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Indy Arts Council won’t receive as much funding as it requested during the 2025 Indianapolis budget process, but newly announced support from the Marion County Capital Improvement Board and Indianapolis Bond Bank will push the arts advocacy and services agency closer to its goal.
The arts council sought $3 million to better fulfill the organization’s mission to distribute grants to arts and culture not-for-profits in the city. The 2023 and 2024 budgets each allocated $1.3 million for the arts council, and the Capital Improvement Board added $200,000 per year.
Before Thursday’s budget hearing of the Parks and Recreation Committee of the City-County Council, Indy Arts Council CEO Julie Goodman said she expected a bump from 2024’s combined $1.5 million to a combined $1.7 million in 2025—with $1.3 million supplied by the city budget and the CIB doubling its contribution to $400,000.
Goodman expressed hope that $1.7 million could grow to at least $2 million. The Parks and Recreation Committee voted to approve the overall parks budget of $53.8 million early in the meeting, locking in $1.3 million of arts support for the third consecutive year. The entire proposed city budget of $1.6 billion is scheduled for a vote at Monday’s City-County Council meeting.
Near the end of Thursday’s meeting, Lucas Anderson, a budget manager at the city’s office of finance and management, provided revised numbers for arts support committed outside of the budget. Anderson said $500,000 will come from the CIB and $500,000 will come from the Indianapolis Bond Bank.
That adds up to $2.3 million for the arts council.
“We were able to allocate funding outside of the regular budget process, as well as during,” said City-County Councilor Crista Carlino, chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee. “We will continue to work with our office of finance and management and the Hogsett administration to see if there’s any underspend or American Rescue Plan dollars or other funding that we could secure to close that gap and fully fund the arts council’s request of that $3 million for the 2025 calendar year.”
The CIB operates and/or owns the Indiana Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium, Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Victory Field.
The bond bank is a municipal corporation that serves as the debt issuance and management arm of the city. On Tuesday, Joe Glass, the bond bank’s director, told the Administration and Finance Committee that bond bank projects include infrastructure, sidewalks and bus transportation.
Goodman said static funding for the arts council would have been a disservice to not-for-profits vying for dollars in the annual grants program. In 2023, a record-setting 85 organizations received grants. The record was broken again in 2024, when 91 organizations received grants.
The arts council plans to devote $2 million to the annual grants program, Goodman said. Additional funds will be used to launch a grant program available to individual artists as well as arts- and community-based organizations to support arts and culture initiatives in Indianapolis parks and other public spaces, including libraries and community centers.
Goodman mentioned that Columbus, Ohio, and Charlotte, North Carolina, two cities similar in size to Indianapolis, will invest $30 million and $21 million in their respective arts councils next year.
“We recognize that we need new models and new channels of funding,” Goodman told members of the Parks and Recreation Committee. “This all cannot and should not stay fully with the city.”
On Sept. 24, Goodman announced plans to exit her CEO role at the arts council in November.
Parks and Recreation Committee member Jared Evans was one of several city-county councilors who thanked Goodman for pursuing more funding for the arts.
“The Hogsett administration would not listen,” said Evans, a Democrat. “We are listening. I want you to know that this discussion about the budget is not over with and it’s not waiting until next year’s budget.”
In a 2023 national study by advocacy organization Americans for the Arts, Indianapolis-based not-for-profit arts organizations and their audiences were credited for delivering $523.8 million in annual economic impact.
The arts and culture industry supports 7,478 full-time equivalent jobs in Indianapolis and generates more than $87 million in local and state government revenue.
The meeting included a segment for public comment, which was dominated by people calling for increased funding for the arts. Speakers included representatives of Indianapolis Opera, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Movement Arts Collective, Indianapolis Women’s Chorus, Kids Dance Outreach, Indy Dance Council and Arts for Learning Indiana.
Indianapolis-based saxophone player Jared Thompson said there’s a ripple effect associated with cash-strapped arts organizations. When money is limited, he said, creativity is limited.
“They’re not able to retain our services because they want to pay an equitable wage,” Thompson told members of the Parks and Recreation Committee. “We are finding this with every organization we want to work with. The result is that we just kick it down the road and say, ‘I’m worth my time and I’m worth my money. Come back to me when you have money.’ It means that we have to figure out a different way to pay bills for that month.
“Artists are leaving the city. We’re finding more grant opportunities outside of Indianapolis, and we will continue to take advantage of those.”
IBJ reporter Taylor Wooten contributed to this report.
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Since these funds are primarily “tax-generated” or publicly funded, how is the money used? Arts are incredibly important….but an accounting is only reasonable.
I’ve long advocated for an expanded “Indy Music Scene” with a Nashville-like area either in Broad Ripple or Downtown.
In 2024, the Indy Arts Council used its $1.5 million in public funding to award grants, ranging from $5,000 to $72,000, to 91 not-for-profit organizations. The 10 largest grants were awarded to: the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis ($72,000), Indiana Repertory Theatre ($60,000), Harrison Center ($50,000), Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites ($45,000), Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra ($45,000), Big Car Collaborative ($42,000), Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art ($37,500), Kheprw Institute ($36,000), Iibada Dance Company ($35,000), Fonseca Theatre Company ($32,500) and Madam Walker Legacy Center ($32,000).
Will someone please explain how a bond bank, which issues loans and then manages those loans, to paraphrase Mr. Glass, is legally able to give an arts council $500,000 without issuing a bond, in which case it would be a loan, not a philanthropic gift? I too support the arts, but conceptually I have trouble comprehending such a transfer of funds, which Mr. Glass seems to think would somehow be under the umbrella of infrastructure, sidewalks or bus transportation. $500,000 would buy a lot of bus tickets to get the artists to their jobs. In anticipation of an explanation, I thank you.
Thanks for this comment. I am pursuing this.