Resources for Artists

Want to bring your neighborhood together with memorable events? Visit Indy’s Neighborhood Event Toolkit is here to help you make it happen. Designed for first-time and experienced neighborhood event planners, it’s a free resource that helps communities celebrate their unique stories and foster vibrant gatherings. This step-by-step guide covers everything from choosing a venue to managing volunteers, budgeting, marketing, and post-event tasks, ensuring smooth execution and lasting impact.

Take your planning skills further with our free online training program on Visit Indy Academy! Featuring expert speakers who dive into Toolkit topics, they’ll share insider tips, real-world examples, and creative insights to inspire your next event.

Explore the Toolkit, join the training sessions, and bring your neighborhood’s story to life. Make cool things happen.

Created by Julia Muney Moore, Indy Arts Council 

Updated February 11, 2025

This resource guide is part of the Indy Arts Council’s ongoing exploration of the conditions that support all central Indiana creatives to thrive. While fair pay is an important starting point, the conversation will continue to evolve as we work to build resources and create meaningful dialogue that supports arts and culture workers.

This page will be updated regularly as new information becomes available. Please email indyarts@indyarts.org if you have any questions or would like to share a resource.

Updated March 13, 2025

This page will be updated regularly as new information becomes available. Please email indyarts@indyarts.org if you have any questions or would like to share a resource.

Please note: These resources have been compiled solely for informational purposes and are not intended to be legal advice. 

What’s happening?

Executive orders by the White House are undergoing legal review as government agencies assess the implementation of new requirements and regulations affecting federal operations. To support the tracking of these evolving executive orders, organizations such as the National Council for Nonprofits have developed resource guides that provide regularly updated overviews of each executive order and its related impacts.

The Indy Arts Council remains committed to supporting artists and arts organizations by providing resources to navigate these evolving political changes. These tools can help arts and culture organizations stay informed, protect their rights, and advocate for their communities.

Find a running list of resources and opportunities to support emergency needs. This list is maintained by the Center for Cultural Innovation.

Lumbre Media pulled together 5 key strategies from our recent conversation at Artist Industry Night hosted by @artscouncilindy—swipe through the carousel to check them out! These takeaways will help you build a stronger, more authentic online presence whether you’re a small business owner or a creative.

✨ Pro Tip: Save this post to refer back to later when you’re planning your social strategy.

Creating Cultures and Practices for Racial Equity is a toolkit that can be used to make strategic and equitable decisions in assessing existing or proposed policies, practices, plans, programs, grant-making, contracting, budgets, and more.

How to use this Toolkit

In order to develop racial equity policies, practices, and culture in your arts organization, we recommend following four sequential steps, listed in the chart below. Each step has corresponding curated tools and primes.

Racial Equity Tools & Primes

Step 1: Aim for Racial Equity Outcomes and Impact. Get clear about the specific internal and/or external outcomes and impacts that you’d like to work towards in your organization. Organizational Equity Impacts and Outcomes Assessment. This tool can help you pause and envision what racial equity could look and feel like in your organization. It includes a list of specific possible impacts or outcomes for different areas of your organization’s work.

Step 2: Use Choice Points to Counteract Racial Inequities. Identify specific decision-making opportunities where you can consciously apply a race lens. Choice Points Criteria and Selection Worksheet. This tool provides a set of five criteria for identifying, prioritizing, and selecting choice points in your work.

Step 3: Use Equity Primes. This provides you an immediate prompt or short-term visual reminder to center racial equity and BIPOC. Race Forward Equity Prime. This is a beautiful poster you can pull out, print, and post in your workspace to remind you to pay attention to racial equity considerations. DreamYard Equity Prime. Co-developed by staff at DreamYard, an arts organization in the Bronx, NY, this visual reminder helps redirect attention to racial equity dynamics.

Step 4: Use a Racial Equity Tool to generate creative strategies and tactics. This helps you analyze institutional racism and its root causes, generate solutions, assess impacts, and develop strategies and actions. There are lots of different types of tools. You can use one from this Toolbox, from other sources, or create your own. Use the tool for building generative and creative space to develop new ideas and actions.

Social media is a tool many creatives and artists use to share work, promote collaborations and features, and connect with clients. Our friends at Fractured Atlas share some basics – always worth reviewing.

