By Mackenzie Klahr
Fishers received the 2014 Hoosier Planning Award in the Outstanding Plan division for its work on the Fishers Community Art Master Plan.
The award was given by the Indiana American Planning Association Chapter who defined the Master Plan as “a project that will sustain public art in the long term through a contribution of time and ideas.”
Chair of the awards committee, Joshua Desmond, helped in choosing the awards handed out. The team took time to look at each category and then named the best qualified of the group.
Desmond saw Fisher’s plan as thought out. “It was well done and geographically looked organized,” he said. “They took a unique approach for putting a formal plan to it.”
Chalkboards put up in the Pocket Park and the 360-square-foot mural on 116th Street are two projects already completed through the plan.
Rachel Johnson, the Assistant Director of Planning for Fishers Community Development, works to develop the visual arts and culture of downtown Fishers.
“When you’re create a downtown you’re creating buildings, you’re creating the streets, but you are also creating an atmosphere and a lot of that has to with it,” she said.
Future goals for the plan include maintaining a framework that allows the community to submit work and select it.
“Fishers has always been very kid friendly and family oriented and we want the art to reflect that. We want the art to be approachable, fun and interactive,” Johnson said.
Senior Planner of Community Development, Sue Harrison, attributes the success of the plan to the Fishers Arts Council along with the Fishers Cultural Tourism Group.
“They really rolled up their sleeves and went chapter for chapter with us. There were a lot of different perspectives coming together to make it work,” she said.
Future priority sites for the plan include downtown and along trails.
For information of the Community Art Master Plan and how to get involved you can visit the website at www.fishers.in.us.
