As a grassroots nonprofit arts organization, Big Car sparks new artistic ideas and initiatives that strengthen communities. We are also a collective of artists that explores - through contemporary art practice and art as social engagement - the notions of people and place, and the unique aspects of community that connect them.
Service Center for Contemporary Culture and Community
Open since May and rolling out in phases, Service Center is dedicated to helping improve the Lafayette Square neighborhood. And Service Center will become a grassroots hub for art, culture, education, mass transit and diversity in the heart of Indianapolis. Service Center is also a base of operations for the nonprofit creative writing and educational organization Second Story and will house performances and programs by various other arts and community groups.
You can support the future of Service Center by:
- making tax-deductible a donation to Big Car via paypal here
- mailing a tax-deductible donation via check payable to Big Car at Service Center 3919 Lafayette Rd. Indianapolis IN 46254
More about Service Center for Contemporary Culture + Community
Big Car is opening an 11,500-square foot community creativity space with a community garden, creativity lab, lending library, neighborhood stories video screening room, large-scale exhibition and community space and performance space. This is happening in a former Firestone tire center in front of Lafayette Square Mall on Lafayette Road. It's a big project and we need your help! And there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer. Keep up with those by following Service Center on Facebook here.
Read the coverage of Service Center in the Indianapolis Star here: here and here.
Service Center is located at 3919 Lafayette Road -- just northwest of Don's Guns in front of Shopper's World.
Read the full Service Center press release here.
Made for Each Other
In this social-practice public-art initiative, Big Car engages neighbors in the planning, creating and celebration community-building projects -- bridging gaps between art, artists, art institutions and other large institutions and residents of Indianapolis as a way to creatively improve the quality of life for all. The artwork is inclusive, interactive, thought provoking and dynamic.
NUVO's David Hoppe had these great things to say in his Best of 2010 article about Big Car's Made for Each Other program. To summarize, he wrote: "(In 2010) Made For Each Other instigated performances, shows, arts actions and other events at a variety of locations not always associated with the arts. In every case, the point was to show how art and artists could connect with people who tend to say that art is for somebody else, engaging these folks in the actual creation of works dealing with where they live. For once Indianapolis appears to be ahead of an arts-related curve. (MFEO's) emphasis on making a variety of neighborhoods partners and participants in creating works of art shows the way to what could be the Next Big Thing in the arts here: A socially engaged approach that takes the emphasis off of support for artists in favor of putting artists to work in the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout the city."
Read extended coverage of MFEO in NUVO here.
With Made for Each Other, we're taking art to community locations in neighborhoods -- even establishing spaces we're calling Community Creativity Labs in these neighborhoods. Our first has opened in the Moon Block building at 10th and Rural. Here, the target audience is neighbors from the immediate area first and then lovers of art and community building at large.
The social nature of these projects directly connects members of the community with the final product. The work located in each community is about these communities in authentic ways and is based on ideas and input from neighbors engaged in the communities. And the community is part of the creation and celebration of the projects. So they really care about and feel ownership in what's going on in their spaces.
Download and read the Made for Each Other project press release here.
Download and read the full Made for Each Other project proposal here.
Outside/In
Outside/In takes Big Car Collective artists to different cities and small towns to do shows created in those locations about those locations and the people and stories there.
Download and read more about the project here.
Video and images from Outside/In in Iowa City, Iowa - May, 2009:
Images from Outside/In Bloomington, Ind. - October, 2008