Bloomington Arts Commision Program increases funds for artists

Nonprofits thrive on donations.

Donations are the reason the City of Bloomington Arts Commission’s 2012 Arts Project Grant Program has been able to increase its funds for grants. 

The grant program, which began about 10 years ago, awards up to $1,000 per project for each eligible applicant.

This year, applicants have until April 2 to apply for the first cycle. The deadline for the second cycle is Oct. 1. 

Applicants must be able to match the award amount and demonstrate that the project cultivates diverse art activities within the community and a high level of artistry.

The most important component of the project is how it will benefit the public, said Miah Michaelsen, City of Bloomington’s assistant economic development director for the arts.
She also listed components such as project quality and the artists or artists’ organizations ability to carry out the projects.

“That is a primary consideration for them,” Michaelsen said.

This year, the commission has $20,000 in grants to award, which is $5,000 more than last year.

On average, the program funds 12 projects per year. However, the number of applicants per year has increased, Michaelsen said.

The Arts Commission will offer a workshop for potential applicants to the April grant cycle from 4 to 5 p.m. March 21 in the Hooker Conference Room in City Hall. The workshop is free and applicants will be addressed on a first-come, first-served basis.

“The commission has certainly made some great strides in standardizing the grant requirements and the process and sort of getting out in the community and letting people know that these grants are available,” she said.

Last year, the program funded 13 nonprofit organizations responsible for creating arts-based projects for the community.

The Center for Sustainable Living, a nonprofit, received a grant after applying last fall.
The Center received more than $500, which will help fund a fashion show called “Trashion Refashion” on April 22 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.

“The point is to raise awareness about recycling, and it’s intended to encourage people to look at their own clothes and to think about how they could be reworked into something more fashionable,” said Jeanne Leimkuhler, the show’s producer.

The “Trashion” part of the show involves clothes that are made out of non-clothing items, such as shopping bags, bubble wrap and window curtains. The “Refashion” portion shows clothing made of different articles of clothing.

Local designers, some from as far away as Indianapolis, apply to showcase their designs in the show. 

The CSL also received a rental grant from the Buskirk-Chumley Theater Grant Program that subsidizes the daily rental fee for organizations using the theater.

Leimkuhler said the grants have helped produce and promote the show, and the CSL has been able to afford more advertising.

“The show is also a fundraiser,” Leimkuhler said. “It’s grown into more than a fundraiser because it’s a really fun, creative, artistic event, but it’s also a fundraiser for the Center for Sustainable Living.”

Leimkuhler said the Center relies mostly on memberships and fundraisers to sustain the organization.

The Arts Commission Project Grant Program last year also helped fund Jazz from Bloomington, a group that promotes jazz events and educational music programs for the community.

Fred Parker, the president of Jazz from Bloomington, said the funds were used to pay for a jazz session at Café Django the last Tuesday of every month.

The sessions are geared toward fostering kids’ music interests, but are also open to anyone interested in jazz.

“We’re able to really say, ‘This is what we do, this is what we’re doing,’ and to show people that we’re involved in music education,” Parker said.

“Jazz Masters in the Schools,” one of the programs the group promotes, provides jazz programs at rural schools in south-central Indiana. Parker said Jazz from Bloomington has run out of funds for the program every year.

Michaelsen said the funds from the BAC Project Program for each project have continued to increase.

“It makes the time that an organization puts in more appropriate to the dollar amount that they are receiving,” she said.