Indy Arts Council Opportunity

Streetcorner Canvases: Traffic Signal Box Art Partnership Program

Deadline: 09/28/2025

Arts Council Offers Partnership for Traffic Signal Box Art

Streetcorner Canvases is the City of Indianapolis’ traffic signal box (“TSB”) art program, through which communities can engage with artists and each other to develop artwork on TSBs in their neighborhood. The Indy Arts Council has been managing the program on behalf of the City since 2015. Thanks to funding from the City of Indianapolis and the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors (MIBOR), neighborhoods can now apply to partner with the Arts Council on TSB projects and have costs paid by the Arts Council.

WHO CAN APPLY?  Neighborhoods and communities in Marion County, Indiana, or non-profit organizations based in a Marion County neighborhood (please note: artists are not eligible to apply for this partnership!)

APPLICATIONS OPEN:  Wednesday, October 2, 2024 12:01 a.m.

DEADLINE TO APPLY: Apply anytime! Apply early for the best chance of funding

GRANT AMOUNT:  This is not a grant:  no money will come to the neighborhood.  It is a partnership program where the Arts Council pays the artists directly for neighborhood-directed traffic signal box art projects.

An ideal partnering neighborhood has the following characteristics:

  • There is little or no public art in the neighborhood already
  • The neighborhood is considered lower-income 
  • The community has a strong idea of what they want the TSB artwork to accomplish (for example, help people understand neighborhood history, highlight important community features, or stop persistent tagging)
  • There is a group of people committed to doing the necessary work and seeing the project through 
  • The community values an open and equitable process to select artists, and can empower the artist to design the artwork they will create

The community will be signing an agreement with the City to maintain the TSB artwork for 3-5 years, so the best partner is a neighborhood association, HOA, or other longstanding group that can take on this maintenance responsibility.

TO APPLY:

Visit http://indyarts.grantplatform.com and scroll down to find the program application. Click the blue “Start Application” button and register for a free account.  If you already have an account, instead of clicking “Start Application,” log in with your name and password and then scroll sideways on your dashboard to find the program and start the application.

You will need the following information:

  • Contact person information (name, mailing address, email address, phone number)
  • The name of your neighborhood
  • Your City-County Council district number or the name of your Councilor (find it here: https://www.indy.gov/workflow/find-your-elected-official) 
  • The names of your committee members
  • The location of the box(es)
  • The approximate timeline for when you want the TSB art to be installed
  • The name of the entity that will maintain the artwork after it’s created 
  • Any preliminary idea you have as to what you want the artwork to accomplish
  • Any preliminary idea you have as to how you plan to engage the community in helping to decide on the artist or artwork
  • Anything else you want to tell us about your community or the box location, potential community partnerships, etc. (optional question)

QUESTIONS? 

Apply here