Archive

While we’re always looking ahead and are very excited about what’s next, we know it’s important to stop and consider how we arrived here and what we’ve accomplished together. So we’re sharing Big Car Collaborative’s look back at highlights from 2024. This all often happened in partnership with others and was only possible for our nonprofit organization thanks to our generous funders and supporters. Of note, we’re highlighting a variety of things that shed light, also, on how we learn and share what we’ve learned. 

Our approach is a cyclical one of innovating through trying testing ideas, learning from what works well and not as well, and adapting as we go forward. This is our approach to our ever-evolving and growing campus around Tube Factory in the Garfield Park neighborhood — including expansion into a 40,000-square-foot contemporary art museum space that opens in late 2025. 

Likewise, this is how we continue to work with artists and the community in public art projects like our DigIndy partnership with Citizens Energy Group. And you can hear our growth over the air with our always-improving experimental art and community FM radio station, 99.1 WQRT. 

Here are our 2024 highlights: 

First Friday patrons view Julian Jamaal Jones’ “Take Me Back” exhibit at Tube Factory in the Main Gallery.

January

• Opened the exhibition, Take Me Back, by Indianapolis-based artist Julian Jamaal Jones in the upstairs gallery spaces at Tube Factory. 
• As a new recipient of funding for live music from the Levitt Foundation, three Big Car staff members attended Levitt’s convening in Los Angeles where we connected with other organizations from across the country and picked up ideas and approaches for our concert series. 
• While in Los Angeles, we visited museums linked to our plans for expansion on the Tube Factory campus — including MOCA Geffen, an early example of a former industrial building adapted into a contemporary art museum in 1983 with design by architect Frank Gehry. We were also able to experience Luna Luna, an artist-made amusement park brought back to life after being packed up for decades. 
• Co-founder Jim Walker, and Lourenzo Giple — Big Car board president starting in 2025 — began co-teaching a class on art, placemaking, social justice, and society at Indiana University in Bloomington. Walker also began teaching his course, as he has for multiple years and is again in 2025, on public art in the MFA program at Herron School of Art in Indianapolis. 

Youth patrons decorate fans at the 2024 Lunar New Year event at Tube Factory.

February

• Opened the exhibition, Hogar Dulce Hogar, by Indianapolis-based artist and musician Giselle Trujillo in the Efroymson Gallery in Tube Factory with a performance also on the First Friday in March of 2024. 
• Co-founders Jim Walker and Shauta Marsh took a learning trip to Marfa, Texas — experiencing a few full days of touring spaces and learning more about the art and architectural work of Donald Judd who adapted much of a small town into a place for him and other artists to live, work, and show contemporary art. 
• Hosted a successful Lunar New Year celebration with food, dance, fireworks, and socializing at Tube Factory artspace. 

Visitors view Giselle Trujillo’s “Dulce Hogar Dulce” in the Efroymson Gallery at Tube Factory.

March 

• Closed on New Market Tax Credits and got Phase 2 of our campus expansion — the 40,000-square-foot contemporary art museum — under contract with Jungclaus Campbell.
  

Jessica Dunn talks with a guest while standing in the middle of her exhibit “Particular Fragments” in Tube Factory’s Efroymson Gallery.

April

• Opened Rachel Leah Cohn’s exhibition, Mem, in the upstairs gallery spaces at Tube Factory where it stayed up until July. Cohn, who has shown around the world, is based in Indianapolis. 
• Opened the multimedia Particular Fragments exhibition by Indianapolis-based artist Jessica Dunn in Efroymson Gallery. 
• Hosted a solar eclipse event in Tube Factory at our outdoor area featuring a live performance by Dunn and M. Moskaliuk and a soundtrack show by Walker broadcasted at the time of the eclipse on WQRT FM. 
• Four staff members attended the Expo Chicago art fair, staying up to date on trends in the contemporary art realm and attending panel discussions and visiting art spaces in Chicago.
• Five staff members and artists from our collective and long-term residency program took a weekend trip to visit artist-run spaces and art museums in Cincinnati as part of our partnership with other artist-run organizations in the midwest. 

An overhead drone shot of the Tube Factory campus in May 2024.