For many artists, Instagram is the social media site where you spend the bulk of your time. It is a visual platform that allows you to post images with captions, stories that disappear after 24 hours, Reels (which are similar to TikToks), longer videos on IGTV, and even livestreams. You can even have a webstore on Instagram. We’ve seen artists conduct sales, performances, and interviews using Instagram. For more of an introduction, check out our social media basics and our coverage of different social media platforms for artists.

Headshots are great for grant applications, promotion materials, and when your pieces and art is shared.

The following photographers are super at headshots and love working with creatives. Reach out to them and be sure to share that the Indy Arts Council sent you!

Jay Goldz

Leah Tribbett

Jes Nijjer

Allison Tylek

Faith Blackwell

Indy Arts Council invests in artists and arts organizations to nurture and foster a thriving arts scene that helps build stronger neighborhoods and ultimately enhances the quality of life for all Indianapolis residents. We invite all eligible applicants to apply for a grant opportunity.

These grant programs fall into two categories: Grants for Individuals and Grants for Organizations.

GRANTS FOR INDIVIDUALS

• Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship Program: A two-year sabbatical-like fellowship for artists and administrators that have worked in the arts for 5 or more years. Award Amount: $10,000
• Opioid Prevention Mental Health Grants : Applications open January 2024
• Public Art for Neighborhoods : Applications open January 2024

GRANTS FOR ORGANIZATIONS

• Annual Grants Program: A competitive grant program for established Arts organizations within Marion County for general operating support. Applications open January 2024.

Artsy.net contributor Ariela Gittlen looks at web platforms from an artist’s perspective, and finds good solutions for a range of artist-specific web needs. Whether you want options for displaying and selling your work online, or easy ways to generate content for your website (via Dropbox!); maybe you’re looking for new ways to use Adobe Creative Cloud, or even just looking for a company to host your gallery, here are some good options to consider.

The Alliance for Artist Residencies is a national organization serving artists and the various artist residency programs around the country. This site is a valuable resource to learn about different opportunities for residencies, but also offers a wide variety of “tips” for artists who are wanting to learn more about how residences work, how to find the right one for you, how to apply and get them funded!

ACT Insurance is a company that specializes in insurance for artists, crafters, and tradespeople, focusing on the needs of both artists in the studio, and artists showing their work at fairs and festivals. They offer quick short-term policies that provide a certificate of insurance for art fairs and shows that require one, with a quick, easy online application and approval. They also offer annual policies for working artists that cover general & product liability, business & personal property, and personal & advertising injury coverage. Their show policies start at $49, the monthly price is available at $24, and annual policies start at $279.

If it is true that the only certain things in life are death and taxes, this Artist Lab from Creative Capital will make navigating one of those things considerably easier. Instructor Dr. Elaine Grogan Luttrull, a certified public accountant, personal financial specialist, and accredited financial counselor, reviewed federal income tax basics for artists, including common deductions claimed and 2024 tax year updates. Elaine outlined how the tax landscape changes based on the type of income an artist earns and highlighted key aspects of tax law that impact financial wellness, including deducting interest for student loan payments and saving for retirement. 

Discover new arts events, creative opportunities, and cultural experiences, and explore Indy’s vibrant arts scene all in one place. Explore is the most comprehensive online resource for the arts in Indianapolis.

Explore offers the largest database of arts organizations in the city, featuring events, festivals, classes, workshops, fundraisers, jobs, auditions, venues, and public art. Updated daily, Explore provides access for both Hoosiers and tourists to find out the latest information on the city’s unique exhibitions, performances, programs, and more.

Find out the latest ways you can be paid and/or have your work featured – the Artist Opportunities newsletter has it all. Sign up today!

The Arts Council of Indianapolis hosted a free conversation with some of Indy’s top arts and culture journalists. Learn how they choose the stories they cover, how to promote your own projects, and how to prepare for an interview.

Panelists included:

• Katiera Winfrey, multicultural reporter for WISH-TV
• Sarah Bahr, culture reporter at the New York Times and writer for Indy Monthly
• Jill Ditmire, reporter and anchor for WFYI public TV and radio
• Wildstyle Paschall, editor-in-chief of All317Hiphop photography blog (also contributes to Black Indy Live and New America).
• Dave Lindquist, pop culture and entertainment reporter for IndyStar