Funding to Improve Ties to Local Waterways
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMore than $230,000 has been awarded to projects designed to improve the quality of life around six waterways in central Indiana. The group Reconnecting to Our Waterways says the funding from the Kresge Foundation and Central Indiana Community Foundation will support art installations, scenic improvements and education efforts. March 17, 2015
News Release
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Reconnecting to Our Waterways (ROW) awarded grants totaling $232,260 for creative placemaking projects, programming and artist training along all six waterways of focus to the collective impact initiative – Central Canal, Fall Creek, Little Eagle Creek, Pleasant Run, Pogue's Run and the White River. ROW announced the winners at its third annual ROWport community event on Friday, March 13.
Pogue's Run waterway received $72,260 for “Pogue's Run Rest Stops: A Reason to Pause.” This funding will use sculptural, programmatic and educational art to highlight and transform three locations along Pogue's Run into special, accessible and useable spaces. The Rest Stops will be located in the Cottage Home neighborhood near Michigan Street, the west end of Spades Park, and the Paramount School of Excellence. The East 10th Street Civic Association will be the fiscal agent for this grant and Williams Creek Consulting will manage the project.
Little Eagle Creek received $55,000, pending a $55,000 match, for programming and soft-scape improvements along the northwest side waterway. Big Car Arts Collaborative will be the fiscal agent and project manager for this grant.
All waterways will benefit from $45,000 for system-wide programming and artist training. This grant will help employ one, shared full-time person for one year. Big Car Arts Collaborative will serve as both the fiscal agent and project manager for this grant.
Lastly, all waterways will benefit from a $60,000 grant for system-wide waterway interpretation and education. This funding will underwrite temporary, movable and adaptable artistic and educational installations placed along each waterway to increase awareness of the ROW and its six “elements” or areas of focus: aesthetics, connectivity, ecology, economics, education and well-being. The pilot project will inform how to better educate and engage the community about the ROW initiative and its elements as they relate to each destination area in the long-term. The daVinci Pursuit will be the fiscal agent and project manager for this grant.
“For Reconnecting to Our Waterways, placing artists and art at the heart of neighborhood and community revitalization planning and project implementation is what makes placemaking creative,” said Brian Payne, president and CEO of Central Indiana Community Foundation. “These important grants will support immediate projects and advance a culture of creative placemaking in Indianapolis and along its waterways.”
In November 2013, the Kresge Foundation awarded ROW $1.35 million to fund creative placemaking strategies, research and measurement, and management of the grant. The funding comes from Kresge’s “Harvesting Leading Practices in Arts and Culture” program to match artists with local residents to develop creative placemaking projects.
Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), a ROW partner, funder and fiscal agent, is matching the Kresge grant with an additional $300,000 over three years (2014-16).
Last year, $370,000 was awarded for projects along Pleasant Run, Fall Creek and the White River. To further leverage this private funding, the City of Indianapolis recently announced $5 million in new project investments along our waterways that will be launched this year.
Applications for the final round of funding will be available in early 2016. Only ROW Waterway Committees are eligible to submit applications, but residents, artists and businesses are encouraged to join waterway committees and to get engaged with revitalizing their local waterway. ROW’s existing waterway committees in each neighborhood will continue to identify and build consensus around specific destination locations for these projects. Through these waterway committees, ROW will help orchestrate and manage the collaboration between artists, arts organizations, neighbors, and neighborhood organizations.
About Reconnecting to Our Waterways
Reconnecting to Our Waterways (ROW) is a grassroots movement that is helping neighbors strengthen waterways, and in turn, helping waterways strengthen neighborhoods. ROW focuses on six of Indianapolis’ main waterways: Central Canal, Fall Creek, Little Eagle Creek, Pleasant Run, Pogue’s Run and the White River.
Source: Reconnecting to Our Waterways