Journal

Title: Grants and Communications Coordinator

Reports to: Executive Director, with support from the CAMi Director

Status: Full-time, 40 hours/week, salaried — exempt

Pay: $45,000–$55,000 per year, commensurate with experience, plus benefits

Location: Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi) campus, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN 46203, with occasional work across Big Car Collaborative sites

Skills: Well organized, observant, and detail oriented; a strong communicator, reader, and researcher; a good listener; a skilled writer and editor; and a positive team player who is excited about the cause of supporting community through art and creativity. This position succeeds through exceptional organization, anticipation, attention to detail, and consistent follow-through.

Experience and Education: We prefer a degree and 1–3 years of experience in a related field — nonprofit administration, philanthropy, writing and communications, fundraising, grant writing, marketing/communications, or research. Basic graphic design and photography skills are a plus.

Benefits: Full-time staff members are eligible for 15 days of paid time off, in addition to the nine national holidays recognized by Big Car Collaborative. The benefits package also includes 100%-funded high-deductible insurance covering medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, and life. Staff who elect coverage may open a Health Savings Account; staff who decline employer-provided health insurance receive a monthly stipend toward coverage instead. Salaried staff also receive a $50/month stipend to support the use of their mobile phones for work. Performance reviews are conducted annually, with the possibility of raises or bonuses.

Position Summary: Big Car Collaborative’s Grants and Communications Coordinator researches, writes, submits, and manages grant proposals, funding requests, and grant reports in support of Big Car Collaborative and the Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi). This role also supports broader fundraising, basic marketing and communications, board relations, membership, and administrative work — including the capital campaigns, the Power Plant Grant Program, and day-to-day support for the Executive Director. The Grants Coordinator must understand Big Car and CAMi’s work in the community and experience it directly whenever possible. For this reason, and to stay connected with other staff and to greet donors and funders in person, this person will help with on-site operations for programs, exhibitions, community events, and fundraising events, including First Fridays and other public programs on the CAMi campus. This position reports to the Executive Director, who leads or co-leads grants, fundraising, and development work, with support from the CAMi Director and Chief Curator and the Director of Operations. The Grants Coordinator does not directly supervise other staff, but will collaborate with other staff members in various ways and may need direction, requests, or reminders — so the position requires strong organization, including scheduling, written and verbal follow-up, and consistent communication. The Grants Coordinator is responsible for fulfilling assignments of the Executive Director in a timely manner, meeting assigned deadlines, and informing the Executive Director and other lead staff of issues or roadblocks as soon as they arise. This person keeps track of grant and sponsorship leads shared by other staff (including the Executive Director), tracks hours in the organization’s timekeeping system, and stays current on deadlines.

Specific Responsibilities

• Research, write, submit, and manage grant proposals, funding requests, and grant reports

• Research prospective funding opportunities and track grant deadlines, reporting requirements, and compliance

• Maintain donor and funder databases and online giving platforms, and support donor stewardship through acknowledgments and communications

• Support fundraising initiatives, including the CAMi Capital Campaign, Cabinet activities, and other development efforts

• Develop and manage marketing and communications content for social media, websites, email newsletters, print materials, radio promotions, and other digital and print platforms

• Write and distribute press releases and coordinate media relations

• Support our work with social media

• Update and maintain organizational websites, event information, and other online content

• Coordinate Board communications, meetings, agendas, materials, and related requests

• Provide administrative support to the Executive Director, including scheduling, communications, meeting preparation, and donor and funder support

• Assist with administration of the Power Plant Grant Program, including applicant communications, review coordination, grant tracking, and reporting

• Assist with on-site operations for programs, exhibitions, community events, and fundraising events

• Collect, organize, and analyze organizational data — including attendance, demographics, surveys, program participation, financial information, and other organizational metrics — to support grant reporting, program evaluation, and organizational planning

• Maintain organizational records, files, and documentation

Physical Demands & Work Environment: The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, use hands, reach with hands and arms, climb stairs, balance, talk or hear, and taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. The role is based on CAMi’s 5-acre campus in the Garfield Park neighborhood, across galleries, studios, and administrative spaces.

