The City of Bloomington is seeking responses to an RFQ (request for qualifications) for managing the Waldron Art Center. The deadline to respond is 12 p.m. on Friday, August. 13.

The city wants an entity "to manage the city-owned facility as an arts center for no less than five years, embrace the facility’s core users (including WFHB, community artists, and arts organizations), conduct joint marketing efforts with these stakeholders, lead fundraising activities, maintain the structure and its building systems, and actively pursue community outreach for diversity and to build audiences."

Read the RFQ here.

The City of Bloomington's Waldron Recommendation Task Force has issued its report for future uses of the historic building at 122 South Walnut. The ownership of the building reverted from Ivy Tech Community College to the city in January 2021.

The three main recommendations are: 

• Extend the initial short-term use period to five years, allowing arts organizations utilizing the facility a secure, yet temporary opportunity to rebuild operation revenue post-pandemic. Provide minimum yet adequate funding for general upkeep and maintenance of the building.
• Continue public ownership of the building for five years and create a new Cultural Improvement Corporation to oversee both the Waldron and the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Seek venue management from interested organizations, including one proposal that has already been received.   
• Commission a third-party study to determine type, size, location, and cost for a future arts facility to be built within the downtown region, ultimately replacing the need for the Waldron as an arts facility.    ​

Read the full report here.

Miah Michaelsen and Valerie Peña were named co-chairs of the Waldron Recommendation Committee, a group appointed by Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton to give advice on the future of the Waldron building at 122 S. Walnut Street.

Ivy Tech, which has owned the former city hall for several years, is returning it to the city. That transaction is expected to be completed in early 2021, according to Sean Starowitz, the city's assistant director of economic development for the arts. He gave an update on the process at the Bloomington Arts Commission's Oct. 14 meeting.

Michaelsen is Deputy Director of the Indiana Arts Commission. Peña is Assistant Vice President/Chief of Staff for the Office of Government Relations & Economic Engagement at Indiana University. According to the city's press release, the city will be seeking nominations for other committee members. To nominate or self-nominate, contact Mary Catherine Carmichael, the city's Director of Public Engagement, at carmichm@bloomington.in.gov or 812-349-3406.

In addition, IU Professor Mark Levin is leading a Capstone class of graduate students to do a feasibility study of the Waldron. And a coalition of Cardinal Stage, Bloomington Playwrights Project and Pigasus Institute submitted a proposal to manage the Waldron. You can find a video describing that proposal here.

 Erin Predmore, CEO of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, was a guest on the Oct. 16, 2020 WFIU Noon Edition, focused on how COVD-related festival cancellations are impacting southern Indiana.

​Other panelists were Judy Epp, Spencer Pride fundraising director; Diana Choate, Monroe County Fall Festival president; and Elaine Bedel, Indiana Destination and Development Corporation secretary and CEO.

Click here to listen to a recording of the discussion. Read the WFIU report: "Bloomington Chamber CEO Talks Effects of Local Event Cancellations."

The Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association and the Bloomington Arts Commission are seeking applications for a second round of funding to foster the arts and cultivate cultural experiences in Bloomington.

Nonprofit organizations and businesses in the arts and cultural sector can apply for funds starting Friday, September 4 at noon at the following link: https://bloomington.in.gov/arts/grants. Applications will be evaluated according to organizational capacity, community impact, equity and inclusion efforts, artistic quality, and programming needs.  Completed applications are due Friday, October 2, at 5 p.m., with awards to be announced and distribution anticipated by late October.  

As part of the city's Recover Forward initiative, in May 2020 the BUEA and the BAC awarded $80,800 in grant funding to 26 nonprofit organizations whose programming was interrupted or otherwise impacted by the pandemic. 

NOTE: Mary Morgan, the Chamber's Director of Advocacy & Public Policy, serves on the BUEA board. 

Three panelists representing different aspects of Bloomington's performing arts sector shared their views at an Aug. 13 Chamber Speaker Series event.

​Speakers were:

• Kate Galvin,  artistic director for Cardinal Stage
• Linda Pisano, chair of the Indiana University Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance
• Sean Starowitz, assistant director for the arts with the City of Bloomington Economic & Sustainable Development Department

Topics in the wide-ranging discussion included the impact of COVID-19 on performing arts organizations, how groups are adapting in creative ways, infrastructure needs, ways that new collaborations are forming, and the need for ongoing support during these challenging times.

​According to a 2019 study commissioned by Cardinal Stage, the Bloomington/Monroe County performing arts sector adds over $4 million annually to the local economy and supports more than 160 jobs here.

Click here to view a recording of the Speaker Series discussion.

More than 300 people signed a letter to the City of Bloomington administration, supporting the continued use of the Waldron building at 122 S. Walnut for arts & cultural purposes.

​Ivy Tech has owned the building for several years, and recently announced plans to return it to the city. That transaction is expected to be completed in August.

The petition, organized by Arts Forward Bloomington, in part asks the city to keep the building's "current function as an arts center, particularly a performance venue available for public use.”

Sean Starowitz, the city's assistant director for the arts, told the Chamber that a public engagement process will be held later this year to get input on the building's future use.

Click here to see the Arts Forward Bloomington press release, with a full text of the letter and a list of signatories.

As part of an effort to revise its strategic plan, the Bloomington Arts Commission is seeking feedback via an online survey.

The brief survey takes 2-5 minutes to complete. It asks several freeform questions about your awareness of the commission, what you'd like the commission to do for the city's residents, and what the commission might do to become better known in the community.

Click here to take the survey.

​The commission's 2017-2019 strategic plan is available online here.