Downtown Muncie is under the spotlight this weekend, with members of the Indiana Arts Commission and art lovers from all over the state coming to experience the forms of art the community has to offer.
The Indiana Arts Commission chose Muncie to be the host of this year's Governor's Arts Awards Ceremony, which will be held at 8 p.m. Friday at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts.
Terry Bailey, Cornerstone Center for the Arts president and CEO, said she was excited to see final preparations being put together as the event approaches.
"I think it's becoming such a real thing," she said. "Working with [the Indiana Arts Commission] has been priceless."
To welcome the Indiana Arts Commission, downtown Muncie businesses and galleries moved its annual art expression event, ArtsWalk, up a week early. ArtsWalk is usually celebrated the first Thursday of October, but this year it will be featured Thursday as the first of a three-day series of art presentations.
Rex Van Zant, director of marketing and communications for the Indiana Arts Commission, said the addition of two days to the event was a Muncie initiative.
"We want the community to put their own spin or their own brand on what the event is," he said. "We want it to be a great event and we know it's going to be."
The Governor's Arts Awards will be start 4:30 p.m. Friday with an art showcase and will end at 11 p.m. after the awards ceremony. Gov. Mitch Daniels will attend the ceremony.
The series will end Saturday with a performance by the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, in which Grammy Award winner and Ball State Alumna Angelin Chang will be featured.
Bailey said she felt the community was earning more than the experience from organizing an event of such magnitude.
"It's just not planning, but meeting people," Bailey said. "[The Indiana Arts Commission] has entrusted the people from the community with the ceremony, and we have been working with them throughout this process. This has been a process of friendship growth."
Van Zant said no arts awards ceremony has been the same as another because different recipients change the setting.
"We want this to be a celebration of the recipients," he said. "We want it to be a celebration of the importance of the arts and how they play in our daily lives, but every time we do this we have different recipients and that changes the complexion of the program."
According to Indiana's Web site, the Governor's Arts Awards is a biannual celebration honoring individuals, organizations, businesses and communities that have contributed in a positive way to Indiana arts and environment.
The award is a piece of art commissioned by a local artist. An artist has to submit his or her idea and the committee goes through a process to choose the artwork. This year's award was created by India Cruse Griffin, a Ball State alumna who lives and teaches art lessons in Richmond, Ind.
Originally held in Indianapolis, the Indiana Arts Commission began hosting its event in different towns in 2007. Muncie was among three towns that submitted proposals after showing interest in representing their community during the 2007 event, but it was held in Bloomington.
Van Zant said many community representatives showed interest in hosting the event when it was moved.
"The event in Bloomington was not even over yet, and we were having representatives from other communities saying 'That's great! How do we take it to Evansville the next time?'" he said. "And before we knew it we had communities expressing interest in the event."
He said moving the Governor's Arts Awards to other communities makes the event more interesting for the community and the attendees.
"We are interested in seeing new places [and] letting other communities enjoy the spotlight of Indianapolis," he said. "It's nice to take things to another town and let them be the center of attention."
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