23 May 2016 Noblesville Creates Festival
Art-centric summer can last all year
Mountain of Clay Anniversary, June 4, 12-5 p.m., Noblesville Library
The Noblesville Creates Festival is not a one-day event. Is it not about just fine art, just music or just growing community. It is not about one venue, one organization or one town. The Noblesville Creates Festival is all of these things and more.
Born in 2012 out of a desire to draw together existing arts events and resources across the area we call the Nickel Plate Region, the Noblesville Creates Festival has grown — and continues to evolve — to celebrate, collaborate and nurture the arts.
“Very quickly, it became clear that our efforts had yielded so much more than we could handle in one day,” says Aili McGill, Noblesville Creates Director. In 2013, the festival expanded to highlight a particular community during each weekend of June, but more opportunities and stronger collaborative partnerships drove the festival’s boundaries further.
This year, the Noblesville Creates Festival kicks off in June (see “Festival Kickoff: Mountain of Clay Anniversary”) and highlights communities and events that stretch well into July. McGill sees the future of the festival and Noblesville Creates’ role in it as being an arts resource for anyone seeking to experience the arts in eastern Hamilton County and southern Tipton County.
Chalk Art Festival, Saturday, June 18, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Hamilton Town Center
“This year is more of a full-on celebration, trying to pick up events that drive the most engagement with the arts. We are getting to a point where we are helping organize, promote and direct people to arts opportunities throughout the entire summer,” McGill says.
Borrowing a page from arts tourism success stories such as ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Noblesville Creates is working to become a robust hub of community activities including the Boys & Girls Club Bed Race, HeART of Tipton, Conner Prairie Curiosity Fair, Old Mill Festival and more. The festival initiative is partly about introducing people to local artists and giving artists opportunities to sell their work.
The partnerships and energy that an event can create doesn’t end once it’s over. The HeART of Tipton is one such success story. Now in its third year, this festival’s offerings are expanding and discussions about developing a Tipton arts council are taking place, which would benefit the community year round.
In 2016, the Noblesville Creates Festival continues to grow organically through grassroots efforts and seeking input. Art-centric summer can last all year Festival
HeART of Tipton, Saturday, June 25, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Downtown Tipton
“It’s an opportunity to see what citizens love about art, and then developing ways to help them connect with art,” McGill says. “One of the things that Noblesville Creates was founded for was to address the challenge arts organizations face when they work in silos, running up against each other for resources and sponsorship dollars instead of seeking chances to leverage resources and increase participation together.”
Under the Noblesville Creates Festival model, multiple events taking place at the same time increases the chances for crossover among audiences to build attendance.
“There have been so many times in the past when the connections between the arts and people have been broken, and we’re trying to bridge those gaps whenever possible,” McGill says.
Join us to celebrate the launch of the 2016 Noblesville Creates Festival with the one-year anniversary of Mountain of Clay, an outdoor pottery studio and community art project presented by Noblesville Creates and executed by artists Kandi and William Jamieson (former owners of Arthouse). Details here.
PHOTO: Audrey Barron, Owner, Ezra’s Enlightened Cafe, Indianapolis, is featured in Food First, a feature-length documentary produced by Deliberate Media being screened in Cicero on June 16, 6:30-9 p.m. Details here.
