Action plan aims to bolster arts community in Muncie
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The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County has released its plan designed to strengthen the arts landscape in Muncie.
The Creative Space Action Plan, conducted by Minneapolis-based Artspace Consulting, outlines a series of goals to “expand affordable creative spaces, enhance public engagement, and support the arts as a driving force for economic growth and quality of life” in the city, according to the foundation.
Executive Director Marcy Minton says the foundation wants to create a strong sense of belonging for creatives through the plan.
Minton told Inside INdiana Business that one of the first goals is to establish a true arts service organization that will serve as the backbone of the plan.
“[Artspace] took a look at our strong arts district at Ball State University, but also arts anchors that are downtown, like Cornerstone Center for the Arts, Madjax, Muncie Civic Theater and others, as well as Minnetrista here in Muncie, and how those really hubs of activity in the arts are are synchronizing together here in Muncie, and how we could sync them up better,” she said. “Having the structure be solidified and through very specific connections was important to the community.”
Artspace gathered public input through focus groups and a public forum to help inform the action plan. Minton said there is great demand from residents to bolster the arts community that already exists in Muncie.
One of the long-term goals in the plan is to create a defined Creative Corridor downtown connected by trail and transportation options to Ball State University, Minnetrista Museum & Gardens, and elsewhere in the city.
“This looks and feels a little bit like an arts district, but we hesitate to call it that, because it really is a corridor where arts anchors already exist, and we want to strengthen that area and help people feel like it is a great space to come and belong in our community, both as a creative and as someone who enjoys the creative space as well, and then connect that very intentionally,” said Minton.
Other goals outlined in the plan include:
- Create and manage a comprehensive asset map of existing creative businesses and cultural organizations.
- Form and maintain an inventory of downtown and downtown adjacent commercial spaces for artists and creative entrepreneurs seeking short and long-term space.
- Hire a historic tax credit consultant to advise local real estate and community development stakeholders on historic tax credits for creative space adaptive reuse projects.
- Establish economic development incentives for the development and preservation of affordable creative space.
The development of the Creative Space Action Plan was funded by a planning grant from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. The implementation of some of the plan’s action items is already underway, and Minton said officials are seeking funding for consulting services.
“We definitely will utilize additional consultants, both at the local and the national level, to help us meet these action steps,” Minton said. “We also have some additional larger funding requests in process for some of those anchor institutions, because it’s a really important for those anchor institutions to strengthen from within and strengthen the actual capital assets that exist as well, so people feel comfortable.”
Minton said a leadership group has been formed to help lead the next steps for the plan. The initial estimated cost to implement the plan’s action items is $15 million, which includes some road infrastructure work that has already taken place.
Ultimately, Minton hopes the plan will bring the local arts community together.
“What we learned when we went out and talked to the community is that Muncie has been a very welcoming place for creatives for the better part of about five or six decades, actually,” she said. “So this creative space action plan isn’t new. It’s just building upon the cultural traditions that we already have in our community, and that makes us really excited for the next steps.”
