Strong creative economies drive economic growth and prosperity, and Central Indiana hosts a plethora of strengths and assets related to its creative economy, including a myriad of arts and cultural assets and resources. However, these strengths often operate independently, keeping them from realizing their full potential impact. Gaps in the creative ecosystem remain, and chief among these is the regional organizational structure to harness the assets and build on them. To highlight and grow the region’s creative economy while bolstering arts and cultural amenities, sustained and long-term collaboration that maximizes assets and financial resources is required. Central Indiana will accomplish this using a hub-and-spoke model that will strengthen cultural nodes (creative organizations and locations) by developing a new central hub to serve organizations throughout the region. The region’s unique differentiators such as an enviable trail system, matchless sports identity, and robust talent ecosystem will be important ingredients in the work ahead.

The increased attention on strengthening arts and culture in Central Indiana—including through the State’s READI 2.0 initiative and Lilly Endowment’s generous funding—is encouraging. Increased public and philanthropic funding can have a transformative impact in the region if that money is used well. To compound the impact of investments, the plan focuses on growing the creative economy as a more sustainable and far-reaching strategy for elevating arts and culture than repeated reliance on public grants or subsidies.

To develop the plan, the Central Indiana Regional Development Authority (CIRDA) assembled an arts and culture advisory committee (Advisory Committee) composed of 13 leaders and planners from arts and culture not-for-profits, municipalities, and economic development organizations from across the region. The Advisory Committee met regularly throughout the strategic planning process to discuss regional creative assets and data, governance structures, marquee programs, and public policies for growing Central Indiana’s creative economy. The group was supported and advised by independent artists and representatives from tourism, arts, trails, sports, and other related organizations.

Early in the planning process, the Advisory Committee concluded that lack of coordination and minimal cohesive storytelling have resulted in Central Indiana’s creative economy being undervalued. This issue is evidenced by Central Indiana’s significantly lower-than-average public arts funding and wages for creative occupations. Low funding and wages dampens both the creative economy’s visibility and its potential to drive broader economic demand. In contrast, metropolitan areas that have intentionally elevated their creative sectors—such as Boston, Denver, Nashville, and Austin—have seen significant returns in innovation, economic dynamism, and talent attraction.

Elevating the region’s existing arts and cultural assets while bolstering the creative economy and leveraging it to drive broader economic growth has been an important focus for CIRDA. Ultimately, and as further discussed in the full plan to be released later this year, the Advisory Committee determined the best way to build creative economic momentum is through continued regional collaboration with a focused effort on the following five strategies:

1. Invest in infrastructure to support the creative economy by forming a Regional Creative Economy Committee (RCEC) as a continuing task force under CIRDA that brings together the region’s creative assets, public arts, and culture leaders and seeks and evaluates reliable funding streams for greater investment (financial and otherwise) in the creative economy.
2. Leverage sports as a platform for arts, culture, and creativity. The region must develop a more formal framework for embedding the arts into major sporting events, build creative partnerships with professional teams and venues, and activate youth and amateur sports as cultural gateways.
3. Connect arts and culture with trails, parks, and the built environment. Central Indiana should leverage trails to develop a creative corridor, transform parks into cultural campuses, and integrate art into everyday infrastructure.
4. Develop programming to boost talent and grow the creative economy. The region should bolster creative talent by strengthening the pipeline of skilled creators, develop key creative sectors through industry connections and strategic programming, and link innovation and entrepreneurship with creativity.
5. Increase public sector support for the creative economy. The RCEC should work with local governments to creatively use tax increment financing, planning and zoning, arts funding ordinances, educational programs, and artist activations of existing spaces to increase arts funding and improve the creative economy.