Embarrassment of riches

Is the cup half empty or half full? That’s a question people in Indianapolis are used to asking themselves when it comes to sizing up the cultural offerings associated with this fair city. But, as this week’s NUVO cover story suggests, the weekend presents us with a different situation. This weekend, Indy’s cultural cup runneth over.

The sheer number of openings and special events taking place over the next few days beats anything we’ve seen here before. It’s an embarrassment of riches.

Fiesta, for example, the annual Latino festival that takes place on American Legion Mall, has long been one of Indianapolis’ most popular events. The music, the dancing, the food and good fellowship of this outdoor extravaganza are hard to beat. Of course, the same can be said of the annual Irish Fest, which has its own brand of music, dancing, food and good fellowship. It takes place at Military Park. Both events happen on Saturday, Sept. 18 (though Irish Fest is a weekend festival).

And if the prospect of chasing your cerveza with a pint of stout isn’t enough to spin your head, you can also, on the same day, head down to Fountain Square for the annual celebration of hyper art, Masterpiece in a Day, which, in addition to the visual and literary arts, will also include music and theater-making.
Factor in all the other openings, galas and sundry other shows lifting off over this weekend and Indianapolis looks like a cultural feast.

But if you happen to be a person who has spent the past year planning one of these blockbusters, you might have a slightly different take. Oh, in public you’re probably saying that all these things happening at once creates an excitement and a synergy that (you hope) will build a larger overall audience. Privately, though, you may be wondering how this happened and are worrying that your baby could wind up competing for the same audience with several other events.

Until recently, this has been a town where presenting organizations have jealously guarded every customer. The audience for cultural events was perceived as being so small that producers went out of their way to avoid conflicts. Whether that audience has actually grown sufficiently is a question we may be about to answer.

What has definitely grown is the number of organizations and individuals with programs to present. The cultural ecology of Indianapolis is burgeoning, which can make for a bulging calendar at certain times of year, particularly when it’s not clear who’s minding the store.

For years Indianapolis thought of arts and culture as an afterthought that could sink or swim in the marketplace rather than as an instrument of public policy. Thus the city’s arts funding remains folded into the larger parks and recreation budget and an independent nonprofit organization, the Arts Council of Indianapolis, is given authority to reallocate that money in the form of grants and special projects. As the arts have loomed larger in the city’s scheme of things, this has sometimes placed the Arts Council in the awkward position of serving two masters — the arts community and city government — whose interests are not always the same.

Mayor Bart Peterson’s belief in the arts as a city-building tool has given the Arts Council a privileged position but it has also spread the council thin. At present, the council is engaged in the long overdue process of soliciting ideas from its primary constituency, the arts community, in an effort to renew its sense of focus. Meanwhile, other organizations, most notably Indianapolis Downtown, Inc. and the Peterson-instigated Cultural Development Commission, have become important and overlapping players in helping to grow the city’s cultural scene.

I don’t know to what extent, if any, these various and related groups contributed to the spirited jumble of events and activities on offer this weekend. And while it is certainly true that one measure of a thriving cultural scene is a menu laden with more than enough to do, it’s hard to look at what’s happening here and not think that more strategic planning is in order.

The city is reaching the point where it’s time to consider consolidating its cultural bureaucracy through creation of a Department of Cultural Affairs. Such a department, similar to one that has worked famously in Chicago, could be a one-stop shop for cultural planners and entrepreneurs. It would provide a comprehensive source of information about schedules, funding, marketing and artist services — with built-in capacity to effectively interface with other city departments, from police to streets and sanitation. It’s worth noting in this regard that when Indianapolis decided to declare 2005 a year of “Cultural Convergence,” a special coordinator was hired by the city. If successful, this position could preview the creation of a full-fledged department, which would also build cultural work into the city’s agenda beyond the administration of any one mayor.

Events like thosecoming up this weekend cost a lot in terms of time, energy and dollars raised. It’s in the city’s best interest to make sure that as many of them succeed as possible. An Indianapolis Department of Cultural Affairs could place the emphasis where it needs to be: on the riches in our town rather than any potential embarrassment.

In the meantime, cram as much as you can into this weekend. It’s all for you.