On Monday, August 23rd, Mayor Greg Ballard announced that the arts allocation for 2011 would be $1 million.  This investment in the arts and cultural community represents level funding from 2010 and is less than 1% of the city's annual budget.

The arts allocation, as directed by the City County Council, is restricted to supporting Marion County non-profit arts and cultural organizations only.  96.3% of the allocation is awarded directly to arts and cultural organizations.  The remaining 3.7% is used to cover the cost of running the grant program and is monitored by the City of Indianapolis.  No public tax dollars are used to support operational costs of the Arts Council of Indianapolis.  No public tax dollars are used for Arts Council salaries of any of its employees.  The Arts Council of Indianapolis is audited each year by the independent auditing firm of R.J. Pile.  Included in the annual auditing process is a thorough review of the city allocation.

In addition to the $1 million, the Arts Council supports artists in our community through the nationally recognized Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship program funded through the Lilly Endowment.  This two-year fellowship, funded privately, awards 40 artists and arts administrators with $10,000 each to renew and refresh creativity.  Since the program's inception in 1999, the Arts Council has awarded more than $2 million to 290 artists in central Indiana.  The Arts Council also offers the Beckmann Emerging Artist Fellowship program.  This program, also funded privately, awards $3,500 to two emerging artists each year.  Both of these fellowship programs are offered to artists in our community and are funded through private sources - not through the city allocation.

The Arts Council also owns and operates the Indianapolis Artsgarden, providing more than 300 free performances each year and provides performance fees and exposure to hundreds of central Indiana performing artists.