May

• Hosted the Region Ninety group exhibition in Guichelaar Gallery, a house gallery on our campus curated and managed by artists in our long-term residency program. The Region 90 show featured 23 artists from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky addressing censorship. 
• Marsh and Walker visited art museums on the east coast as part of their ongoing research — most notably the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. 
• Hosted the Learning Tree’s national Common Ground Gathering opening event with keynote speaker Mindy Fullilove. 
• Marsh and Walker presented about Big Car’s work and attended the Congress for New Urbanism conference on the theme of Restorative Urbanism in Cincinnati.
• Welcomed our latest artists in the long-term residency program as we finished renovations on our 18th affordable home for artists on the Tube Factory block with our lovely Terri Sisson Park in its center.

Jim Walker, Shauta Marsh, and other SPARK partners speak at Placemaking Week by Project for Public Spaces in Baltimore.

June

• Opened SPARK on the Circle for 2024 — our fourth year of activating Monument Circle with human-scale cultural programs in partnership with the City of Indianapolis, Downtown Indy, and others (2015, 2022, 2023, 2024). 
• Marsh, Walker and SPARK partners presented at Placemaking Week by Project for Public Spaces in Baltimore and attended this conference and visited art spaces and public places across the city.
• Hosted the A Portrait of Motherhood photography exhibit by Kelley Jordan Schuyler, an artist based in our Garfield Park neighborhood — in Tube Factory’s Efroymson Gallery. 
• Celebrated the start of work on the contemporary art museum expansion on the Tube Factory block with a groundbreaking event with Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and many of our funders, supporters, and partners.
• Brought New-York based poet Ariana Reines to Tube Factory artspace for a reading event and to create a commissioned poem for the Chicken Chapel of Love.

Japanese experimental vocalist Hatis Noit performs at Tube Factory.

A shot from the Main Gallery portion of Elisa Harkin’s “Ekvnv (Land), the Sacred Mother from Which We Came.”

July

• Opened the NEA-supported Elisa Harkins exhibition, Ekvnv (Land), the Sacred Mother from Which We Came, in all three galleries in Tube Factory. 
• Hosted a sold-out concert by Japanese experimental vocalist Hatis Noit at Tube Factory as part of her American tour that included MassMoCA and the Andy Warhol Museum. 

• Walker presented — along with the Indiana Communities Institute at Ball State — about arts-focused placemaking and community development to Hancock County, Indiana leaders.

Jim Walker and Shauta Marsh (second and third from last) pose with Big Car’s ARTI Award for Neighborhood Impact at the Indy Art Council’s annual Start with Art event.

August

• Received an ARTI Award for Neighborhood Impact from the Arts Council of Indianapolis at Start with Art.
• Walker led a conversation about art and baseball with visual artists and former Major League Baseball player Micah Johnson at GANGGANG’s Butter Art Fair in Indianapolis. 
• Opened the Sound Field visual and audio exhibition in Guichelaar Gallery by two of our long-term resident artists, Rob Funkhouser and Justin Cooper, in collaboration with Landon Caldwell, a Big Car staff member.

Members of “Forgotten Tribe” perform at a concert in the 2024 Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series in Garfield Park.

September 

• Kicked off the seven-week Levitt VIBE Indianapolis concert series located, in 2024, in Garfield Park.
• Walker and Marsh continued their research by visiting multiple historic and contemporary utopian communities, and important cultural and architectural locations. 

Teens in the 2024 TeenWorks Summer Program sit on the benches at the Bean Creek Outlook.

October 

• Celebrated the opening of the Bean Creek Outlook — a new gathering space to appreciate art and nature along Bean Creek on the Tube Factory campus primarily built over the summer with TeenWorks youth.
• Received awards for SPARK on the Circle from Indy Chamber and Accelerate Indiana Municipalities (AIM).
• Walker led a workshop for communities on placemaking and socially engaged art for the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement. 

A shot of a busy day at SPARK during the Taylor Swift weekend at SPARK on the Circle.

