Museum boom resounds in city
Multimillion-dollar projects may boost destination status
By Zach Dunkin
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December 14, 2003
When representatives of the American Association of Museums have their
national meeting in Indianapolis in May 2005, they will see the results of
an impressive 10-year explosion of museum expansion and development in the
city.
Last week's groundbreaking of the Eiteljorg Museum's $20 million expansion
project is the latest development of a museum boom that began with the
opening of the new Indianapolis Art Center in 1996.
The continuing decade of construction is scheduled to conclude in May 2005
when the Indianapolis Museum of Art completes its $74 million project that
will feature a redesigned entrance to the museum and three new structures
providing nearly 200,000 more square feet. A $5.5 million, 10-acre outdoor
ARTSPARK also is scheduled to open at the Art Center about the same time.
Already under construction at The Children's Museum is the $25 million
Dinosphere, plus a new 3½-story garage and various expansions and
improvements costing an additional $31.25 million.
Add these projects to the NCAA Hall of Champions (2000), the Indiana State
Museum (2000), and the Indiana History Center (1999), and the total
investment in museum construction tops the $300 million mark.
"I am not aware of anything like this happening for a city this size
anywhere in the country," said Ed Abel, president and CEO of American
Association of Museums.
By comparison, in Minneapolis, a $100 million Science Museum of Minnesota
that opened four years ago and the Walker Art Center and Minnesota
Institute of Art are undergoing major multimillion-dollar expansions.
Cincinnati is experiencing a smaller museum boom, with a $65 million
investment in three art museums.
"There is somewhat of a long-term renaissance in museum construction going
on nationally," said Abel, "but we're also recovering from a 2½-year hiatus
because of the economy. While some projects were put on hold, Indianapolis
was able to continue right through it. Your city is blessed with a great
number of museums of national standing."
The city's timing couldn't be any better for the AAM meeting, said Abel.
"Why do you think we are coming?" he said.
The AAM's membership includes 3,100 institutional members, including art,
history, science, military, maritime and youth museums, in addition to
zoos, aquariums and historical sites. Anthony Herschel, director of the
IMA, and John Vanausdall, president and CEO of the Eiteljorg, are serving
as co-chairmen on the Indianapolis Planning Committee for the AAM
conference. The chairperson is Sal Cilella, president and CEO of the
Indiana Historical Society.
"Whenever we decide on where we are going to stage what is not just the
largest museum meeting in the world but the largest cultural meeting in the
world, we want to have it where there is a serious commitment to the arts.
And Indianapolis is blessed with that," Abel said.
He said he thinks that commitment began 27 years ago when William Hudnut
was mayor.
Recognizing the link between the arts, quality of life and economic
development, city officials, including Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson,
understand the link between the arts, quality of life and economic
development.
City funding for the arts has increased steadily through the Arts Council
since Peterson, who declared himself the "arts candidate" in 1999, took
office and announced his $10 million Cultural Arts Initiative.
The museum boom benefits the city in so many ways, said Peterson, citing:
• Quality of life for those who live here by "providing opportunities for
people to have interesting and challenging things to do."
• Promotion of convention business and tourism.
• Recruitment of businesses.
• Education.
"It's an important part of our effort to both promote our convention
business and promote Indianapolis as an arts and cultural destination
city," said Peterson. "It's great to be able to point to these world-class
institutions and the number of them. You might have the best of one thing
in the whole world, but it's unlikely somebody is going to make a trip to a
city on an arts- and cultural-focused vacation just for one attraction or
one amenity. Getting to that critical mass is important."
Bob Schultz, director of communication for the Indianapolis Convention and
Visitors Association, says every city has its attractions, but the key is
when they become the "attractors," doing their own marketing and promotions
to get visitors to the city and through their doors.
"Then, once they come here and see more than just one or two attractions,
they are amazed," said Schultz.
Mel Perlman, Eiteljorg board member and philanthropist, moved here in 1957
and said there was very little going on culturally.
