Meeting & Event Planning Guide: Great cocktails to try in downtown Indy—and the recipes to make them at home
From fancy options to one you can take with you, we’ve got several options to choose from.
Arts & Entertainment
Articles
Kurt Vonnegut Museum earns state’s first Literary Landmark designation
The designation puts the museum on Indiana Avenue in the same company with sites associated with Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra to grow under new 3-year labor contract with musicians
The musicians have been working on a one-year contract that slashed their pay to $500 a week in January because most performances had been called off due to the pandemic.
Colts ink another deal for stadium space with sports gambling partner
As part of the deal, the West Club at the stadium will be renamed the WynnBet Club—a 21-and-up sports bar on the club level.
Gen Con returns to Convention Center for first time since 2019
The massive gaming event is expected to draw upward of 40,000 people to downtown Indianapolis from Thursday through Sunday, marking the largest convention the city has hosted since before the coronavirus outbreak.
Carmel Community Players launching fundraiser for new theater
Carmel Community Players plans to launch a fundraising campaign next month with the goal of securing $250,000 for the buildout of a planned new community theater on North Meridian Street.
Golf venue swings into area across White River from downtown
Back 9 will feature a three-story building with 75 golf bays, a 350-person music pavilion, and a handful of bars and restaurant spaces, as well as meeting areas and a game area.
Newfields tightens mask policy as COVID cases skyrocket
The arts-and-nature campus at 4000 Michigan Road appears to be the first major cultural attraction in the city to require masks indoors for all staff and guests since the most recent surge in COVID-19 cases began.
Concert, event organizers tighten entry rules as COVID cases increase
Local arts organizations and event promoters are using strategies such as vaccination requirements, mask mandates and capacity restrictions to help preserve their ability to hold in-person events.
Bob Ross documentary on Netflix reveals business disputes, alleged affair
A new Netflix documentary examines the artist’s legacy and the bitter dispute over the continued use of the TV personality’s name and likeness.
Music industry weighs vaccine mandates, but politics collide
The coronavirus vaccine gave the live entertainment industry hope for a rebound in 2021. Now, as COVID-19 cases surge and hospital beds fill up, it feels like March 2020 all over again.
IBJ Podcast: How is the Big Car arts group changing the Garfield Park neighborhood?
Host Mason King talks with Big Car CEO Jim Walker about the art campus the organization has developed in the neighborhood and how the group is trying to ensure artists aren’t eventually priced out of being there.
Pandemic pivots keep Carmel arts center in black
The Center for the Performing Arts has managed to keep its head above water through a greater reliance on government support, scheduled donations and new revenue streams.
Local arts groups offer help for venues seeking to require proof of vaccination
The Arts Council of Indianapolis and the Indiana Independent Venue Alliance are partnering with a technology company to help Indianapolis venues that want to require patrons attending their events to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Q&A with Mark Peay, CEO of iDream Center for the Arts
The performing arts center will provide piano, musical theater and improv, music production, songwriting and creative youth development classes.
Head of Heartland Film departing after 5 years
Craig Prater joined the organization in 2016 and founded the Indy Shorts Film Festival, one of only 34 film festivals in the world that serves as a qualifying event for the annual Academy Awards in all three short-film categories.
PHOTO GALLERY: Digital art space The Lume set to open at Newfields
The Lume, a permanent exhibition space engineered by Austrialia-based Grande Experiences, will feature 30 works by artist Vincent Van Gogh showcased through floor-to-ceiling projections.
Indy Shorts film festival continues growth as standalone event
The Indy Shorts International Film Festival, which gets under way Tuesday, has expanded in size and popularity since its founding as part of the Heartland International Film Festival in 2018.
Promoter MOKB partners with venue Pavilion at Pan Am
Indianapolis-based concert and event promoter MOKB Presents announced Thursday that it has reached an exclusive deal with The Pavilion at Pan Am to handle the venue’s public concert and entertainment schedule.
Former ISO concertmaster takes same role at Carmel Symphony Orchestra
Violin virtuoso Zachary DePue built an international following while at the ISO from 2007 to 2018, but was just as well known for his side projects, including Time for Three, a classical/bluegrass/pop crossover group.