November

• Hosted more than 10,000 Taylor Swift fans and other visitors over a busy weekend full of music and artmaking at SPARK Monument Circle.
• Opened Reflejos Grabados, a solo exhibition in Efroymson Gallery by Alejandra Carrillo, an artist in our long-term residency program.
• Opened New! and Impervious to Natural Elements, a solo exhibition in Guichelaar Gallery by Christen Baker, an artist in our long-term residency program.
• Our co-founders visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin home and studio in Wisconsin.
• Opened Julie Xiao’s A Journey exhibition in Tube Factory and celebrated her new Fire Mother mural on the Chicken Chapel of Love. 
• Hosted a multi-day gathering of midwestern organizations who are, like Big Car, part of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Regional Regranting Program. 
• Awarded six $10,000 grants to Indianapolis-based artists through our Power Plant Grants program funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation.
• Walker presented on the topic The Future of Design Process as part of a panel in The American Institute of Architects Regional and Urban Design Conference in Indianapolis.
• Six staff members and artists from our collective and residency program presented in and attended the MDW Summit of midwestern artist-run spaces in Kansas City. 
• Walker led a workshop on arts-focused public space activation as part of the Project for Public Spaces Making it Happen series. 
• Marsh participated in a curatorial workshop on art and censorship in New York City. And Marsh and Walker visited galleries and adaptive reuse spaces — including Judd’s preserved former home and studio, 101 Spring Street.
• Began a curatorial exchange partnership with The FRONT, an artist-run space in New Orleans. Marsh selected Indianapolis based artists Bryn Jackson and Nasreen Khan to exhibit. We’ll host a show in return at Tube Factory in 2025. This enables Indianapolis artists access to exhibit work out of state, engaging a new audience. 

Guests fill the Main Gallery during a sound healing event in coordination with Julie Xiao’s exhibit “A Journey.”

December

• Walker continued research travel to cultural, arts, utopian, and organic architecture spaces in Phoenix including Taliesin West, the Japanese Friendship Garden, and the Heard Museum. 
• Installed a new abstract mural called Waiting for the Light to Tell Them What to Be by Walker in the windows of the Listen Hear space on Shelby Street. 
• Kicked off our Big Table matching campaign with IHCDA and Patronicty for the culinary arts program and spaces in the expanded contemporary art building currently under renovation and set to open in 2025. We met our goal in early February of 2025. 
• Began self-reflection and restorative events in the Tube Factory main gallery linked with Julie Xiao’s exhibition. Happening weekly through mid February of 2025, these included sound healing, yoga, and restorative story time.

Big Car has transformed an overlooked, overgrown spot along Bean Creek on our Tube Factory campus into a beautiful public place for peaceful reflection, socializing, and learning about nature. Visit this peaceful area by the creek next time you come to Tube Factory!

Thanks to donor and funder support we were able to:

1. Remove a section of asphalt currently located very near Bean Creek, where we created a space for an outdoor classroom and gathering area. This intimate space — inspired by the Happiness Garden located in the 19th Century utopian community of Zoar, Ohio — features permeable landscaped paths surrounding native pollinator plants.

2. Add a path near the creek and stones as steps down that will allow visitors better access to this year-round waterway enjoyed by fish, water birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals like muskrats and mink.

3. Continue to work with experts to remove invasive plants in the area near the creek, replacing these with native plantings.

4. Clean up any trash and junk in the section of Bean Creek that borders our campus.

5. Begin planning to program the area on First Fridays and with special small events to bring social and educational activities, conversations, and performances from commissioned artists.

6. Begin to collaborate with our neighborhood organizations and cultural partners on social and arts-focused gatherings.

7. Repair the parking lot area adjacent to the new restorative space.

8. Highlight the existing rain garden on our campus by replanting it with native pollinators.

9. Create an outdoor classroom and social space surrounded by native plants adjacent to Bean Creek.

10. Build a privacy gate that will include additional awnings and educational displays. This gate will hide away our dumpsters and restrict access to our storage area, creating a safer environment for young visitors.

