We need to bring that energy back and there's no way that I know better than significant art pieces. 100 ft sculpture in the Netherlands big. That's how big we're dream.
When the art comes first, more creative entrepreneurship in that area.
What are your dreams, visions that come to Broadbull after the art from South Bin to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get In, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. I want to take a minute to tell you about my friends at JC Hart and the opportunity that they are giving to Get In listeners. They are offering summer savings of up to 2 months off of rent at these brand new communities, East Bank and Noblesville, The Edge on the north side of Indie, and Wheelhouse in Westfield. If you're looking for an awesome place to live, you need to hit up my friends at JC Hart.
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Check out their open positions at homejart. com. Now, today I'm joined by Jason Meyers, a world-renowned multid-disciplinary artist with over 30 years of experience. He's known for fusing industrial and traditional materials. Jason creates emotionally evocative public works of art that explore technology, identity, and human connection. He lives in Indiana and also has a studio in the Netherlands uh with permanent works housed in museums like Newfields.
Uh I'm also joined by Tag Burge. Now, Tag is a local business leader and philanthropist. He is the CEO of Cornerstone Companies and Burgeon Health. He's a passionate supporter of the arts, community development, and culture right here in Indiana. Tag played a pivotal role in funding and organizing the Gavin Divergent sculpture installation that's coming here to Broadripple. News flash.
You've probably seen our clip that uh went viral. We're bringing these guys on to talk a little bit more about the Gavin Divergence installation that's coming to Broadripple. learning more about Jason and uh his beginnings in Loganport uh coming back to Indiana, starting his art career in Broadripple. I'm really excited to get into this. Uh gentlemen, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having us.
Thank you.
This is uh this is going to be super fun. Shout out to Hasbro for unintentionally making this introduction. First off, we're going to say that off the jump. Uh Ryan, really appreciate you. I'm excited to dive into this. I'd like to start and kind of set the scene of what is this and and what's it going to be? Gavin Divergence is part of an ongoing series of works that um sort of span the globe. They're in Europe as well as all around the United States.
How how many different inst or pieces is this?
Uh I think we're at 15 right now.
Okay.
So, and they range in scale from about 15 ft to 60 ft. The next one in the Netherlands will be 100 ft.
So, they they range in scale. on is it statue is that what we like what sculpture sculpture okay there we go first off get your art terminology right people it's a sculpture so the first one what was the first piece in the the Gavin series
so it actually came out of I'm also a painter so there was a series of paintings have always gravitated towards using the human form why because throughout the history of art all the way back to lost cow cave paintings In France, the human form always conveyed a message. And what what I appreciate about sort of an abstract human form, one that you don't recognize who it is or necessarily what it is is you can sort of contain elements of the human condition. You can contain emotions. You can contain content with very uh very little literal element to it. But you can still convey like emotions. So Gavin sort of came from a person I met a long time ago um that struggled with life and every day for that person was sort of a struggle in life and as I learned about things like the sisphus metaphor and
for people that may not know I mean if we were going to get like the sisphus metaphor
so that was sisophus it's like out of ancient Greek mythology and and basically the quick story is sisphus would work very hard every day to roll this rock up the hill. And as he'd get almost to the top of the hill, the rock would roll back down. And so, you know, for for most that's kind of a unending struggle, like every day it restarts. And so I kind of identified with that because um some other series came out, Soldiers of Life. We're all kind of in this struggle every day with no matter what we do. You wake up and you have a grind.
And the paintings were more about about the struggle of life. After doing, you know, a couple years of these series of paintings, um, when I moved into sculpture, I sort of pulled that character from the the painting series and it it took on the three-dimensional form of the same content. The first Gavin sculpture I did was basically a life-size version. The paintings always had writing in them. And so I had a 10-ft video wall behind the sculpture which was articulating writing from like my journal that would it was like a white screen. it it wrote to black filling the entire screen and then as it got completely black it was white writing that brought it all back white again and the sculpture would disappear and reemerge based on this video wall behind it of turning from black to white and the sculpture was metal.
I think I've seen a video of this like maybe on your Instagram or somewhere.
Yeah. First off, whoever your video editor is, kudos to them cuz you put out some like hype art content. Like I got I was watching one of them and I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is like a hype video, like a pumpup video for um a sculpture, which is so cool." So, I think I've seen this one. If you haven't, go check out Jason's Instagram um and see the first sculpture installation of Gavin.
