Indiana Arts Commission Joins Unique Online Arts Resource Partnership

The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) has joined with four other arts organizations to become partners in a unique online arts resource offered by Arts Place, Inc., Portland, Ind., and its website IndianaArts.org. The website is Indiana’s only statewide arts and cultural portal.  

ArtsConnection Engine (ACE), a web service of IndianaArts.org, will provide the IAC with a centralized online system that will bring together artists, arts organizations, arts patrons, arts-related businesses, the media, and sponsors. The ACE service enables partnering websites to provide visitors with customized, searchable local and statewide arts-related content including an events calendar, classified listings, and directories of artists, arts organizations, and related businesses.

“This is a unique program with great potential to enhance our online presence,” said Lewis C. Ricci, IAC executive director. “ACE will enable the IAC, and participating partners, to better support our arts and cultural communities and at the same time promote the wealth of arts and cultural opportunities in our state. It is another opportunity to further unite the arts community in Indiana.”

The ArtsConnection Engine is powered by a proprietary Web 2.0 modeled content distribution system developed by Tom Hume, principal of HumeAndServices.com and acting program and marketing director of IndianaArts.org. Hume worked closely with Eric Rogers, executive director of Arts Place, Inc. to extend the features of the Arts Place web project by offering the site’s rich information to artists and organizations across the state. Arts Place serves as one of the IAC’s 12 Regional Arts Partners. The initial development of ACE was the central component of a grant to Arts Place, Inc. from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

“ACE is the first centralized content distribution feature – perhaps anywhere in the nation – that enables any participating website to display searchable local and statewide listings of artists, organizations, arts events and classified listings,” Rogers said. “The ACE system will provide ACE Partners and any Indiana arts-related website with a low cost way to offer a diverse audience base a rich source of cultural information, while eliminating time-consuming data-entry.” 

IndianaArts.org provides artists and organizations with a single website where they can enter promotional profiles and portfolios, list events, and post classified opportunities at no charge. The ACE service redistributes the information to ACE partner websites throughout the state. What sets the new ACE system apart from the current service is an increased level of customization and streamlined content management.

In addition to the Indiana Arts Commission and Arts Place, Inc., current ACE Partner organizations include Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne; Columbus Area Arts Council; Cornerstone Center for the Arts, Muncie; and Whitewater Valley Arts Fusion, Wayne County, Indiana.

“As a community-based arts organization, we are very excited by the opportunity ACE presents to us,” said Warren Baumgart, executive director of Columbus Area Arts Council. “Not only will this system provide us with greater opportunity to promote our events to a broader audience, it will also allow us to do so with a seamless transition from our website to the ACE system. This will not only maintain visual continuity, it will be a significant reduction in time we might otherwise spend in posting our events in multiple locations.”

Arts Place is offering the ACE service to all Indiana-based artists, arts and cultural organizations, and for-profit businesses who want to provide their website visitors with an opportunity to connect with Indiana’s diverse arts and cultural community.

The ACE system, currently undergoing final testing, will formally launch in late April. For more information, phone Eric Rogers at 260-726-4809 or e-mail ace@indianaarts.org.