This project was made possible through our Water World campaign with Patronicity & The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority and by the following donors:

Malina S. Bacon ; Polly Harrold ; Kimberley Pflueger ; Benjamin F. Rose ; Paul J. Hinton ; Beth Webber ; Holly J. Sommers ; Marisol M. Gouveia ; Hannah S. Campbell ; Norbert Krapf ; Heath Hurst ; Matthew L. Gonzales ; Shauta Marsh & Jim Walker ; Georgia Cravey ; Wendy Castillo ; Ursula David ; Raymond McMaster ; Molly Martin ; Matthew J. Rooney ; Jason Burk ; Jane A. Henegar ; Diana Mutz & Howard Schrott ; Bernie Price ; David & Caryn Anderson ; Joshua S. Compton ; Cari Guichelaar ; Frank & Katrina Basile ; Kerry Dinneen & Sam Sutphin ; Jungclaus-Campbell Co., Inc. Charitable Fund ; Ben & Connie Berg ; Linda & Cory Brundage ; Synscapes of Indiana, LLC ; Jenifer & Sean Brown ; Christopher & Ellie Clapp ; Katie & Bwana Clements ; Anne Laker & Joe Merrick ; Friends of Garfield Park ; Garfield Park Neighbors Association ; Cheryl Dillenback ; Katie Sanford & Stephen Evanoff ; Bean Creek Neighborhood Association via Villa Baptist Church ; Ed & Mary Jayne Mahern ; Patronicity & IHCDA ; the Big Car staff ; and the TeenWorks Summer 2024 crew.

This was also made possible through Central Indiana Community Foundation’s Summer Youth Program Fund, with Capital support from Lilly Endowment Inc. & Program support from Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation Inc. for the 2024 TeenWorks Summer Program at Tube Factory.

Thank you to all who made the Bean Creek outlook and Happiness Garden educational space possible!

Find more pictures on our Flickr.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Big Car Collaborative and Indianapolis City Market — thanks to a grant from Southwest Airlines and Project for Public Spaces — are teaming up, starting this summer, to enliven the east side of downtown by connecting two primary public sites: City Market and Monument Circle. A catalytic grant, valued at $220,000 including monetary and technical support, from the Southwest Airlines Heart of the Community program will enable both Indianapolis City Market and Big Car Collaborative to jointly implement their plans to engage the community in reimagining these historic sites as key public spaces in the “heart” of Indianapolis.

The Southwest Airlines Heart of the Community program focuses on placemaking, a movement that is revolutionizing cities around the world by boosting community participation in the creation, design, and unique programming of their public spaces. Southwest Airlines believes that public spaces, whether neighborhood parks, small plazas, or downtown squares, are the true hearts of communities, as they are the places where people gather, connect, and enjoy each other and the cities they live in. The placemaking process highlights the capacity for underperforming spaces to achieve their greatest potential by becoming vibrant, authentic, functional, and well-loved places that will benefit the community socially, culturally, and economically for years to come. The Southwest Airlines Heart of the Community grant will help further the momentum of placemaking and cultural programming as vital elements to activating public places in Indianapolis, especially in the city’s blossoming downtown.

By building a shared vision through placemaking that connects City Market and Monument Circle in the developing Market East District of downtown, Big Car and City Market will strengthen connections between people and place—generating a greater sense of belonging and inclusion through the co-creation of great public spaces where everyone feels welcome and comfortable.

“The generous grant from Southwest Airlines provides City Market officials the opportunity to activate a unique space that has been dormant and without a soul for far too long,” said Stevi Stoesz, City Market’s executive director. “Working with Jim Walker and his Big Car team will enable us to create an inviting and engaging space. We have a great opportunity to compliment what is planned for the Market East District by providing valuable programming and amenities to draw residents, employees and visitors alike.”

Indianapolis is among five communities that are receiving similar grants today selected out of a highly competitive pool of more than 90 applicants, from 60 cities. Each year, Southwest brings placemaking to the cities they serve through the Heart of the Community program, highlighting the importance of “place” and encouraging communities to take part in the creation of the public places they love. For Southwest, placemaking is more than building great destinations, it is about strengthening local communities at their “heart.”

“At Southwest, we connect People to what’s important in their lives,” said Linda Rutherford, Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at Southwest Airlines. “That commitment extends beyond the skies and into the hearts of our communities through our investment in public spaces. We recognize the power public spaces have to transform communities and are excited to support the efforts to reimagine City Market’s East Plaza and Monument Circle in Indianapolis, a city we’ve been serving for 26 years.”

