Southern Indiana Business July-August 2020 | Page 19

DAWN SPYKER
Dawn Spyker has played a major role
in the ongoing transformation of Jeffersonville’s
public arts scene, and she has
some big goals for the future. During her
time as the city’s public arts administrator,
she has helped develop the NoCo Arts &
Cultural District and engage the community
in creative projects. The district’s art center
houses nine studio artists, and the growing
area is filled with murals and other public
artwork.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the
cancelation of many events for the public
art commission and the arts district, but that
hasn’t stopped Spyker from moving forward
with her vision for the city.
How has the arts scene in Jeffersonville
progressed since you
started as the city’s public arts
administrator, and what opportunities
are you most excited about?
“[In the public art commission], it was
great to be able to survey our landscape for
creative potential and then from there to
be able to be a part of the same public arts
commission as we’ve grown over the years
and implemented various projects, first on
a small scale and then graduated up into
larger sculptures and events and large scalemural
projects. And then beyond that, to see
it quickly snowball in a positive way and
be welcomed by the community and really
cheerleaded by the community into an arts
and cultural district that is still new but
growing and evolving each and every day.
“Especially in the light of our times right
now and everything we’re living through,
what I’m very excited about in the immediate
future is the public arts commission
and the artists in the district have had the
opportunity to respond to very immediate
issues and concerns in our community
and our nation. They are working on very
special projects right now that will be made
public very soon, one of which is a collaboration
with Clark Memorial Health and
Today Media and a project...that is in direct
response to everything that’s happening
now with the Black Lives Matter movement
and racism in our country. There’s going
to be a special mural project that’s going to
be very specifically created as a response
to that.”
Photo by Brooke McAfee
July / August 2020
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