The Valparaiso Creative Council has been working to promote the arts in Valparaiso since 2017, such as by commissioning murals on the side of the Rolling Stonebaker restaurant and throughout the downtown. The nonprofit group will soon have a home.
The creative council, long powered by volunteers, is turning the former Katie's Antiques Store at 256 Indiana Ave. into an arts center called the Valpo Creates Center. Right across the street from the Artists' Guild of Valparaiso's Gallery 255, it will contribute to Valpo's burgeoning arts and creative district.
"They're going to rent the building where Design Construction is on Indiana Avenue and build it out," Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas said. "They're entering into a lease so they can have their own building. It's temporary until we can maybe do something down the road. The thought is they will be in this building for a while so they can develop their programming. Eventually we would maybe have an arts center somewhere on Indiana near the opera house with teaching space to help people develop their skills. We'll see exactly where it goes."
The Valparaiso Creative Council is currently building out the space behind Design Construction in a building they'll share.
"We'll see exactly where it goes with the space they'll be preparing in the next three, four months and see what type of programming with the arts will take place in that space. Then we'll build on that," Costas said. "It will develop into what is needed here in Valparaiso. We have had a pent-up appetite for expanding the arts here. These developments are giving rise to that."
Valparaiso Creative Council Executive Director Jessica Corral said the new Valpo Creates Center will be a hub for artists. It will not have a visual arts gallery, since Gallery 255 is right across the street and the Valparaiso Creative Council already hosts rotating quarterly exhibits in Roots Market Cafe and Lower Lincoln that showcase local artists.
"We'll tie in some fun activities with the Artists Guild. We're non-competitive with them," Corral said. "We both have great missions. We also want to continue to work with businesses like Roots and Lower Lincoln in fun ways. It's a win-win."
The 3,000-square-foot Valpo Creates Center space will be divided between tenants, including the Indiana Ballet Theatre and the Asana Yoga Center, Be Happy Yoga, which will offer yoga to caretakers of the developmentally disabled in partnership with Opportunity Enterprises. The Merrillville-based Indiana Ballet Theatre will maintain a satellite studio in Valparaiso because of all the classes and programming it offers there.
Valparaiso Creative Council will use a section of the building as an artist hub.
"We'll start out small," Corral said. "We'll call out three to five artists and give them open access to that area. They'll be able to paint, create and store artwork on the site. We'll have meetings and creative strategy sessions to discuss ideas. It will be a center where we'll have a lot of resources for artists and information posted and shared."
The Valparaiso Creative Council will put out a call for artists to see what sort of programming they would like to see in the space. The Valparaiso Creative Council will figure out what sort of programming it will offer in the building. The first phase is opening the space up to other groups, while the second phase will be to develop arts programs for the community.
"As a team, we'll figure out what we can do with the space," Corral said. "It should be fun and exciting and making creativity accessible to people of all abilities. We want to make sure everybody is able to participate and engage."
The goal will be to achieve public engagement, Corral said.
"It will be open and accessible," she said. "You'll be able to walk into a place and engage with the arts in a thoughtful and intentional way."
The Valpo Creates Center should help elevate the group's profile, Corral said.
"It will establish a physical location in the arts and creative district," she said. "We've been working from the cloud without a home. Now we'll be able to engage with an audience. They'll be able to meet with us personally."
The Valparaiso Creative Council is working on ideas for partnering with other organizations, such as staging historic theatrical events in conjunction with PoCo Muse, or the Porter County Museum. It hopes to have open houses while the Artists' Guild of Valparaiso is hosting opening receptions at Gallery 255 across the street so people can walk between the two buildings.
The Valparaiso Creative Council moved the mural it commissioned on the side of Rolling Stonebaker to its new headquarters. It plans to commission murals on the side of the building as part of its annual Mural Week event, which will be rebranded as Mural Walk next year.
Its new headquarters will give artists a place to meet, socialize, collaborate and gather feedback from their peers. They will be able to network, take part in roundtable talks and meet with other types of artists, such as photographers rubbing shoulders with sculptors or painters.
"The community is everything," she said. "Artists create in isolation. This is a community approach where you can get together with other artists, be creative together, do peer reviews, have works in progress that you talk about and work on grant opportunities."
The hope is to have the Valpo Creates Center open to tenants in January, Corral said. A community unveiling likely would take place in February.
It's meant to be part of a broad arts district that will include the Memorial Opera House, the Northwest Health Pavilion, the Porter County Museum and the Artists' Guild of Valparaiso Gallery 255.
"We're going to feature other arts organizations and artists in a fun manner so the people can learn about the arts. There will be pop-up opportunities. Valparaiso has a lot of energy downtown, which is going to put us on the map," she said. "We're focused on Valparaiso. We plan to interact in a fun and reciprocal manner with arts organizations that are more regional like Art Barn and South Shore Arts. We all have the same mission. We're really excited."
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