And it was actually here in Indianapolis at the Long Sharp Gallery downtown. So
well and and you started your career here in Broadripple, right?
Yes. Uh after graduate school, I immediately I I went to graduate school in Washington DC, American University, taught there a couple years and then immediately wanted to come home back to, you know, my hometown. And after looking around in Indianapolis, obviously Broadripple was the the heart of the art community. And um yeah, I lived here for quite a while. Um short of a decade, but um over on Kingsley and just right in the heart of the neighborhood. I loved it here. Raised my kid here and yeah,
started my art career here.
That that's amazing. And so and Broadripple is actually a little bit actually predominantly what ties you two together now. So tag this resurgence of art in Broadripple is something that you've just like spearheaded. I'd love to know what your connection to Broadripple is and why this public private partnership to bring art to Broadripple is so important to you. Everybody knows that Broadripple is and has been the art and cultural hub of of Indianapolis. Uh the art show started in 1970.
The Broadripple Art Center moved here in 1979. Michael Graves built the beautiful Broadle Art Center in 1995. 2005 they added the outdoor park. And most of your viewers don't know, we did an inventory of it. There are over 70 pieces of art in Broadpool. And so you look at what has made Broader strong over the decades.
It's the art, it's the cultural, it's the public spaces. And so when I started to see Broadpool have some struggles, which we're all familiar with, I said we need to lean in to what has been incredible for Broadle. Similar to Jason, uh I was just down the road at the University of Virginia about 90 mi south of American University. We're both part of Generation X. There was no place that we were going to go if we came home other than Broader. So I lived in Broadripple uh for a decade and so I had these strong ties similar to Jason and want to see Broadle uh remain the top art and cultural district.
And I believe that when you bring art, it really brings life, people, business. Uh there's great examples in our own community. I mean, you think about the dancing lady on Mass Avenue. There's been
Yeah. Which is so interesting, right? It's like it does seem that art is a leading indicator of just a vibrant cultural area. And it's like this is a video like a video board of dancing an and it's just so cool. and people like want to build businesses around there and shop there and drink there and like dance in front of her and put it on your Instagram story. It gets so interesting.
I mean, I'd say there's probably been several hundred million dollars of development on Massav. We spent a fair amount of time in Miami and we've seen what has happened in Windwood. Windwood was unapproachable 15 years ago and then they started, you know, doing some Instagram kind of backdrops to buildings. Then some public art came and they probably had, you know, $400 million of development. Yeah. And it's like all those like murals on everything that it's so cool.
It just started with a simple I mean I bet the first mural in Winwood was not more than $1,000.
And that just led to the creativity, the re-engagement, businesses wanting to come, uh, retailers, restaurants,
and and Jason, you're no stranger to Miami, right? I mean, you've been is it featured in Art Basle? Like, talk to me about your relationship with Miami and Art Basle. So, I've been going to Miami for Art Basle for roughly 25 years.
How long has Art Basel been around?
Basically 25 years.
So, so you're a a veteran when it comes to Art Basle, which if there are any listeners that don't know, it's like this global art event. I would say it's like all this
the premier art event.
Yeah.
Really in the world.
It's like if you see, you've definitely seen it on Instagram like scrolling through it's like every celebrity from everywhere is there and like the best artists in the world. And so you've been around Art Basle since the beginning.
Yeah, since the beginning. And since they were flushing out, you know, Winwood, which is probably the reason Art Basle developed there back that long ago, I was more into uh, you know, different kinds of art and street art and things like that. Seeing it change, Windwood change from a regular old industrial area to the hub of the art scene in Miami. Um, what an amazing thing to watch. So,
really didn't take more than 10 years from that first mural to just totally transform that area.
Like what what do you think? Obviously, I'm sure you've read research or studied or seen other places, other examples. How like 10 years he goes from an industrial area to like this vibrant hub of culture. Are there other factors at play or is it just like, hey, put the art here and like if you build it, they will come. Miami is the port to the south, right? So, South American countries,
South American country. So, which is very dominating in the art world. The influence of South America is huge. So,
you know, fashion also moved there after that. Um, movie actually, you know, the movies started filming there. But um I think the main reason that that Miami sort of exploded in the art world is because of, you know, once it got started with the street art and the graffiti, you had this whole flow of South American artists that sort of moved in and and culture took over, you know, community took over and of course industry, you know, capitalized on that and it just it got developed so quickly. It went from no galleries to I mean at one point there was about 120 galleries in Winwood itself. Yeah.
