Indiana University will continue its efforts to connect rural communities with the arts next year.
The Center for Rural Engagement held movie screenings, musical performances and creative writing workshops in Nashville, Huntingburg and Salem this fall.
Kyla Cox Deckard is the center’s director of communications. She says the Rural Arts Series creates custom programming for each community’s needs, interests and goals. Brown County focused on engaging students with the arts.
“We have customized programming with the Jacobs School of Music," Cox Deckard says. "Their concert band went in and did a wonderful performance and offered masters classes.”
The Rural Arts Series aims to share IU’s artistic resources with communities that are further away from Bloomington. Cox Deckard says the program is also looking to help communities use their artistic resources in the long run.
“Seeing art as a profession, you know whether it’s a professional musician, a professional fine artist or creative writer. I think that being able to see how people are working in those fields as a profession is really important for not only students, but also residents in communities," Cox Deckard says.
The Rural Arts Series will be back in the spring with a sing-along production of famous musical Hamilton in all three communities.
