Indianapolis Art Center
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| Location | Indianapolis, Indiana |
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| Coordinates | 39°52′40″N 86°08′37″W / 39.877807°N 86.143639°WCoordinates: 39°52′40″N 86°08′37″W / 39.877807°N 86.143639°W |
| Type | Art center |
| Visitors | 274,558 (2014) |
| Director | Patrick Flaherty |
| Website | Official website |
The Indianapolis Art Center is an art center located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The Center, founded in 1934 by the Works Project Administration during the Great Depression as the Indianapolis Art League, is located along the White River. It features fine art exhibitions, art classes and studios, a library with over 5,000 titles, and the ARTSPARK nature and art parks. As of 2008 the Indianapolis Art Center featured over 50 annual exhibitions and had over 3,000 members.
William Kaeser founded the non-profit Indianapolis Art League in 1934. The group that would eventually become the Indianapolis Art Center was funded as a Works Progress Administration project under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration during the Great Depression. Kaeser, an Austrian graduate of the Herron School of Art and Design, had started organizing adult education art study groups, starting with a group of ten women at Public School 72. In 1938, the art study groups formed into the Indianapolis Art Students' League, its name and character influenced by the populist Art Students League of New York.
Due to gas rationing during World War II, classes were located at various venues throughout Indianapolis, eventually settling at Public School 66. By the 1950s, the group had to seek other quarters and finally settled at the Holliday House at Holliday Park in 1952. The House served as the first permanent venue for the Indianapolis Art League until it burned down in 1958.
After the fire, the Art League began raising funds for a new facility, and in 1960 they became incorporated as the Indianapolis Art League Foundation. Major gifts were made by members, corporations, the public, the Elsie Sweeney Foundation and the Indianapolis Foundation, as well as a land gift at 3103 North Pennsylvania St. by John and Marguerite Fehsenfeld. The Art League built its first new facility with two art studio classrooms and a lobby.
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