"But now when friends from other parts of the country come here to visit,
they marvel at the variety and quality of what we have here," said Perlman.
The perception of a city with cultural and art amenities has an economic
impact on development, said Peterson. Corporate leaders are telling him
that the single most important thing the city can do to help them recruit
the top talent is to make the city a fun and interesting place to be. That
applies not only to recruiting businesses and talent to relocate here, but
holding on to those who are already here.
"It's a bit of a challenge to sell them on the weather or the seashore, so
it has to be things like arts and cultural amenities to make the
difference -- those quality of life issues," he said.
Museums also play an important role in education through their outreach
programs. Almost all of the $3 million doled out to groups by the city-run
Arts Council of Indianapolis is for educational programs.
"It's a little-known fact among most people that there's a huge educational
component to all of our arts and cultural amenities, particularly museums,
which tend to be good places for field trips and family outings," said
Peterson.
Peterson also pointed out that most of the museum projects, with the
exception of the Indiana State Museum, are privately supported. The Lilly
Endowment, the nation's third biggest distributor of funds, leads the way.
The private and corporate generosity is one of the factors playing into the
city's museum growth.
"The philanthropic community is front and center in the city's development
efforts," said the Eiteljorg's Vanausdall. "We're blessed to have
foundations here that are contributing to the community's development
strategy."
Vanausdall also said the "volunteer spirit" of the community can't be
overestimated. "We have talented people in this city who are willing to
serve as board members and advisers to cultural organizations. They have a
dedication that's unequaled."
Volunteers like Stan Hurt, philanthropist and president of the board for
the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Hurt is currently serving on the
Eiteljorg board and was a past board member at Conner Prairie's living-
history museum and past president of the Art Center board. He cited
political leadership, dating to the early 1970s, as a major reason for the
city's museum growth.
"Another thing we've started doing well in recent years is to focus on our
cultural institutions," said Hurt. "It has been an investment by the people
living here: The visions of the people who are on the boards and staffs
have helped grow those institutions. We have very active boards and staffs."
The boards and staffs are in communication, too.
"There is a lot of collaboration between groups; the CEOs talk all the
time," said Joyce Sommers, director and CEO of the Indianapolis Art
Center. "Outsiders are amazed that we do this. They point out that we are
competing for the same dollar. I think any dollar any of us gets is a
dollar for the arts, and that's great."
The ICVA's Schultz agrees. "I know for sure one of the reasons the city is
becoming a leisure destination is because the attractions talk to each
other," he said. "We've been trying to get the American Association of
Museums to meet here for five years, and one of the things they were amazed
by was the cooperation and communication among the museum leaders who are
members of the association."
Noting that museum attendance nearly doubled nationally from 486,000 visits
to 856,000 visits between 1989 and 1999, Abel said museums should continue
expanding to meet the needs of a public searching for something both
intellectual and economical.
"A museum is a place for families -- all kinds of families," he said. "It's
a place where both young and old can go and equally enjoy the experience."
S.L. Berry contributed to this story.
Contact Zach Dunkin at 1-317-444-6079.
Eiteljorg plans to expand borders
By S.L. Berry
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December 14, 2003
The day the Eiteljorg Museum opened in 1989, it became a landmark building
in Indianapolis -- a Southwestern pueblo-inspired structure in a Midwestern
warehouse-inspired landscape.
It was the city's premier example of what can happen to the ordinary box
when an architect thinks outside of it.
That architect was a transplant to the city by the name of Jonathan Hess.
Having come to Indianapolis in 1982, fresh out of graduate school at the
University of Illinois, he was working for the firm Browning Day Mullins
Dierdorf when he was given the responsibility of designing a museum to
house local businessman Harrison Eiteljorg's extensive collection of
American Indian and Western art.
Nearly two decades later, Hess has the chance to revisit that project --
and add to it. He's the lead architect on a $20 million expansion project
that the Eiteljorg's board of directors recently approved. Groundbreaking
for the project took place Tuesday at the museum.
