GREENFIELD — The City of Greenfield just took a big step toward its long-term goal of having its downtown designated as a certified cultural district by the Indiana Arts Commission, which can serve as an economic driver for the county.
At Tuesday’s Board of Works meeting, the board voted unanimously to spend $8,900 on hiring a consultant to map out how to make that certification a reality.
That money — along with $5,000 from the Community Foundation of Hancock County and $5,000 from Greenfield Main Street — will be used to hire a consultant named Sara Peterson, who is known for helping communities with strategy, governance and grantmaking.
“A large part of her focus is on improving and impacting the arts world in our downtown, and helping that identity grow,” said Fitzwater.
Peterson is expected to start work immediately, working with a steering committee to identify the city’s cultural highlights and determine how they can be maximized to entertain locals and attract visitors for years to come. Part of that process will include community engagement.
“What she will help us do is help us be able to crystallize the uniqueness of Greenfield and promote that to others in a way that makes you want to come to Greenfield because we have a lot to offer in the worlds of arts and entertainment,” said Greenfield’s planning director, Joanie Fitzwater, who has been working toward getting downtown Greenfield designated as a cultural district for years.
Being designated a cultural district can not only unify the city’s cultural offerings but open the city up to more grants, she said, which would be “like the icing on the cake” after the city recently wrapped up five years of projects thanks to the $15 million Stellar Designation grant it received along with community partners in 2018.
The cultural district designation comes through the Indiana Arts Commission, which helps promote cultural districts throughout the state by encouraging the public to explore the various districts across Indiana.
So far, the commission has designated nine cities throughout the state as cultural districts, including Bloomington, Carmel, Columbus, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Jeffersonville, Lafayette, Madison, Nashville, Noblesville and Terre Haute. Each of them have their own distinct offerings and unique name, like the Carmel Arts and Design District and the Nickel Plate District in Fishers.
Fitzwater said becoming a cultural arts district is not about becoming a carbon copy of other cities but about celebrating Greenfield’s own unique offerings like its murals, sculptures, theater, concert venues, art gallery and more.
“We don’t want to be Carmel or Noblesville. We want to be Greenfield, and we have a lot to offer,” she said. “We have so many different arts venues that just haven’t ever organized it into a deliberate destination.”
Even restaurant and artsy shops can be factored into a cultural district, said Fitzwater.
“We know that we have a really authentic traditional American city with beautiful architecture. That is a unique identifier about Greenfield, so we want to build on that,” she said.
Greenfield’s mayor, Guy Titus, thinks the cultural district designation would be a great thing for the city.
“I definitely want to promote Greenfield as a cultural and art district, and a place to come and visit in all aspects,” he said.
Building a cultural district goes hand in hand with building a good quality of place, he said, which goes a long way in making people happy with the place they call home.
“Plus, if people are coming to enjoy your cultural district, they’re going to be spending money in your community and supporting our local businesses,” he said.
Fitzwater anticipates that Peterson and the local steering team will wrap up their work toward presenting their case to become a cultural destination by the end of the year.
The rest is up to the Indiana Arts Commission, she said.
Regardless of the outcome, Fitzwater said there’s value in the process of taking inventory of the city’s cultural offerings and bringing the various partners together in a united front.
“The process helps pull everybody in the community together to be intentional about the cultural identity of our community. The planning process to become an arts district will help us to understand who we are and what our assets are and what kinds of assets we want to attract,” she said.
“If we can show the state of Indiana that we’re all on the same page, that will help us get funding from the state for future cultural organization support or art-related projects.”
Fitzwater said downtown Greenfield already has the makings of a strong cultural district, thanks to its many arts-related amenities, like a historic theater, art gallery and outdoor concert venue.
“We’re already acting like a cultural district,” she said. “We just need to put a bow around it.”