Public Arts and Humanities Projects

Public Arts and Humanities Projects

The Public Arts and Humanities Project is a program to fund new research and creative activities that benefit the community and Indiana at large. Applicants must partner with civic or other community organizations to plan and manage a research or creative project with academic as well as public deliverables. This is a non-competitive program with a rolling deadline. Proposals are reviewed by a committee of arts and humanities faculty from across the IU system.

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The Bayeux Tapestry from Scratch Project (BTFS) is a three-year workshop and lecture series that mobilizes experimental and experiential methods in humanities outreach and research. The Bayeux Tapestry is a 70-meter-long embroidery depicting the Battle of Hastings in 1066, produced for display in the Bayeux Cathedral in the late 11th century. The project, led by associate professor Elizabeth Hebbard (French and Italian, IU Bloomington), aims to build understanding around premodern agricultural, visual storytelling, and craft practices through hands-on experience with the knowledge- and labor-intensive steps behind the creation of this famous textile. Workshops will be paired with lectures from artists and academics on the project’s annual themes: Flax to Linen (2025), Sheep to Yarn (2026), and Premodern Needlecraft (2027).

Jason Aukerman, director of the Ray Bradbury Center at IU Indianapolis, successfully applied for support for Festival 451indy, a literary festival dedicated to fostering lifelong, humanities-based learning. As American Time Use Surveys indicate, U.S. adults are spending less time each year on personal enrichment activities such as reading. Festival 451indy seeks to counter this trend by offering engaging, accessible public programs—ranging from collaborative workshops to performances and other events throughout Indianapolis. The Ray Bradbury Center brings its vast collection to life, connecting the wider community to Bradbury’s boundless imagination, promoting literacy, and encouraging a kinder, more thoughtful society that shares its gifts for the greater good.

Public Arts and Humanities Project funding helped deepen engagement with partner organizations across the city, enabling festival organizers to bring in a diverse range of artists, actors, and authors to enrich programming. The support also allowed for opportunities for IUI and Butler University faculty to collaborate on community-focused programming rooted in their academic work.

In Fahrenheit 451’s dark vision of the future, people are allowed to ask how things are done, but they are discouraged from asking why. Festival 451indy challenges participants to explore both questions.

Grunwald Gallery director Linda Tien won an award to stage an exhibit on the Bloomington campus. Cook Center’s Engaged Artist-in-Residence, Julie Schenkelberg, will present The Midlothian Chapel, a contemporary art exhibition at the Grunwald Gallery. This large-scale sculptural installation will transport viewers to another time and place by weaving together history, engaging thought and exploring material and mystery. The Midlothian Chapel will provide a place for reflection upon lost and demolished cultures. Inspired and informed by her travels, she will connect the Midwest rust belt with ancient cultures by including castings made from architectural ornaments collected from Bloomington, Italy, Norway and the British Isles. Indicative materials and items of the local region, such as limestone, will evoke bygone eras and transformation through its familiarity.

Funding from the Public Arts and Humanities Grant Program supported Professor of Orchestral Conducting Jeffrey Meyer's project offering two free public performances of an innovative, multidisciplinary concert at the Musical Arts Center on the Bloomington campus. The Jacobs School of Music partnered with the Monroe County Community Schools Corporation to perform the concert for students on Friday, November 1, 2024, and for a general audience on Saturday evening, November 2. The latter concert was also livestreamed. 

The concert featured two artistic collaborations:  One, for orchestra and ballet, was Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka – Complete music from the ballet (1947 version), featuring dancers from the IU Jacobs School of Music Ballet Department with choreography by Christian Claessens and Sarah Wroth. The second, for orchestra and animated film, was Mason Bates’s Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra (2021), a 25-minute orchestral work by one of the 21st century’s eminent composers, and accompanied by a bespoke, innovative animated film by Oscar- and Grammy-winning director/audio artist Gary Rydstrom.

In October 2024, IU Indianapolis’s Spirit & Place and IU Bloomington’s Arts & Humanities Council partnered with the local nonprofit Bloomington Roots to host Alice Randall, a New York Times best-selling novelist of the book The Wind Done Gone, award-winning songwriter, educator, food activist, and now memoirist. Randall is widely recognized as being one of the most significant voices in 21st century African American fiction, the only Black woman in history to write both a number one country song and an ACM video of the year. She was joined by Leyla McCalla, a master of the cello, tenor banjo, and guitar who, as a multilingual singer and songwriter, has risen to produce a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience. McCalla is a founding member of Our Native Daughters (with Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah and Allison Russell) and alumna of Grammy award-winning Black string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops. At the historic Madam Walker Legacy Center in Indianapolis, Randall and McCalla engaged students, faculty, and community members alike in a music, storytelling, and conversation event surrounding the themes in Randall’s recently released book, My Black Country, which reflects on Black Americans’ influence on American culture and the country genre at large. After a performance of their original music, attendees had the opportunity to speak with the guests as part of a moderated Q&A. 

Following their visit to Indianapolis, the IU Arts & Humanities Council hosted Randall and McCalla as they brought their music to Bloomington. Hosted at the downtown venue Buskirk-Chumley Theater, Randall and McCalla shared a performance with students, faculty, and the broader Bloomington community.

Leading up to their visit, the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center partnered with the Arts & Humanities Council to host Our Black Country, a mini-conference featuring scholars presenting and discussing topics related to Randall’s My Black Country. Presenters included IUB professors, students, and Bloomington community members.