15 May Building Community With the City of Noblesville
Being a supporter of Noblesville Creates’ is about much more than raising funds. With the City of Noblesville, we are working in tandem to make our home base a great city to live, work and visit. Steve Cooke, Deputy Mayor of the City of Noblesville, shares his thoughts on the arts and our partnership.
Arts advocate Steve Cooke, Deputy Mayor of the City of Noblesville.
We’re fortunate that Noblesville is home to Noblesville Creates. They’ve ensured our arts culture is not only alive — but also thriving. In our discussions with the Indiana Arts Commission, it was clear that Noblesville Creates played a big part in our winning the state-designated cultural arts district. And, I might add, we were the only city in the State of Indiana to do so for 2016.
The arts play a big part in the City’s identity as a vibrant, authentic and creative community, and we use that identity to attract new businesses, development, workforce, visitors and residents.
I’ve learned in my role as Deputy Mayor how limited the City’s resources can be for beautification efforts. But I loved seeing what Noblesville Creates accomplished with the Maple Avenue and Eighth Street crosswalks as a creative solution that doesn’t have to cost a ton of money. [Check out the paint box and brush that make up the creative crosswalk there.] We need to inject that kind of creative problem solving — and sometimes using the arts community — as a way to beautify our city.
The arts in general have always played an important part in my life from a young age, from my participation in theater, music, film and creative writing. I’ve encouraged that exploration in my children. And I continue to pursue my own personal artistic interests for the simple reason that it’s fun and creates a richer life experience.
In my role on the Film Indy advisory board for Central Indiana, I hope to attract more film, television and video production to Noblesville and use that as a platform to further market our city for economic development and tourism — but also to get youth interested in this aspect of the arts.
