The Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana (ARTSWIN) is abuzz with young voices talking about pieces from “Art in The City,” the latest exhibit. They’re from a Children's Museum of Evansville Summer Camp (cMoe).
“What do you guys think of this one,” asked ARTSWIN Executive Director Anne McKim to a small group of children. One thinks a particularly vibrant piece is “weird.”
“I always think two things can be true,” McKim replied. “It can be really cool and really weird at the same time.”
McKim said they love opening the gallery to children.
“It's just incredibly important for mental development,” she said. “There's social skills that kids get in galleries, there's connectivity, there's curiosity, all of these things that happen in a gallery. We are so eager to offer that to the community.”
It also gets them thinking about how art is made — and how they might do it themselves.
ARTSWIN will soon celebrate 55 years operating in the community. They are the Regional Arts Partner for the Indiana Arts Commission. They oversee 10 counties from Posey to Perry and up to Knox County.
The celebration is called The Big Picture: 55 Years of Arts in Evansville. McKim said art is part of the “big picture” of this community — pun intended.
They’ve been involved on several fronts — such as funding art projects for schools whether it's music or buying equipment for classes.
“If your kid went through West Terrace (Elementary School) and made a piece of pottery, that's because the Arts Council paid for a kiln out there, and that's at almost every school,” McKim said. “There's a different thing that the Arts Council has funded, as teachers have asked.”
There’s also the investment into public art such as murals and helping small art-related non-profits get started.
Recently, ARTSWIN celebrated this new exhibit with a reception which included live music on the rooftop.
“There are so many talented musicians in this community, and being a space where people can come and hear music that's not necessarily in a bar setting is very nice,” McKim said.
She said the way they’ve supported music has changed over the years. Their previous facility allowed for indoor concerts. Today only the smallest performance can fit inside the gallery. She said it's also important to fairly pay the artists that perform.
McKim said art is always a mirror to what's going on in the world. There are often pop culture and political references. The prior exhibit “Digitalized” featured two pieces of AI art in their gallery for the first time. A controversial topic, the pieces generated lots of discussions.
ARTSWIN’S first brick-and-mortar spot was at Innovation Point, the current location for Co-work Evansville.
They moved into 212 Main Street in 2019, following another successful capital campaign making rooftop concerts and field trips for kids possible.
As the cMoe field trip came to a close, McKim invited them to come back anytime.
ARTSWIN does have several events coming up including the August Arts Awards event. But like many non-profit organizations, there's some uncertainty in state and federal arts funding.
McKim said ARTSWIN is currently being careful about launching new initiatives or programs.
“I know that we will always have a vibrant arts and cultural scene here, and we're just always evaluating ways to make sure that we can provide these services and provide this access and how and where and with who,” she said.
The ‘Big Picture’ celebration is on June 25th from 5 to 7 PM on the 200 block of Main Street in Evansville.
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