BLOOMINGTON — Sixteen rural Indiana organizations will partner with Indiana University this year for the next round of the Rural Placemaking Studio. This initiative links IU faculty and students with rural Indiana residents to enrich their communities through innovative public art and design.
Launched in 2024, the Rural Placemaking Studio is a collaborative initiative between the IU ServeDesign Center at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design and the IU Center for Rural Engagement. The studio collaborates with rural Indiana communities to create vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable public spaces that strengthen local identity and community ties through art.
“The IU Rural Placemaking Studio makes community heritage, hopes, and dreams visual and tangible,” said IU Center for Rural Engagement Executive Director Denny Spinner. “All rural communities have something that makes them special, and the IU Rural Placemaking Studio helps residents create connections around their unique assets.”
Community-identified projects include murals, parklets, pre-architectural designs, wayfinding signage, and public art installations. The Rural Placemaking Studio will facilitate community feedback sessions, develop a scope of work, and create designs for implementation on a timeline that aligns with the project.
The studio will also offer dedicated support and technical assistance that empowers residents to bring their vision to life.
Students studying comprehensive design, creative placemaking, and community arts engagement will use their talents to collaborate with community partners, working alongside Jon Racek, program director of comprehensive design at the Eskenazi School and director of the ServeDesign Center, as well as the Center for Rural Engagement team.
“When students and community members work together, the result is more than just a mural,” said Racek. “These collaborations help build relationships and give communities a sense of momentum to keep making positive changes.”
“There is no substitute for the kind of experiential learning the Rural Placemaking Studio provides IU students,” said IU Eskenazi School Dean Peg Faimon. “When they are serving real clients in small communities not unlike those they may have grown up in, our students have an organic engagement experience that grows their capacity to design with the user in mind. The students rank their involvement in the Rural Placemaking Studio among the most meaningful experiences of their college career.”
HWC Engineering has pledged $100,000 in support of student engagement in the Rural Placemaking Studio. HWC Engineering is a multi-disciplinary firm that serves both public and private clients across Indiana through a wide range of services, including economic development, planning, landscape architecture, water resources, transportation, and land development. This funding will support students who work alongside local partners to develop concepts and design plans that fit communities’ visions while bolstering their professional design and community development skills.
“We are thrilled to partner with the IU Center for Rural Engagement in their work to support both IU students and rural communities as they identify and implement impactful quality of life projects,” said HWC Engineering Chairman and CEO Terry Baker. “Our decades-long experience working in rural communities across the state allows us to serve as a resource for IU students in this program and assist in their efforts to create meaningful placemaking projects in rural Indiana communities.”
The selection process for the 2025 Rural Placemaking Studio sought applications from rural communities with a population of 50,000 people or fewer, located within an approximately 90-mile radius of Bloomington.
Partners and projects include:
- The Nashville Lincoln Pinch Park in Brown County will design a parklet that provides ample seating and features public art created by local artists.
- The Jeffersonville Township Public Library in Clark County will create a pocket park at the Clarksville Library branch, which serves children and highlights the history of Clarksville as Indiana’s first English-speaking settlement and the home of General George Rogers Clark.
- The Town of Borden in Clark County will design signage to be installed on the back of the Borden Business Park that highlights key historical sites and local landmarks.
- Friends of Marengo Big Springs Old Town Church in Crawford County will design a parklet on the public site of a 167-year-old historic building, as well as create a logo and signage that reflect the site’s history.
- Alquina Blue Arrows Park in Fayette County will develop a piece of public art to be installed at the park.
- The Hoosier Action Resource Center in Floyd County will create pre-architectural plans to transform two former houses and the adjacent grass lot into a Community Center and Resilience Hub.
- Main Street Brookville in Franklin County will design two murals to help activate Printer’s Alley located off Main Street. One mural will honor the philanthropy of the Franklin County Community Foundation, and the other will celebrate 200 years of local journalism.
- The Town of Edinburgh in Johnson, Bartholomew, and Shelby counties will develop designs for a year-round downtown plaza that is suitable for drive-in vendors and events.
- Friends of Knox County Library in Knox County will create a welcoming, permanent parklet at the Knox County Public Library, centered around the theme “The Story of Indiana Began Here.”
- Pantheon Business and Innovation Theatre in Knox County will design an outdoor seating area and a mural on the exterior of the historic theatre that honors the founding of Vincennes.
- Community Action Leading Loogootee in Martin County will design signage to identify the seven remaining Mesker facade buildings in Loogootee. This effort will eventually contribute to a Mesker featured historic architecture walking and driving tour.
- Knox County Association of Remarkable Citizens will develop pre-architectural designs for the redevelopment of Launch 99 Co-Working and Entrepreneurship Center.
- The Martin County Alliance for Economic Growth and the Historic Shoals River District will continue to work with students to create sign designs for Main Street Shoals businesses, building on the 2024 Rural Placemaking Studio project.
- Paoli Redevelopment Commission in Orange County will design a parklet on a vacant lot located on the southeast corner of the Historic Paoli Town Square.
- Pike County Economic Development will design three place-specific public art pieces to be installed along the new Buffalo Trace Trail.
- The City of Tipton in Tipton County will design gateway signage to greet visitors.
The Buffalo Trace Trail project in Pike County is supported by a private grant to the Community Foundation Alliance in partnership with the Pike County Community Foundation. The project will advance trail construction, address blight, and develop public art with support from the Rural Placemaking Studio.
The 2025 Rural Placemaking Studio initiative will conclude in the summer with a public open-house celebration.
The 2024 Rural Placemaking Studio achieved significant milestones by partnering with 13 rural Indiana community organizations to develop innovative and practical designs for murals, wayfinding signs, architectural features, and downtown revitalization efforts. Participating communities included Shoals, Charlestown, Linton, Elberfeld, New Pekin, Spencer, Washington, Crane, Paoli, and Lynnville.
A future call for proposals is planned for winter 2025. More information about the Rural Placemaking Studio and upcoming events is available on the Center for Rural Engagement website.
