The volunteer-led Columbus Museum of Art & Design (CMAD) has awarded four grants totaling $12,250 for local art and design projects.
CMAD developed this pilot for a new grant program to support visual art and design projects in order to continue to build the Columbus legacy of innovative design, according to a news release.
The organization’s leaders asked applicants to focus on projects that engage the greater Columbus community in short-term visual art and design experiences by creating 2-D, 3-D, multimedia or digital work. Nonprofit organizations or units of government working with artists or designers were eligible to apply.
The following projects were awarded funding:
- The Columbus Area Arts Council, $5,000 for “Learning Patterns” mural by Lulu Loquidis and Daniel Luis Martinez of the local LAA (Landscape, Art and Architecture) Office. The arts council will install a mural by local design studio LAA Office on the east facade of the 411 gallery building on Sixth Street. The designers view the project as a strategic stepping stone to developing and raising excitement about a long-term mural program that enlivens the downtown core and engages the community. The mural celebrates Columbus by reinterpreting historic design drawings for the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library into a contemporary, public artwork.
- Friends of Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives, $2,250 for the “Cleo Turns 50” exhibit, curated by Tricia Gilson. The “Cleo Turns 50” exhibit will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library structure. The exhibit will be complemented by activities planned by the Bartholomew County Public Library and the Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives throughout the rest of the year to commemorate the building’s design and history, and the library’s contributions to civic life.
- LA-Más, $2,500 for “Thank U, Next,” a 2019 Exhibit Columbus downtown installation. “Thank U, Next” is an informal and inclusive meeting space for the city. This three-month interactive installation, centered around an adaptable set of tables, will serve as a destination for people from all parts of the city and all backgrounds to have shared civic experiences.
- City of Bloomington, $2,500 for the “Paper Pavilions: 2X2X” exhibition, curated by Sean M. Starowitz. The curator will commission and curate an exhibition of site-specific and site-responsive sculpture proposals. Artists will respond by designing their own sculptural pavilions that will activate various sites in the Columbus/Bloomington area, and also throughout southern Indiana. The project will include two one-month-long exhibitions — one in Columbus and the other in Bloomington.
