Local arts patrons Jane Fortune and her longtime partner Robert Hesse started City Ballet in the spring of 2009, but it was
more of a pitch than a reality. More than a year later, organization leaders are still not sure when they will hire their
own dancers.
The 800-member group hopes to attract more men to its ranks.
The Arts Council of Indianapolis soon will move its office from Monument Circle to a smaller space on Pennsylvania
Street with an adjacent gallery. The move is symbolic of the council’s ongoing reinvention, as well as the financial
reality driving that effort.
The not-for-profit on Monument Circle announced its initiation fees will be waived for all chamber members.
Conner Prairie saw increases in both daily admissions and giving in 2009 and ended the annual period in the black for the
fourth year in a row.
With a year to go before completion of a 1,600-seat concert hall, Executive Director Steven Libman added Jeremy Hatch as development
director.
Lilly, 94, who died Wednesday, gave away hundreds of millions of dollars of her fortune during her lifetime.
The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra experienced a year of financial and leadership shocks, as it reported a $2.8 million
budget shortfall and abruptly dismissed Music Director Mario Venzago.
The not-for-profit will use the money to fund existing programs, such as the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor
Leadership Program, and begin new ones.
Riley Area Development Corp. is pitching the idea of building a performing arts center in the City Market. The YMCA
of Greater Indianapolis, meanwhile, is in talks with the city about building a full-service fitness center on the site.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is losing endowment revenue at the same time prominent donor Wayne Zink, CEO of Endangered
Species Chocolate, has resigned from the board.
The civic festival Spirit and Place, which runs Nov. 5-16, has been a fixture of the fall season since 1996, but organizers
are still trying to explain to Indianapolis residents what it’s all about.
The new coffee shop named for Calvin Fletcher, one of the city’s first lawyers, will give money to groups such as Second Helpings.
Simon Crookall is trying to hire a maestro who will excite audiences at the same time he’s trying to pull the Indianapolis
Symphony Orchestra out of
a financial tailspin.
The National Storytelling Network will consider Indianapolis, along with eight other cities, as it looks to move its headquarters
from Jonesborough, Tenn.
The Leon Jett Minority Family Admission Fund has raised money to allow admissions at the Eiteljorg Museum
of American Indians and Western Art for families enrolled in Hoosier Works or Hoosier Healthwise.
The organizations that spearheaded the city’s public art campaign are crippled for a lack of funding. While other public
art efforts are under way in Indianapolis, no one organization has the money to commission an exhibit large enough to fill
downtown.
Carmel’s $137 million performing arts center is still a year from completion, but Executive Director Steven Libman
already is pounding the pavement for donations.
The Carmel Performing Arts Foundation has appointed its first independent board members, Rollin Dick and Rosemary Waters.
In downtown Indianapolis, two local artists will receive free studio space in the Stutz Building
for the next year.
The museum’s annual sale for collectors, one of its biggest annual fund-raisers, is seeing strong advance registration. The
Eiteljorg also has a new head of fund-raising.
