“An Evening with Artspace” Will Raise Money for Warren Building Project

artspace-evening-2014Proceeds from “An Evening with Artspace,” a unique event set for Thursday, May 8 at the Blue Chip Casino, will help the non-profit organization based out of Minneapolis raise their goal of $1 million from the private sector, which will assist in the $12 million project cost.

Michigan City residents will be treated to a half-hour presentation from local leaders, including Mayor Ron Meer, and a representative from Artspace before viewing a video put together over the last month by local artist, Angie Carlson. The video will include interviews from local leaders and artists on the benefits of an Artspace project in Michigan City.

“This is a community event that local partners have enthusiastically helped plan,” said Shannon Joern, senior director of national advancement at Artspace. 

artspace-warren-buildingThe Artspace project will include 44 units of affordable live/work space for artists and their families, and commercial ground floor space for creative businesses and artist studios in the Uptown Arts District.

Joern says Artspace is attempting to raise the final $500,000 of the $1 million goal, with contributions already being made locally from NIPSCO, Horizon Bank and the Barker Welfare Foundation.

Artspace hopes to sell 200 tickets to the Blue Chip event, with single tickets costing $25.

“It will be a fun, casual and informative event,” Joern said. “We will provide appetizers and have a cash bar.”

“It’s a great opportunity to learn more, mingle with the Artspace team, and hear how the local community supports the project,” she continued. “It is a very exciting project that we believe will be a catalytic project for Michigan City in spearheading development on the north end.”

Supporters are encouraged to purchase tickets ahead of time here, but tickets will be available at the door as well.

The rehabilitation of the Warren Building as the The Uptown Artist Lofts is a powerful metaphor for the Michigan City comeback story, according to First Ward Councilman Richard Murphy, who has been at the forefront of the effort to bring Artspace to Michigan City since 2008.

“It's taking what once made Michigan City great and reinventing it to again achieve greatness,” Murphy said. “I can't think of a better story as the rich history of our city and the memories o our residents are collectively leveraged as we take a leap forward in a major rehabilitation project of the the Warren Building and breathe life into the largest, vacant structure on Franklin Street, in an already burgeoning downtown arts district.”

The councilman added that the upcoming project is “as exciting as it gets when a project of this magnitude comes with perfect timing and has the power to positively change a downtown and a city for many future decades.”

Joern says Murphy, Meer and other local political leaders have been enthusiastic about the potential Artspace addition to Michigan City, the first such project in Indiana and one of 12 in the works nationwide. Artspace has 35 active facilities across the United States. 

“The project really aligns with the city’s downtown revitalization goals and is a perfect pairing between what we do and the city’s larger goals,” Joern said. "We feel very privileged to be part of that vision and strategy.”

If you go

Thursday, May 8 at Blue Chip Casino Stardust Event Center from 5-7 p.m.

We invite you to attend An Evening with Artspace, a community fundraising event to support the creation of the Uptown Artspace Lofts, Michigan City’s project to renovate the historic Warren Building as a community arts facility, with live/work space for artists and their families. Event tickets are $25 per person, fully tax-deductible and all proceeds go to support the capital project.

Purchase tickets here.