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Last updated on Wednesday, September 26, 2018
(INDIANAPOLIS) - The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) announced today that two recipients of the 2018 Governor’s Arts Awards will be honored for their contributions to historic preservation and community revitalization.
Bloomington, Indiana's Gayle Cook, and her late husband Bill are, in many ways, responsible for the quality of life in that south-central Indiana city. They are responsible for the redevelopment of Fountain Square and the Graham Hotel on the city's Courthouse Square along with many other historic buildings in southern Indiana. Preservation of the Colonel William Jones house in Gentryville, the plantation-style Cedar Farm in Laconia, and the famous French Lick Resort in French Lick Springs all trace back to the work of Gayle and Bill Cook.
Their investment in downtown Bloomington, in particular, helped transform vacant spaces and aging buildings into a vibrant mix of shops, restaurants, and businesses preserving an essential part of the city's history for future generations.
The Cook's investment in Indiana has not been limited to preserving the past. The William and Gayle Cook Music Library on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington support and strengthens music and dance performance, teaching, learning, and research. Ivy Tech Bloomington's Gayle and Bill Cook Center of Entrepreneurship provides tools, skills, and resources to help entrepreneurs from south-central Indiana start and grow their businesses.
Few could imagine the 33,000 square foot facility that is now LangLab in downtown South Bend, Indiana was once a dilapidated eyesore. The former furniture factory and electronics warehouse stood empty for many years. But in 2009, Rami Sadek, Stephanie Rizk, Kahlil Smylie, and Nathan Henrie acquired the run-down building with a distinct vision - they wanted to see creativity thrive there.
LangLab has been at the forefront of the recent rebirth of the City of South Bend. Its innovative insistence that large, continuous spaces could be a major asset to the community has inspired other businesses to imagine what could be done with existing, often neglected buildings in a community. LangLab's very existence has proven that tearing down empty structures is not always the best way to revive or re-envision a city.
Over the past eight years, the vision for LangLab has established it as a community "language laboratory," a place for multicultural communication and creation. It has ushered a vibrancy into South Bend by providing a low-cost, mixed-use facility that brings together artists and audiences, merchants and customers, teachers and students. It has incubated new local businesses in addition to hosting hundreds of live musical performances community events, theatrical and dance performances, visual art exhibitions, classes, and workshops,
"The 2018 Governor's Arts Awards will be the closing event for our 2018 Indiana Arts Homecoming conference in Fort Wayne which will focus on big ideas on how the arts can impact community vibrancy and enhance the quality of place," said IAC Executive Director Lewis C. Ricci. "It is fitting that two of our deserving recipients are outstanding examples of taking big ideas and making them a transformative reality."
The 2018 Governor's Arts Awards program will be held Friday, October 19, 2018, at Sweetwater Sound, Inc., Fort Wayne, Indiana. Visit www.in.gov/arts/3070.htm for more information about the event including how to purchase tickets.
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