On Thursday, Nov. 12, judges and audience members will award $10,000 to an idea for using art to strengthen community in Indianapolis at 5 x 5: Dream Indy. The event is the fourth of four 5×5 idea competitions this year, in which five finalists have five minutes and five slides each to pitch an idea. The event is presented by Big Car Collaborative, the University of Indianapolis Center for Aging & Community, and Joy’s House Day Adult Service, as part of the 2015 Spirit & Place Festival (whose theme is “Dream”).
The event takes place in the grounds of Big Car’s new Tube Factory artspace, at 1125 Cruft St. in Garfield Park. A team of judges selected five finalists from among 27 submissions. The five selected ideas address building neighborhood identity, crossing demographic boundaries, and building social capital:
Micro-affections
presented by Danicia Malone and Tomm Roesch
Indiana is one of five states in the nation with no anti-hate crimes legislation. This public art project will combat microagressions with microaffections through an interactive typographic projection of text related to ethics and advocacy, and eight gramophones strategically positioned around the city that collect and project words of encouragement.
Open Music Indy: A Collaborative Concert Series
presented by Rob Funkhouser and Austin Senior
Open Music Indy is a concert series that would gather musicians (composers, songwriters, performers) from different Indianapolis communities to create new music and perform it free to the public. Collaborations would be designed to join audiences and artists that would not normally listen or perform together. The concerts would happen in all-ages public spaces and be used as a tool to foster relationships between musicians and music lovers of all kinds and to eliminate any perceived barriers, cultural, demographic, or otherwise, between them.
Neighborhood Stories
presented by Bob Sander and Alysah Rice
Neighborhood Stories connects Near Eastside residents, young and old, through storytelling and illustration. Visual artist Emily Kennerk will design a “Reader’s Chair,” a public artwork, to mark the site of monthly reading events, where community members can gather to share stories about their neighborhood, across generations. Workshops, sponsored by Arts for Learning, will be held at area schools for students to create books based on the stories collected and their own dreams for the community.
A Place to Call Home: Saint Clair Place and Neighborhood Identity
presented by Lukas Schooler and Beverly Roche
Through neighbor-driven interviews and tailored public workshops, NoExit Performance would work with youth in the Saint Clair Place neighborhood to create a unifying historic and/or social narrative for their neighborhood through interviews with residents. NoExit Performance and neighbors will devise a series of short performances that will debut at the annual Saint Clair Place Parade.
The Secret of Life Society
presented by Christopher M. Dance and Chad Hankins
The Secret of Life Society is a series of figurative public monuments depicting current community residents, selected through a voting process. The sculptures would include benches and information about the unique place where the monuments are located. The aim is to inspire hope through creating value and interest in public spaces and individual champions of neighborhoods.
Funds for 5×5 come from the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), the Efroymson Family Fund, the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation and Lilly Endowment Inc. The goal is to stimulate grassroots innovation in Indianapolis. This is the third year of the 5×5 program, in which $110,000 has been granted to 11 creative ideas.
At the Nov. 12 competition event, one idea will get $10,000 and the other four will receive $500. The panel of judges will select the best idea based on viability, community impact, creativity, intergenerational appeal. The audience vote counts as well.
The event is from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. and is free, with food and drink available for purchase. An RSVP is required.