Hess, now a partner in Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf, says the project
offers him a unique opportunity. "An architect doesn't often get a chance
to go back to a project and work on it again," he says.
"This time we get to include the kinds of spaces that Harrison originally
wanted to include -- an educational space and a space that will be for
exhibiting art, as well as for hosting social events. We didn't have the
money to do everything then that we'll be able to do now."
The new design will add 45,000 square feet to the museum's existing 73,000
square feet, all of it on the north end of the building. Included will be:
• 50 percent more gallery space, including two new 3,400-square-foot
galleries, one for contemporary American Indian and Western art, the other
for traditional Western art.
• A 6,000-square-foot education center, which will include two classrooms,
a resource center and library, a technology studio, and space for students
to eat lunch.
• A circular sculpture court that also will accommodate 300 people for
music and dance performances, as well as films, lectures and dinners.
• A 90-seat cafe, with catering kitchen.
• Three acres of gardens and terraces leading down to the Central Canal.
The expansion is part of a process that began 10 years ago, says Eiteljorg
president and CEO John Vanausdall, when a task force of 100 people from the
community assembled to look at the museum and its place in the community.
"The first thing they advised the museum to do was broaden its mission
through education and interactivity with the community," says Vanausdall.
Originally developed as a showcase for Eiteljorg's extensive collection of
Indian and Western art and artifacts (which he donated to the institution),
as well as for the collection of the city's former Museum of Indian
heritage, the members of the task force thought that was too limiting.
"They wanted the museum to include Indiana-related people and events when
possible," says Vanausdall. "They wanted to see the art, histories and
cultures of all types of people represented, not just those from the
Southwest."
Secondly, says Vanausdall, the group advised the Eiteljorg's board of
directors to establish an endowment. "Every successful cultural institution
has an endowment. It takes the pressure off during slow periods when other
funding sources become scarce."
Finally, says Vanausdall, the group advised the museum to add facilities to
its building that hadn't been included initially. Especially more space for
educational activities and social events, as well as a cafe or restaurant.
With the current expansion, Vanausdall can claim mission accomplished on
all fronts.
Broadened its mission
Over the past decade, the museum has broadened its mission with such
initiatives as the creation of its Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American
Contemporary Art, a biennial program that awards $20,000 each to six Indian
artists, and the formation of a partnership with the Smithsonian
Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.
Additionally, it has mounted shows focused on the art, culture and history
of American Indians in the Northwest and Midwest, as well as the roles
played by blacks and Hispanics in the settling of the West. It also
developed Mihtohseenionki ("The People's Place"), a gallery devoted to
exploring the cultures of Indiana's native peoples -- the Miami, the
Potawatomi and the Delaware.
That has led to national recognition as one of the best museums in its
field, says Rick West, the NMAI's director.
"The Eiteljorg occupies a special place among museums related to native
peoples," says West, who is Southern Cheyenne. "First, it has a great
collection, one of the finest. Secondly, it has undertaken an important
collaborative approach to developing exhibitions. Finally, it is one of a
very few museums in the United States that focuses on native cultures."
Unprecedented access
All of those factors led West's institution to forge a partnership
agreement with the Eiteljorg, the first such agreement the NMAI has ever
made with a regional museum. It gives the Eiteljorg unprecedented access to
the NMAI's collections, allowing it to borrow items for exhibitions and to
be a preferred venue for NMAI traveling shows.
That's an asset for the Eiteljorg's educational programming, which has
increased substantially over the past 10 years. Approximately 50,000
elementary and secondary students visit the museum annually. In addition,
programs for the public -- including artist demonstrations, special events
such as Indian Market, Jammin' at the 'Jorg and the Buckeroo Bash, and
lectures -- also have become popular.
On the financial front, the museum initiated its Eye on the Future capital
campaign in 1997. To date it has raised $33.5 million, including a $10
million endowment.
With the exception of the endowment funds, the money raised so far has
helped underwrite the construction of an underground parking garage, which
the Eiteljorg shares with its neighbors, the NCAA Hall of Champions and the
Indiana State Museum. It also has helped pay for interior renovations in
the museum, including upgraded technologies and the creation of new
galleries.
