is an Indianapolis based not-for-profit community center and fine art printmaking studio. Their primary mission is to enrich and increase the wellbeing of the community through investments in creativity and artistic expression.

Find the full details and sign up at alw-cat-head-press.eventbrite.com.

Apply now for CMAD 2022 Grants!

CMAD supports projects that enrich and engage the community through new public visual art and design experiences.​

In this round of funding, CMAD seeks grant projects to engage the Columbus community in visual art and design experiences, with an emphasis on local and regional artists. Priority will be given to applicants with significant ties to the Columbus area. Grant funding of $500–$5,000 is available for projects to be completed in calendar year 2022.​

Find the full details at cmadart.org/2022-grants and apply by September 15.

Join our team!

To apply, please submit a cover letter and résumé to info@artsincolumbus.org by September 9.

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, Turning Point Domestic Violence Services and CAAC are collaborating on a community art project.

The project will consist of buttons created by community members, displayed in the 411 Gallery Community Studio for the month of October 2021. The goal of this collaboration is to amplify the voices of survivors and to work toward preventing domestic violence through art. This project is inspired by the piece, 33, Three Four Two, created as a collaboration between the Indianapolis Art Center and The Julian Center, displayed in February 2021.

Join the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic for Cabaret at the Commons with Mary Claire King!
TONIGHT! August 19
7:30 pm

Mary Claire King most recently appeared in Chicago on Broadway, where she was a member of the ensemble and understudied leading role, Velma Kelly, which she frequently performed. Other Broadway credits include the original company of War Paint and Lincoln Center’s My Fair Lady. Additional credits: Crazy For You, Half Time, the first national tour of Catch Me If You Can, and various regional theatre work across the country.

Learn more and get tickets at thecip.org/events/mary-claire-king.

New Middles, the Exhibit Columbus 2021 Exhibition, opens this weekend!

New Middles explores the future of the center of the United States and the regions connected by the Mississippi Watershed. Embracing a long timeline of cities past, present, and future, New Middles builds upon Columbus’ legacy as a laboratory for design as civic investment. In a moment when we most need reflection, creativity, and innovation to envision new ways of being, New Middles considers Columbus a place to destabilize assumptions, and imagine new architectures and landscapes as a way to positively move our cities forward.

Learn more about New Middles, including designers, installations, and events, at exhibitcolumbus.org/2021-exhibition.

Come to Next Generation Day on August 28 for family fun and exploration of downtown Columbus!

Next Generation Day is a family-friendly event that activates the 2021 Exhibit Columbus Exhibition’s thirteen site-responsive installations, and their corresponding historic sites. Created in collaboration with the Council For Youth Development (CYD) and many other community organizations, this event will be an exciting and engaging way to explore the 2021 Exhibition for youth of all ages.

Pick up the Exhibit Columbus Activity Guide, meet CYD Youth Ambassadors and Indiana University students at each installation, make custom buttons with Turning Point, and more!

411 Gallery will be open for the event, 12:00–4:00 pm, and will have T-shirts on hand for everyone who completes the Activity Guide!

Many Thanks to our 2021 Program Sponsors: 

City of Columbus
Indiana Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts
Efroymson Family Fund
Columbus Museum of Art & Design