Westfield Arts Alliance to create new culture throughout city
Carmel has the Arts & Design District. Noblesville and Fishers have Nickel Plate Arts. Until recently, the City of Westfield didn’t have an organization or specific location to celebrate the arts.
Under the umbrella of the Downtown Westfield Association, the Westfield Arts Alliance was created and after assistance from a consultant, the organization is prepared to create arts awareness in the city.
“We promote the arts in Westfield. It’s not a downtown thing; it’s for all of Westfield,” said Ken Kingshill, DWA director and alliance chairman. “The mayor was asking for it for a couple of years. He’s had it on his radar.”
“Developing the arts is a key goal in the transformation of Westfield as a destination,” said Mayor Andy Cook.
Initial project
On Aug. 27, the first project created by the arts alliance was a portable chalkboard inspired by Candy Chang’s “Before I Die” piece.
“You can take it inside, make it smaller. Our intension for it is to be displayed. We hope to have other ideas … There’s more to come,” Kingshill said.
Kingshill said that after Hurricane Katrina Chang painted the side of an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighborhood with chalkboard paint and stenciled it with the sentence “Before I die I want to …” Anyone walking by could pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on their lives, and share their personal aspirations in public space.
The local piece has the line “The arts in Westfield is …” for now. As it is displayed at different locations a new sentence will appear.
“I think it will be a neat way to express things, whether it is anonymous or not. Personal things someone doesn’t want to sign their name,” said Rob Stokes, a professional photographer and Westfield resident.
“I think it is pretty cool; it encourages interaction between people with ideas and thoughts about Westfield which is good,” said Mike Thorburn. “Big changes are happening in Westfield and being a part of it is a cool thing … Now we are starting to see a little bit of growth but still keeping the small town feel. I love it.”
Starting the alliance
The arts alliance is a core group of people with various backgrounds including teachers, artists, music, dance and performance arts.
“We try not focus on one particular form of art, but all of the arts,” Kingshill said. “We have a lot of untapped resources in the city; we’re not looking for the outside to come in.”
One person in the alliance is Mic Mead, a sculptor and painter. Mead joked that he started sculpting “thinking they were crafts.”
“The sculptors were getting heavy so I started painting,” he said.
Mead, a longtime Westfield resident, said the alliance will help the public interact more with the arts.
“It’s a great way for the community to get together through arts to help themselves,” he said. “I encourage something like this to happen. There are a lot of artist that don’t know each other or work together. We needed a uniting factor.”
The alliance’s mission is to “encourage community connections through the arts by providing a supportive environment for awareness, appreciation and participation to develop a vibrant culture.”
“What is art? If you enter a room and have an emotional affect its art. It doesn’t mean you are going to like it. It doesn’t mean it is good art. If it has an affect it’s art. It communicates and art is communication,” Mead said.
Officials said the alliance is not going to stage events but promote other projects and events.
“It’s in its infancy. We’re still finding ourselves. I think it will be a great thing to show to highlight all the activities and opportunities here. We just need to explore them,” Stokes said. “It’s all about creating opportunities for people to enjoy art or express themselves through it. You don’t have to be an art major. If it moves you, if you like it. There are a lot of different things for a lot of different people.”
Planning the future
Westfield was among six Indiana communities that participated in the Indiana Arts Commission’s Vibrant Communities cultural planning consultancy project. The alliance utilized consultant Sharon Canaday to develop a strategic plan for the arts in Westfield.
“We wanted to do a strategic plan but was not sure how to go about doing that,” Kingshill said. “She’s done this a number of times and led us through the analysis: what prevented us in the past an how to overcome those obstacles.”
Westfield’s consultant began in January and ended in June. Kingshill said the strategic plan is vague but includes increasing awareness in the community, educating residents about art resources and why it is important.
“We feel very strongly that art can be an economic development driver,” he said.
In recent years the city has created more public art including the mural on the side of Union Street Flowers, the Redman statue on Ind. 32, and the sculptures at the entrance of Asa Bales Park and in the roundabout at 151st Street and Carey Road.
Kingshill said the alliance wants the arts to be another amenity for the city.
“Vibrant communities include the arts. To be a well-rounded community, arts are certainly part of that,” he said.
Those interested in the Westfield Arts Alliance or learning more may contact Kingshill at [email protected].