Big Car provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

→ APPLY ONLINE VIA CHARITABLE ADVISORS

We are excited to share that Big Car Collaborative has been awarded $1.5 million through the READI 2.0 Arts & Culture Initiative!

This transformative investment supports next-phase work on the CAMi campus by helping us improve and activate additional outdoor spaces, boost visitor access and experience, expand artist residency opportunities on our block, and further strengthen CAMi as a restorative place where contemporary art, community, creativity, and opportunity meet.

We’re deeply grateful to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), Lilly Endowment Inc., and the dedicated people — including the Indiana Arts Commission team — who made the READI 2.0 Arts & Culture Initiative possible. And we’re honored to be part of this statewide investment in Indiana’s creative future.

Learn more about READI 2.0 and the many inspiring arts and culture initiatives selected across Indiana here.

Our CAMi expansion received full-page coverage in The New York Times, with an excellent story by Sarah Bahr published in its annual museum section in the Sunday edition on April 19, 2026. Read the story here: In Indianapolis, a New Contemporary Art Museum Comes With a D.J.

Get all the details about our opening weekend here.

We’re honored to see our work resonating nationally. And we’re grateful for the recognition of our efforts to bring art to people and people to art. 

Find links to additional media coverage of CAMi and more here.

Big Car Collaborative has spent the last 10 years looking over at this imperfectly beautiful 100-year-old building along Bean Creek and dreaming of all the ways it could invigorate Central Indiana with contemporary art while supporting artists from our city and around the world. Fast forward through a global pandemic and other worldwide challenges and we arrive in 2026 to celebrate years of planning, fundraising, and hard work that transformed a crumbling and flooded industrial shell into a welcoming, light-filled space for art and connection.

The CAMi Main Building grand opening weekend welcomes the community into our newly renovated 40,000-square-foot main building to explore and enjoy our varied inaugural exhibitions. Spanning three days of art, performances, and public celebration, Opening Weekend — which is free for visitors as CAMi will remain free to the public — introduces this exciting adaptive reuse project as a cultural destination for visitors from Central Indiana, the Midwest, and beyond.

Friday, May 1 | First Friday + Public Opening Day | 6-10 p.m.

Visitors will be able to socialize, meet exhibiting artists, and check out inaugural shows in our six gallery spaces that total more than 10,000 square feet in the new building.

Campus exhibits will include:

• Ivelisse Jiménez’s Campo de Resonancia in the Efroymson Gallery

• Jess Dunn & Sylvia Thomas’ Drafts in the Katharine B. Sutphin Media Gallery

• You’re Standing Inside the Instrument: A Score for 19 Buildings in the Listen Hear Gallery

• Will Higgins’ The Speedway’s Attic in the Research Gallery

• Mae Alice Engron in Guichelaar Gallery

• Cory Robinson’s Kept Secrets : Open Code in the Tube Gallery

• Tony Cokes’ Untitled (m.j. the symptom) in the Tube Video Gallery

• O.P.T.I.O.N.A.L. Office of Provisional Thinking, Indeterminate Outcomes, Nonessential Activities, and Life — a conceptual art office where visitors are encouraged to get creative

• From the Collection Of…. an exhibit highlighting work in the collections of some of the folks who helped make CAMi possible

On First Friday visitors will be able to grab dinner from Chef Dan’s Cajun and Southern cooking food truck, and buy wine, beer, or coffee from our bar and cafe in CAMi, Stall, and Normal Coffee.

Saturday, May 2 | Neighborhood Celebration | noon – 3 p.m.

