Indiana Art and Culture Roundtable

Steven Stolen is the managing director of the Indiana Repertory Theatre.

I think it's clear from our dinner and conversation that the cultural leaders of Indianapolis are poised to respond to the current challenges not in a purely reactionary fashion but in a way that has the sustainability of our organizations at the forefront of the decision-making process.  We're used to working together and that was evident this evening.  I'd like to reiterate something that I shared with this group and have maintained long before the economic challenges we've faced in the past six months.  For this city to make real progress we'll need much more vocal and demonstrative leadership from our leaders.  I'm speaking about leadership at all levels and in all industries.  There is little doubt that the arts and culture supporters are suspicious of elected officials as they have not been willing or, perhaps, able to tell the people of this community why the arts are important.  I'm also encouraged by the work that is done all over the landscape by arts organizations to buoy and support K-12 education in Indianapolis, central Indiana and beyond.  I doubt that any other city has a cultural non-profit commitment to education, demonstrated every day in so many ways, that can approach the effort made by my colleagues in this city.  It's not well known, perhaps overlooked and a point of pride that Indianapolis will, I hope, celebrate... knowing also that the experiences that young people and teachers often have are exactly the same as those by public audiences in evening and weekend performances and presentations.  Good news for sure!!!