The Ball State College of Architecture and Planning's Indianapolis Center has been open for only three years, but it received the 2004 NUVO Cultural Vision Award Friday for helping to make some of the biggest changes in the city.
"We're certainly the new kid on the block," center director Scott Truex said. "We're quite honored by this."
NUVO Magazine honored the center and nine other Indianapolis-based organizations who it believed had the greatest impact culturally in the city of Indianapolis, Truex said.
He said the center was recognized for its work on a variety of projects, including the Regional Center 2020 Plan, which it facilitated and worked on with the City of Indianapolis, Indianapolis Downtown Inc. and the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee.
This plan involves hundreds of people who collaboratively decide the consensus on the future of downtown Indianapolis, which is updated every 10 years, Truex said.
In another project, the center works with the Central State Reuse Advisory Commission, which redevelops the Central State lot the city acquired last March after it lay vacant for almost a decade, according to its Web site.
Truex said the center also provides lunch chats and an exhibit gallery and facilitates community workshops and activities.
"(The center) is really trying to be a catalyst for discussion on issues that are critical for the quality of Indianapolis," Truex said.
The center will also offer several courses this summer, including graduate classes from Ball State's Department of Political Science, Department of Public Relations and the Teachers College. The College of Architecture will offer both undergraduate and graduate courses, Truex said.
"It's important for our students to experience work in a larger city than Muncie," said Michele Chiuini, interim chair of the Department of Architecture.
Truex said he is excited for students of all majors to become more aware of the center's classes and services.
"The center has a great opportunity to promote all the diverse programs we have at Ball State in Indianapolis," he said. "It's part of the whole effort in building a stronger community."
Chiuini said he's also glad Ball State can continue to be active in Indianapolis through the growing center, which opened in June 2001.
"We want to promote the center and make sure we're part of the cultural life of Indianapolis so the college has a presence in Indianapolis," Chiuini said.
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