On Saturday, we’ll focus on celebrating with our Garfield Park and Bean Creek neighbors, as CAMi sits within the boundaries of both neighborhoods. We’ll enjoy live music at noon by The Roundups, activities and conversations with artists, and a group tour with neighbors at 1 p.m. This is aligned with the Garfield Park Art Walk organized by neighborhood artist Jennifer Meeker, which is sponsored by CAMi. This celebration also coincides with the opening day of the Garfield Park Farmers’ Market in the adjacent Garfield Park.

Sunday, May 3 | Levitt VIBE Concert | 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Opening Weekend rounds out with our Levitt VIBE Indianapolis concert hosted outdoors on the CAMi campus — transforming our outdoor amphitheater and pocket park into a place for live music, dance, and community celebration. This free concert will feature a multi-genre lineup of local and national performers, including Virginia-based jazz musician JJJJJerome Ellis as the headliner, with additional performances by local traditional Mexican folk dance group Grupo Folclórico Macehuani, and Indianapolis-based classical ensemble A.K.A. Beyond the stage, the event will include vendors from the Indy Gay Market and food for purchase from the Pi Indy pizza food truck. And, Stall and Normal Coffee will be open selling beer, wine, coffee, soda, and other refreshments.

Thank you to our opening week presenting sponsors Herbert Simon Family Foundation, Central Indiana Community Foundation, and 12 Stars Media; signature sponsor Glick Philanthropies; and supporting sponsors, Cunningham Restaurant Group, Sun King Brewing, MIBOR REALTOR Association, Indianapolis Airport Authority, Levitt Family Foundation, and Agile CFO Solutions!

Visit Information

Address: 1125 Cruft St. Indianapolis, IN 46203

Admission is free

As we pause to celebrate the holidays and turn the page to a new year, we’re contemplating the moments that meant so much in 2025 — and what we’re thrilled about for 2026.

We’re thinking about families dancing to music in our amphitheater surrounded by native plants flowering in purple and yellow, varied voices on our radio station sharing songs and poems and talking about art and design, friends smiling across a chess table or doing absolutely nothing as they cool under umbrellas at Monument Circle, friendships forming between neighbors and artists as they paint murals together, tables shared by a father and daughter sipping coffee and doing crosswords on a Sunday morning or by artists spending hours dreaming and sketching in their notebooks.

Big Car Collaborative — now more than 20 years old — is and has always been made of people and the vision, passion, and care they bring to our work and our places and spaces. Artists and neighbors. Visitors and listeners. Staff artists, board members, partners, volunteers, funders, and donors. We’re so grateful for all of you!

Big Car is made of people who give, who believe in and practice reciprocity — passing on gifts we receive to visitors to our CAMi campus and to SPARK at Monument Circle, listeners to 99.1 FM WQRT, artists we feature in exhibits and performances, long-term and visiting residents in our affordable artist housing program, neighbors in Bean Creek and Garfield Park who we’ve supported through many projects and approaches since 2011.

This year asked us to pay attention — to one another, to the work, to the responsibility of caring for a place rooted in community. As always, we learned, adapted, repaired, and kept going together.

As we look ahead, we’re preparing for what comes next. We don’t know what the future holds. But we do know the values that guide us: gratitude, collaboration, intention, flexibility, and an open invitation to be part of something shared.

If you’re able to make a year-end gift, please know that your support helps sustain this work and the people who make it possible. And whether you give, visit, listen, volunteer, or simply hold us at Big Car in your thoughts — thank you.

We’re glad you’re here and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.

With gratitude,

Jim Walker, Shauta Marsh, and everyone with Big Car Collaborative 

Learn more about:

• Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi)
• Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series
• Our 2025 murals
• 99.1 FM WQRT
• SPARK

In 2025, Big Car Collaborative completed a range of public art projects across Indianapolis, advancing our mission of bringing art to people and people to art. From restoring long-standing neighborhood landmarks to creating new murals shaped by artists, neighbors, and partners, this work reflects our ongoing commitment to collaboration, care, and place-based creativity.