With a goal of $44.7 million, says Vanausdall, the campaign still has some
work to do. But there's enough money pledged or in hand to begin the final
step in the Eiteljorg's redevelopment efforts -- expansion of the existing
building.
Because some of the promised funding will come in increments over the next
five years, says Vanausdall, the Eiteljorg asked the Indiana Development
Finance Authority to allow it to issue up to $22 million in tax-exempt
bonds to cover the costs of construction, most of which will come due over
the next 18 months. The Finance Authority has given preliminary approval to
the museum's request.
"We may not have to issue the entire amount," says Vanausdall. "But we
wanted to be able to cover our costs, so we made the request."
The expansion is a reflection of the museum's success, says Stan Hurt,
chairman of the Eiteljorg's board and a donor to the campaign that raised
funds to pay for it.
"The Eiteljorg has become a very innovative institution," says Hurt. "Not
only does it display art, but it delves into the history and cultures of
Native American, Spanish and Anglo settlers in the West and Midwest."
What's more, the museum is a valuable asset to White River State Park, says
Donna Imus.
As the park's deputy director, Imus is interested in the impact its tenants
have on the Downtown park. She says the Eiteljorg, which sits at the
eastern end of the park, has had a positive impact since the beginning.
"Only the Indianapolis Zoo has been part of the park longer than the
Eiteljorg," says Imus. "So it's great to see it thrive to the point where
it's expanding."
What's more, says Imus, the museum's cafe will add a much-needed element to
the park. "One of the things we've been looking at how to improve is the
access that people visiting the park have to food services. With its cafe
and outdoor terrace, the Eiteljorg will give people walking along the canal
a place to stop and refresh themselves. That's going to be a great asset
for the park."
For Hess, the expansion is a reminder of the days and weeks and months of
his life that went into the original design -- and an opportunity to extend
the vision of the man with whom he spent those days and weeks and months,
Harrison Eiteljorg (1903-1997).
"I'm struck by how lucky I am to continue on with this institution," says
Hess. "I feel a responsibility to Mr. Eiteljorg, and I want to be a good
steward."
Call Star reporter S.L. Berry at 1-317-444-6437.
Other additions, one in talking stage, are on track locally
By S.L. Berry
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December 14, 2003
In addition to the institutions that are undertaking or have completed
major construction projects in the past decade, there are two more
significant additions to the city's cultural landscape -- one under
construction, the other in the planning stage.
Herron School of Art
Since 1970, Herron School of Art has been waiting to make the move from its
campus at 1701 N. Pennsylvania St. to the campus of its parent university,
IUPUI. The wait is nearly over.
Now under way, the project consists of a drastic renovation and redesign of
the former IU Law School, 735 W. New York St. The result will be a 169,000-
square-foot building, which will triple the space available at Herron's
current facilities.
Costing $26.5 million -- $12 million from the state and the rest from
individual, foundation and corporate donors -- the new facility will
include classrooms and studios, three art galleries, an 8,000-square-foot
library, a 250-seat auditorium and a grand hall for public events.
With a move-in date of spring 2005, classes will begin in the new facility
the following fall. The project architect is Jonathan Hess, of Browning Day
Mullins Dierdorf.
African-American Museum
If everything goes well, by the end of this decade Downtown Indianapolis
will have another museum on its roster. Still being planned, the African-
American Museum will be located on a three-acre site reserved for it in
White River State Park.
When completed, the museum will focus on the history of black Americans in
Indiana and beyond. To date, no cost estimate for the project has been made
public, though the museum's 15-member board of directors, which includes
such prominent figures as Tavis Smiley, National Public Radio talk-show
host and Indiana native, and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R&B recording
artist and Indianapolis native, is currently raising funds for the project.
Local firm Blackburn Architects has been chosen to design the facility, but
no conceptual plans are yet available.
Contact The Star's S.L. Berry at 1-317-444-6437.
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