Oh my god.
So I mean it it went from being a complete industrial sort of automotive
I would say it was a no man's land for a long time
to the biggest art hub probably in America. the guy who who did Soho. Um he came down and kind of got involved in Windwood Walls and that was sort of a hub in the center. His leadership in it sort of that helped a lot as well. Miami is a place where international crowds come
and so you know that definitely aided in how quickly it grew in my opinion. So
yeah,
I mean the other thing I would say about art, you whether it's Miami or central Indiana, I mean we have another great example just down the road which I believe is one of our competitors now, you know, I'm an indie guy. I'm a broader pole guy, but Carmel is right down the road. And you look at the Seward Johnson, you know, the the kind of familiar themes in life. And Mayor Briner had a vision 15 years ago, and I think he's done 10 to 15 pieces in there. And we all know the amount of economic development. We can see it with our eyes.
It's still happening today. And I think, you know, your original question, Nate, is why art and why economic development. You know, I think art activates an an area unlike almost anything else can. I think there is an emotional response that's very positive that human connection to art. And so you bring the activation the positive uh emotional response that art brings and that can lead to creative energies being released. We've seen it in Bradle with the 70 pieces that we've had since probably, you know, 1980 something.
But we need to lean into that in broadle. need to bring that energy back. And there's no way that I know better than significant art pieces.
And and that's going to be an interesting piece of feedback. I mean, even looking through the comments of the the first video, right, was there are people that m might not see the value of art like it's probably because they haven't done research or they don't see that like that's usually the leading indicator, the first domino in economic development, cultural relevancy, all of those things. What would you guys say to like the quote unquote haters that like don't think that um that art can change a an environment, a place?
I I would say show me a case study because I I deal with, you know, data and case studies. Show me where there hasn't where there has been a significant investment of art and where those leading economic indicators haven't improved significantly. I don't think you would be able to find that. I think you'd find the inverse. When the art comes, the economic energies get unleashed. You activate areas, you bring more people, you bring interest, you bring business. And one of my hopes is that, you know, we will start with more restaurants.
Yeah. It's kind of like a chicken or an egg thing, right? Where it's like, do do areas that are like starting to turn like and and boom, do they then get the art or is it the art comes and then economic development comes? That's an interesting piece. What What would you say, Jason? Well, I would say it probably works both ways sometimes. I've done a lot of case studies too for different things that um I'm working on and the one thing that when the art comes first, what it usually drives is more creative entrepreneurship in that area. So you know the restaurants have a lot more creativity in them and and different you know concepts and so um
startups entrepreneurs come to the area and it's not like that this is the first art piece in Broadripple right like it has been for many many years well beyond my time an an arts and culture hub or the premier arts and culture hub in central Indiana. Jason, I'd love to dive in specifically to this piece, like what this is going to look like, what we can expect, and maybe give us a little bit of a story. Like people driving by, uh, let's say I have a visitor, my friends from Northern Indiana, which is where I'm I'm from originally. They come to town, they see Gavin on like on in Broadripple and I want to be able to talk to them about yeah it is this sculpture but it's also this like I sat down with Jason and he explained the broader meeting meaning meaning of Gavin. I wanted to be like a watchful guardian, you know, an illuminated overseeing, you know, watchful guardian for the area. And so, you know, the light is a very integral part.
You know, it's all built of steel, some recycled, a lot of construction type materials. Then the light is the sort of important piece that gives it the the the sort of charge and the energy and something that you can see from a long distance. So 30 ft tall, we wanted to have a presence and and be well seen from the entire area.