Welcome to Garfield Park

In 2025, Big Car Collaborative worked with the Garfield Park Neighbors Association (GPNA) and artist Andy Fry to restore the Welcome to Garfield Park mural on Shelby Street, renewing a well-known gateway into the neighborhood. Originally created in 2012 with input from neighbors and painted by more than 50 community volunteers, the mural has long served as a symbol of local pride. The recent restoration, thanks to support from the City of Indianapolis through the Indy Arts Council, ensures the mural continues to welcome residents and visitors for years to come.

Waterways

Continuing our partnership with Citizens Energy Group, Big Car collaborated with Indianapolis-based artist John Moore on Waterways, a mural at Municipal Gardens celebrating the DigIndy Tunnel System and its role in protecting the city’s waterways. Painted alongside Citizens staff during the annual Sharing the Dream project, the mural’s flowing blue and green forms reflect the movement, transformation, and environmental impact of this major infrastructure investment.

Take Flight

Take Flight, designed by Indianapolis-based artist Julie Xiao, brings a moment of color and calm to East Street in the Garfield Park neighborhood. Featuring peonies and hummingbirds — symbols of joy, beauty, and perseverance — the mural offers a bright visual pause for drivers, pedestrians, and families passing through the area. Commissioned by Tube Processing Corporation and created in partnership with Big Car Collaborative, the mural was painted with support from Ess McKee and Big Car staff.

A Celebration of Bean Creek & Garfield Park

Working alongside GPNA and the Bean Creek Neighborhood Association (BCNA), Big Car collaborated with seven local artists to create A Celebration of Bean Creek & Garfield Park at the Safeway grocery store on Shelby and Raymond streets. Safeway serves as a key gateway between the Bean Creek and Garfield Park neighborhoods, making it a meaningful site for a shared, community-driven artwork. Inspired by the “exquisite corpse” drawing technique, the mural brings together individual designs into a unified composition celebrating local history, creativity, and neighborhood pride. Painted together by neighbors and artists, the project reflects the collective spirit at the heart of Big Car’s public art work. The project was made possible with support from the Indy Arts Council, the City of Indianapolis, and the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation.

Mural designs, left to right: India Hines ( Bean Creek), James Kelly (Garfield Park), Justin Cooper (Bean Creek), Julie Xiao (Big Car staff artist), Andrea Haydon (Garfield Park), Alejandra Carrillo (Bean Creek), Chris Tower (Garfield Park).

Rooted in collaboration with artists, neighbors, and partners, this year’s public art work highlights the role creativity can play in strengthening shared spaces and neighborhood identity.

The City of Indianapolis recently announced the Garfield Park neighborhood as a Cultural District. This came as a direct result of the application we at Big Collaborative submitted to the City in August. Our application included letters of support from City Councilman Frank Mascari, the Garfield Park Neighbors Association (GPNA), Friends of Garfield Park, and Chreece. 

In a recent follow-up meeting between Big Car staff and the City, we discussed next steps that include working out a plan with our community leaders for how to approach and benefit from the new designation by the City. 

Read the City’s announcement here.

Read news coverage in the Urban Times here.

Who Made the Garfield Park Cultural District? 

This designation is made possible by cultural leaders and neighbors working for many decades with anchors like the Garfield Park Art Center (which opened in 2006) and the McAllister Center operated by Indy Parks, the Garfield Park  and us at Big Car Collaborative leading efforts to boost the neighborhood through public art and cultural events since 2011. 

Big Car has also brought many additional art experiences — including First Fridays — to the neighborhood starting with the opening of Tube Factory in 2016. Likewise, Big Car has invested in long-term affordable housing for artists with 18 homes on the block surrounding Tube Factory. By 2026, the block surrounding Tube Factory will have seen a total investment of $13 million. 

Our neighborhood has a strong history of working together, including with Big Car serving as a convening organization. Leaders from Big Car, for instance, helped form the neighborhood association as one for both south sides of the park that became a nonprofit organization, officially, in 2017. 

