Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus to serve as Indiana Arts Commission Partner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2011

BLOOMINGTON –The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) and Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana announced today that Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus will begin serving as Regional Arts Partner for the IAC’s Region 8.

“We are very excited by the opportunity to have Ivy Tech Community College’s Bloomington campus represent the Commission and serve the cultural needs in Region Eight,” said IAC Executive Director Lewis C. Ricci. “Partnering with a community college provides unique educational outreach opportunities along with a proven track record of service to a regional audience.”

IAC Region 8 includes Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan and Owen counties.

“Ivy Tech Bloomington’s participation as IAC Region 8 Arts Partner is a natural fit, as the IAC Region 8 is the same as our regional service area with the addition of the Brown County arts community,” said Ivy Tech Bloomington Chancellor John Whikehart. “As a comprehensive community college, this partnership will permit us to foster a relationship with regional artists through our Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship, and to bring additional institutional resources to our local communities.”

Regional Arts Partner organizations must be nonprofit or public organizations that meet IAC criteria for providing services to multiple counties in their geographic region. Organizations are awarded a grant to meet key service delivery in their regions. These include community arts programming, regional services, and arts organizations and project re-granting. Funding for each region is based in part on population and geographic size of the region.

City of Bloomington Assistant Economic Development Director for the Arts Miah Michaelsen says that Ivy Tech, through the vision of Chancellor Whikehart, has once again positioned itself as a leader in regional arts and economic development efforts. “In their role as Regional Arts Partner for Region 8 Ivy Tech will bring their strengths in arts education and entrepreneurship development to a regional audience while keeping the re-granting of arts dollars local through an innovative partnership with the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County,” she said. “We were glad to have a temporary role in the transition of regional arts services and look forward to working with Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus as our new Regional Arts Partner.”

The selection of Ivy Tech Community College’s Bloomington campus was approved by the Commission during its September 16 Quarterly Business Meeting in Indianapolis. Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington will begin providing full Regional Arts Partner services in Region 8 effective January 1, 2012.

The IAC’s decentralized Regional Arts Partnership provides key core services such as arts planning, technical assistance and information referral, and arts organization and project re-granting. Regional Arts Partners annually provide grants to more than 300 community-based arts organizations and cultural programming providers statewide.

On behalf of the people of Indiana, the Indiana Arts Commission advocates engagement with the arts to enrich the quality of individual and community life.