And it's like there's just that feeling and you know it like you can't really explain it but you know it when you pull up to a neighborhood that just has a vibe to it. Like when you pull up to a Windwood or you pull up to like West Hollywood like in like down by LA and it's like man there's something happening here and you just get like you just start smile like when you pull up to Broadway in Nashville and you're just kind of cheesing because it's like life and energy and fun like that. I can just see myself like in an Uber coming down Westfield light glowing in the distance like oh man we're ready to have some fun. ready to like go out whether it is like whatever it might be whatever you're doing you're going to the vogue to see a show like that's just a cool a watchful guardian uh that kind of just like is your handshake welcome into welcome to the neighborhood
a beacon welcoming everyone to fall I like that watchful guardian
yeah I love that and like so 30 feet tall made from some recycled steel construction material illuminated uh this watchful guardian is there anything else that you want to make sure people know about it when they See Gavin
its relationship to Broadripple is is kind of significant as well. I mean besides living here and being part of this art community throughout history, Broadripple was always the art hub or the culture hub. The divergence is is sort of the idea that uh you know Broadripple strayed from the standard path and it it was very uh much about embracing you know many cultures and many types of uh people and and and all these different elements uh and found h you know unity in in that diversity. So, um, the idea of it being Gavin Divergence is is based on that sort of aspect of of the community and Broadripple itself. It's just always been that that kind of community where people come together from all walks of life. And, you know, I wanted it to really reflect that.
Feedback. Again, I'm kind of basing this off of stuff that I remember seeing in the comments from the first video was why Jason, like why Jason was the right guy for the job to build this incredible sculpture. Tag and I can kind of talk through your accolades and you know kind of tee you up to to I mean all the amazing incredible things you've done over your illustrious I will say that 30-year career. So, one piece that we kind of mentioned on a little bit earlier was that Gavin is going is part of a global art installation. So, like other pieces kind of we talked about in the beginning are in the Netherlands, Miami, Palm Beach. Correct.
Yes.
Like that's cool. Like let's say people are traveling around the world and like maybe they're oh I've seen part of this installation in the Netherlands or in Miami and like Broadripple Indianapolis is like in that same mix. Like I think that's really cool. And the fact that you are an international artist like you have a studio in the Netherlands. You just talked about before we started recording that you also are building another studio in Napoli, Italy.
Correct.
Like that's incredible. And from the Loganport Berries to then a global artist like I think that is uh that is incredible. uh tag as you guys were looking for obviously like the the I'm assuming the first thing that said was we should bring some art to Broadripple and then how did you end up finding Jason?
Well, I mean actually the first thing I thought is we should lean into our strengths which is arts and culture and reinvigorate what has made Broadle incredible you know since 1970 when the art fair just started. I had been exposed to Jason's work probably 15 years ago and because I spent some time in Miami, I get to go to Art Basil pretty often and I've always left thinking that Jason was one of the most talented artists that I've come across.
Did you know he like when you first ran into his work, did you know he was from Indiana?
I did know he was from Indiana and so I've watched his career grow uh you know he's internationally collected both privately and by museums. He started his career in Broaderpole. He's uh done amazing work up in other parts of the state. He's all over the world. And he understood with Gavin divergence, you know, the uniquely diverse community that we have in broader. And so he brought all those perspectives to bear. And I think, you know, if you think about a piece 15 to 20 years from now, you want something that's going to stand the test of time. And I think this Gavin, which is really a beacon to the diversity of Broadple, will stand the test of time. And I think Jason's career is just on the ascendants. And so we're getting in,
you know, probably in five years, we wouldn't be able to afford to have his pieces, frankly, from where I'm seeing the collectors and what they're doing.
People from around the world are going to come to Broadripple and be like, "There it is. That's that's the beast." You also did some work just up the road. You curated the 100 acre Crystal Dhan sculpture garden. Uh, how long ago was that?
12 years ago. And that now is like the restoration, the RH restoration hardware. I don't know what the branding is on that, but that's the RH flag restoration hard hardware flagship,
which like people go crazy for it. Like apparently that place is like the coolest spot in town.
It's definitely a cool spot to eat and uh see some art. It's you feel like you're in in maybe Tuskanyany.
Yeah. But you helped create curate that uh that sculpture garden.
Yes. I opened a gallery, the first international gallery in Indianapolis, which was Artbox Gallery.
Where was that at? uh in the STS 2 building. Yeah. So I spent about
15 years in that building. Many different art related businesses, design, architecture, um fabrication, art gallery. Crystal uh selected us to do the entire curation of inside and outside the grounds, the sculpture grounds and then um the interior of that massive. That's Crystal Dhan, the founder of REI, you know. So, I mean, she was a significant consumer of art. So, pretty high praise to select Jason as his team.