This grant will further the placemaking work that Big Car is already undertaking in the downtown Indianapolis area. In 2015, Big Car partnered with the City of Indianapolis on Spark, an 11-week test of creative programming and temporary infrastructure improvements at Monument Circle — funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Central Indiana Community Foundation. More than 45,000 visitors enjoyed flexible, public seating and upwards of 399 human-scale programming opportunities. Additionally, 85 percent of visitors reported talking to someone new during Spark. More can be found at www.circlespark.org.

“We’re very excited to be returning to downtown in partnership the City of Indianapolis and our friends at the wonderful, historic City Market,” said Jim Walker, founder and executive director of Big Car, a nonprofit collaborative of artists, designers and placemakers. “We’re thrilled to be working with Project for Public Spaces—an organization that has been a huge influence on our work, and Southwest Airlines—a company with people-focused values that we share.”

Through its multi-year partnership with Project for Public Spaces, the nation’s pioneering placemaking organization, Southwest Airlines is leveraging the power of placemaking to spur social, economic, and wellness benefits in communities across the U.S. and abroad. With the addition of the five newly announced grant recipients, the program has supported 18 innovative and transformative projects.

ABOUT INDIANAPOLIS CITY MARKET
Indianapolis City Market (ICM) feeds the community and its guests by offering distinct foods, products and services in an environment that preserves and perpetuates Central Indiana’s agricultural, architectural and cultural history. ICM was on the original Plat of the City designed by Alexander Ralston in 1821. ICM’s main Market House celebrates its 130th birthday in November of 2016. Indianapolis City Market Corporation, a nonprofit organization, is governed by a 13-member board of directors appointed by the Mayor and the City-County Council.

ABOUT BIG CAR COLLABORATIVE
An Indianapolis-based 501c3 nonprofit formed in 2004, Big Car uses creative placemaking as a catalyst to a better city. By providing and supporting unique, educational, participatory, playful and personal experiences, Big Car engages people of all ages and backgrounds in art making and creative problem-solving — inspiring them to be creative thinkers and involved, connected citizens. Our mission: We bring art to people and people to art, sparking creativity in lives to transform communities.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
In its 45th year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) continues to differentiate itself from other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 49,000 Employees to more than 100 million Customers annually. Southwest proudly operates a network of 97 destinations across the United States and seven additional countries with more than 3,900 departures a day during peak travel season.

Based on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s most recent data, Southwest Airlines is the nation’s largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded. The Company operates the largest fleet of Boeing aircraft in the world, the majority of which are equipped with satellite-based WiFi providing gate-to-gate connectivity. That connectivity enables Customers to use their personal devices to view video on-demand movies and television shows, as well as more than 20 channels of free, live TV compliments of our valued Partners. Southwest created Transfarency℠, a philosophy which treats Customers honestly and fairly, and in which low fares actually stay low. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline to offer bags fly free® to everyone (first and second checked pieces of luggage, size and weight limits apply, some airlines may allow free checked bags on select routes or for qualified circumstances), and there are no change fees, though fare differences might apply. In 2014, the airline proudly unveiled a bold new look: Heart. The new aircraft livery, airport experience, and logo, showcase the dedication of Southwest Employees to connect Customers with what’s important in their lives.

From its first flights on June 18, 1971, Southwest Airlines launched an era of unprecedented affordability in air travel described by the U.S. Department of Transportation as “The Southwest Effect,” a lowering of fares and increase in passenger traffic whenever the carrier enters new markets. With 43 consecutive years of profitability, Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for a triple bottom line approach that contributes to the carrier’s performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities they serve, and an overall commitment to efficiency and the planet. The 2014 Southwest Airlines One Report™ can be found at SouthwestOneReport.com.
Book Southwest Airlines’ low fares online at Southwest.com or by phone at 800-I-FLY-SWA.

About Project for Public Spaces
Project for Public Spaces is a nonprofit planning, design and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities. Its pioneering Placemaking approach helps citizens transform their public spaces into vital places that highlight local assets, spur rejuvenation and serve common needs. PPS was founded in 1975 to apply and expand on the work of William (Holly) Whyte, the author of The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Since then, the organization has completed projects in over 3000 communities in 43 countries and all 50 US states and are the premier center for best practices, information and resources on Placemaking.