Skyline Club gets behind local artists
The Skyline Club has reserved one wall of its main dining room for local artists and will also host a series of artist receptions for its members and the general public.
The Skyline Club has reserved one wall of its main dining room for local artists and will also host a series of artist receptions for its members and the general public.
The Arts Council of Indianapolis is leading talks with city councilors, Deputy Mayor Nick Weber and the chiefs of top cultural
organizations about how to create a bigger pot of revenue for the arts.
These days, many Indianapolis arts organizations barely know where their next dollar will come from. But an innovative
fund-raising model that’s found success in other cities might provide that sorely needed cash. In Cincinnati,
a venerable not-for-profit called the United Arts Fund, founded in 1927, stages an annual workplace campaign,
then doles out the bountiful proceeds to local arts organizations.
When Shannon Linker went to work for the Arts Council of Indianapolis in mid-2002, it was a typical pass-through organization–re-granting
city money to local arts groups. Now Linker is director of an artist-services program for the council that is on par with
those offered in communities like Seattle and New York City but few other places.
Leaders of the 20-year-old Arts Council of Indianapolis want to broaden the organization’s approach to arts advocacy. They
say they’d like to act as a cultural broker of sorts, making sure local artists are connected with possible patrons.