Each summer, Amy Oelsner teaches the basics of rock music to dozens of 8- to 14-year-old girls. After seven years on IU’s campus, Girls Rock Bloomington will finally have a space of its own.
“We've never had a physical hub before or our own headquarters, so it's going to be really life changing for our organization,” Oelsner said.
Bloomington arts groups, including Girls Rock, and arts groups in 11 southern Indiana counties are getting $3 million from the Lilly Foundation for new shared studio space, equipment and professional development. The grants are administered by the state as part of the READI 2.0 Arts & Culture Initiative.
Girls Rock is moving into a warehouse owned by Bloomington-based record label Secretly Canadian. The youth organization will have practice and recording space year-round, as will Constellation Stage and Screen and other groups.
Project leaders hope to welcome artists into the space by spring 2027. Oelsner said gaining that capacity will allow Girls Rock to expand its programming.
“Part of the grant is that we're going to be doing a certain number of workshops in other counties, which will be very cool because we've only ever served Monroe County,” Oelsner said. “We're excited to spread the girls rock gospel.”
The grants were conceived by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation as an investment in Indiana’s arts economy. Sixty-five million dollars have been awarded to 49 projects across the state.
The project, known as the Upland Regional Creative Economy Commons, is intended to make an arts career viable for people in 11 southern Indiana counties.
IU Research and arts groups worked with Regional Opportunity Initiatives to create a plan. Julie Halbig, Vice President for Economic and Community Development at ROI, interviewed professional and hobbyist artists to get a sense of what was needed.
“What a lot of that planning effort involved was hearing directly from how we can better support artists and creatives in the Uplands region,” Halbig said.
What that really comes down to is space, money and support. Arts are an expensive endeavor, especially for creatives trying to get on their feet.
Edward Dallis-Comentale, Assistant Vice President for Arts and Humanities at IU and the principal investigator for the grant, said the university has strong arts programs but can’t keep graduates in the region.
“Every year we see the vast majority of them leave this town for lack of connection, for lack of community beyond the campus, for lack of the resources like studio space, performance space, guidance in professional matters,” Dallis-Comentale said. “Really, the heart of this project is to kind of help build a scene that keeps those students here, that keeps community artists here.”
Besides the Secretly warehouse, the Trades Administration Building downtown will be converted to studio and performance space, replete with a scene shop, recording studio, gear library and storage room. Twelve studios at the Trades building will be reserved for visual artists.
Gabe Gloden, managing director at Constellation Stage and Screen, said when he got started in Bloomington theater, projects required wealthy investors to get off the ground. He wants to make participation in professional quality theater attainable for full-time workers.
“What we're trying to do is make them as affordable and as available as possible, so anyone, regardless of their economic stance when they enter the space, can produce the best possible work for our stages,” Gloden said.
Beyond physical space, grant leaders want to create a web-based hub for artists to find work, grants and professional development opportunities.
IU is also investing $300,000 annually along with grant money in Switchyard Park to improve performance space.
The grants are meant to have economic, as well as cultural, impact. The state hopes investments in culture help tourism and worker retention and outweigh the initial cost. Local organizations contributed around $4 million in support for the project.
“A lot of people think of the arts as icing on the cake, something that you might be able to support after you do your economic development work. But we're really flipping that logic,” Dallis-Comentale said. “We are placing the arts at the center of economic development.”
A lot needs to be done before these spaces are ready for artists, including design and renovation. Gloden is hopeful when all that is done, Bloomington’s growing arts community will be able to sustain itself.
“My hope,” he said, “is that we start to see artists from the surrounding communities, even Indianapolis, start to look at Bloomington as a really viable place to come and start a really creative, exciting endeavor.”