Big Car did the same as the convening organization for the South Indianapolis Quality of Life Plan for five years (2017 to 2021). Big Car worked with the SoIndy board that provided guidance and oversight. And we helped oversee SoIndy’s finances and provided support for its staff. 

Since SoIndy ceased to exist as a separate organization, GPNA and Big Car have continued to collaborate to keep our neighborhood moving forward in a positive direction. The formation of the Garfield Park Cultural District will be a major step forward. 

How CAMi Factors into this Designation  

A significant emerging opportunity within the district is the opening of Big Car’s new contemporary art museum within a renovated former industrial building located on our campus east of Shelby Street between Cruft Street and Nelson Avenue. 

Opening in spring of 2026, visitors will experience five exhibition spaces for contemporary art — including an expansive main gallery for large-scale, immersive installations; 18 studios for artists; a large commercial kitchen offering culinary training and serving the on-site cafe and bar; five storefronts for creative small businesses; two audio recording studios (including the new home for WQRT); and a performing arts and event space that can accommodate 500 people standing and 300 seated. 

This publicly accessible art museum and community space will significantly boost cultural development in Garfield Park. Featuring high-quality, commissioned exhibitions by notable local, regional, national, and international artists, the new contemporary art museum will offer educational and interactive elements for visitors of all ages. 

Our $7 million expansion will serve as a hub for community development. With our campus, we’re reimagining the role of a museum as a place to improve social health, foster dialogue, and ensure long-term stability for artists and other creative workers. 

Exhibitions will address timely, relevant topics that encourage meaningful conversations among visitors. Classes and programs will bring people together in a collaborative, creative environment. Just as importantly, the physical environment will be designed to feel welcoming with comfortable seating, lots of natural light and warm lighting, and a peaceful atmosphere that invites all community members to gather and connect.

This expansion will also be a catalyst for economic development. A central part of this impact will come from the five small business storefronts, which will support local creative entrepreneurs. These businesses will benefit from the steady foot traffic of museum visitors while paying affordable rent — reducing barriers to stability and growth. 

As a cultural destination, the museum will attract both local residents and visitors. Arts and entertainment tourism is a growing sector in Indianapolis, and our expanded campus will complement this trend while boosting nearby businesses. 

More About our History in Garfield Park

Big Car began working in Garfield Park when two of our co-founders moved here in 2011. From the start, we began utilizing our tools, experience, and network to collaborate with and support the neighborhood through the tools of art and design. Some of that early work included:

• Identity and wayfinding signage for the neighborhood (these include a community gateway mural, the logo used by the neighborhood and other murals).
• Safety and economic development and connectivity on Shelby Street (we co-led two Better Blocks and other events at what’s now the Garfield Brewery) and temporary safety improvements after the Red Line opened.
• Overall planning as a co-leader convening organization on the South Indy Quality of Life Plan
• Cultural and community programming and hosting neighborhood meetings at our Tube Factory campus.

We first moved into a physical space in 2015 after purchasing the Listen Hear space on Shelby Street. We opened Tube Factory in 2016 after doing much of the renovations ourselves. Both the Tube Factory and Listen Hear were supported by Community Development Block Grants through the City of Indianapolis, DMD. We then began to buy and renovate vacant and abandoned houses on the same block in partnership with INHP and Riley Area Development. 

After receiving a $3 million grant from Lilly Endowment in late 2018, we began work on our expansion into the large building on our block — a brownfield site that has presented many challenges. This project is a $7 million investment in the arts, our community, and our neighborhood.

At Big Car, we’re proud of our deep connection to the Garfield Park neighborhood. We work tirelessly — as neighbors ourselves — to support this place we call home. And, with the long-term help of so many neighbors, artists and partners, we’re excited about so much more to come.

We’re proud to play a major role in the continued success and revitalization of our neighborhood. Through our work, we’ve helped establish Garfield Park’s lasting artistic identity and bright future. And, with our expansion complete in spring, the neighborhood is poised to solidify its place as one of the city’s premier cultural districts.