Crowdfunding project aims to revitalize Indy Bean Creek spot
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Indianapolis artists are seeking to transform a spot along Bean Creek into a restored educational and creative space with the help of a $50,000 crowdfunding campaign.
The Water World project, led by not-for-profit art and design organization Big Car Collaborative, will build a new landscape design and restore horticulture along Bean Creek and on the Tube Factory campus on the city’s near south side.
Big Car said the project will both create gathering spaces and provide a better natural ecosystem.
If the campaign reaches its goal before Jan. 13, it will receive a matching grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s CreatINg Places program, totaling at least $100,000 for the project. Over 30 people have donated a total of $31,115 as of Thursday afternoon.
“This restorative space will beautify a highly visible, easily accessible area of our creative campus that has been overlooked for too long. We know we need to embrace and emphasize our waterways now more than ever,” Big Car executive director Jim Walker said in a news release. “This project will further expand what we offer at Tube Factory as a very different kind of contemporary art museum and community space—with a surprising amount of natural beauty—all located in the heart of our city.”
The CreatINg Places program is open to not-for-profits and local governments, and eligible projects must have a minimum total development cost of $10,000.
The IHCDA says its projects in the CreatINg Places program have raised more than $10 million in public funds and $8.2 million in matching funds since its inception in 2016.