Huntingburg part of award-winning economic development program
The Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement received the Award of Excellence in the category of Place from the University Economic Development Association during its annual summit in Reno-Tahoe, Nevada, this month. This is the first year IU Bloomington has won this award.
Recognized for outstanding work in quality-of-place initiatives, the Center for Rural Engagement is developing a model for arts-based community and economic development that pairs university resources with rural communities’ local assets to co-create arts- and culture-building initiatives. The center, the IU Bloomington Arts and Humanities Council and community partners in Huntingburg, Nashville and Salem, Indiana, launched a pop-up cinema series, creative writing workshops and readings, theater performances and talk-backs, artists-in-residence visits, professional development for educators, and music masterclasses and performances in local schools and community venues.
“We are thankful for this recognition of the center’s emerging model for arts and cultural engagement, which generates community self-reflection and authentic creative placemaking,” said the center’s executive director, Kerry Thomson. “This acknowledges the hard work of our campus and community partners to build creative capacity in communities and establish a framework for robust arts and cultural engagement in rural communities across the nation.”
In addition to rural arts programming, IU is connecting the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs‘ Arts Administration Program with community committees to create strategic plans that expand local capacity and establish long-term plans for creative placemaking to increase artistic, educational and economic opportunities in rural communities.
“Our faculty and students have been mobilizing their creativity to have a direct and measurable impact on the quality of life in small towns throughout the region, and this work is now drawing the attention of city governments and business leaders,” said Ed Comentale, associate vice provost and director of the IU Bloomington Arts and Humanities Council. “These quality-of-place initiatives affirm the public value and utility of the arts and humanities in new and exciting ways.”
The Awards of Excellence Program recognizes organizations that are transforming their campuses into engines of economic prosperity through leading-edge initiatives in one of six categories: Innovation, Talent, Place, Innovation and Talent, Talent and Place, and Place and Innovation. Leading initiatives from across North America competed in a six-month process for the awards, including application, peer review, live presentations and selection by attendees of the association’s Annual Summit category leaders.
Cover photo: Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Symphonic Band member Grace Adduci, center, works with a member of the Southridge High School Band in Huntingburg, Indiana, on Oct. 8, 2019. Photo by James Brosher, Indiana University
