In the News

An Art Spaces Inc.’s Turn to the River project, aimed at creating a walking promenade between Terre Haute City Hall and the Vigo County Courthouse to the Wabash River, has received a major financial boost.

The non-profit agency Thursday announced it has received $75,000 from the Wabash River Regional Development Authority, funds which will fulfill a required one-to-one match for a previous $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2017. 

The regional development authority used half of its $150,000 funding from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to fund the public art and design project.

“It really acknowledges the economic impact connection of Turn to the River to the revitalization of Terre Haute’s downtown,” said Mary Kramer, executive director of Art Spaces Inc.

The focus area includes the four-square-block government campus for Terre Haute and Vigo County. The project is envisioned to include a public green space with an overlook to the Wabash River and possibly a flexible performance structure for public events.

City Hall’s parking lot may become feasible as a space for public weekend events such as farmer’s market, arts festivals and other community happenings.

“We as a city can recapture an important part of our cultural history and architecture through adding vibrancy to this essential public place and connecting to the river through it,” Kramer said.

The next step is for Art Spaces Inc. to select a design company for the project, expected to be announced in early February. The selected firm is to create detail designs to be completed by March 2019.Art Spaces will then undertake a fundraising campaign to construct the project, Kramer said.

Greg Goode, executive director of government relations at Indiana State University, said partnerships are important for such projects.

Goode referred to the state’s Indiana Regional Cities Initiative. In 2015, seven Indiana regions created development plans for state funding. While Terre Haute was not selected, Goode said that “it raised the profile of a number of projects in this area,” he said.

Kramer thanked U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Newburgh, whose office assisted in obtaining the grant for the National Endowment for the Arts.

“Our office is always supportive of helping agencies like this get a national grant,” Bucshon, who attended, said after the announcement. “I am a big supporter of the arts.” 

Bucshon said he previously toured Terre Haute with Kramer “and saw every public art project in the city. It makes a difference to have attractiveness in your community, things that make your community attractive to new people who maybe want to move there. It also has to do with economic development,” he said.

“The arts play such an important role” to a city’s quality of place, said Mayor Duke Bennett.

The project, Bennett said, will come through the heart of the city and county government campus, “which is sterile looking, but we are going to open that up to the river. This is going to be just exactly what everybody envisions to open the door for our downtown to the river that leads to those quality of life, quality of place initiatives,” the mayor said.

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