I mean,
and it was a five-year project. She wanted work that was international, national, state, and local. So, we came up with a curation that included all of that. And it was about around a hundred pieces uh that came as far as from you know Sweden, Eastern Europe, Italy, uh Belgium. I mean works came from all over the world and a very extensive collection which is nice that it's now on display for public access through the
through Restoration Hardware, right? Like
because it was private at the time that I did. And so I'm sure that that cuz that was in the last couple years they took that over. So that's awesome that people get to that tons and tons of people, anyone who wants to, right, can go in there and experience that 100 acre uh sculpture garden.
And it's something to see. I definitely recommend.
Well, and that's like the talk of making art available for more people, right? Like private groups and public groups are working together to increase art for all of us broadle residents and people that come through and and visit the area. So, tag, can you talk to me about what had to happen? Because there's one thing I know. Usually government and private don't necessarily always work together the best and definitely not very quickly and all the red tape and things that go on there. Talk to us about how this came together.
I will say that um it's been a great partnership. I did think we could do it in 3 months and we're probably going to get it done in 24 months.
Yeah, that's that's that sounds about right. Yeah.
And uh but we we have great partners. uh the Broadle Village Association. So we first presented this idea to them. They were amazingly supportive.
When you say they like who's they
the board? So we presented the board and said, "Hey,
well, sorry. Who's the they that are presenting?" You're saying like the is this the royal we or is this like you and other partners or who?
So Jason and I I approached Jason and said, "I think we could do some real good in Broadle with the quality of your pieces. lean into the art and culture district, but we got to start with the Broadle Village Association and see if you have a partner that is open and willing to bring, you know, avantgard modern pieces to their most public places. And I will tell you that uh Jordan and Mark Dimmerly and Tom Daru, you know, the leaders of the group when we presented could not have been uh more supportive. And from those conversations, we started gathering other stakeholders that we would need. Uh the Pinrod society through some of their foundation giving is an active participant. Uh Bowen Engineering uh is helping us underwrite part of the cost uh for the sculpture.
The Broadle Arts Center is ultimately going to be deed uh the sculpture. They're going to own it in perpetuity. So, we really put all those stakeholders together, which is necessary if you're going to put a 32- foot sculpture in a very public place with an easement. And if the Broadleal Art Center hadn't stepped up to own it, I mean, just those basic questions like, who is going to own this sculpture 50 years from now? So,
when you say an easement, like talk us through I think a lot of us have great ideas. Like, I'm a I'm a a wild thinker. Like, I can Yeah, let's do this crazy thing. Like how do you actually put this all together to like put a 32- foot sculpture up somewhere? Like what are the steps?
I would tell you that being a real estate developer for 30 years is problem solving. So to me this was like a complicated set of facts that you had to work through.
Were there times like throughout this I mean you said it's like almost a 24-month journey that like a real estate developer for 30 years problem solving. Were there moments where you're like, "Oh, there's hiccups that we've had to overcome or like new problems to solve to make this come to life." You know, I I wouldn't say that we ever for a second thought about walking away from it. Uh we're all so committed to what the positive impact that this could do for Broaderpool and we have such a great partnership. Of course, I would have rather had it already up and installed, but that's just my impatient self, which is not uncommon to be found in the private sector.
Yeah. Right. It's like it's always like, "Oh, yeah, we can get that done." There's like a a a trend going out where it's like I'm the owner and we're going to do like it's like I'm the owner of the coffee shop and we're going to sell a thousand cups of coffee today and it's like I'm the barista and we're going to sell 100 cups of coffee today. Like it's just like you know when you want to like move move real real fast. Um but I mean it's good to have balance especially being up in three months is awesome. like it would have been really really cool but when you're thinking the test of 50 years a 100 like if you want to build a piece with longevity it's kind of good to have people
I should add that we also coordinated by the broader art uh center and the broadville village association
and the fun part is that this is just the beginning I can only imagine what the building process the fabrication process of a 30 foot sculpture is like that has to just be uh an undertaking for sure
the metaphor in the piece the struggle that I'm portraying it comes through because of the struggle of the fabrication. So, um I enjoy it. I enjoy the uh the complexity and the way that it has to be uh physically done. You know, it's made of a lot of metal pieces.
Some of it's recycled steel. Like, are there like thick times that you're like holding up like I beams or something trying to get this thing put together?
Yeah. I mean, I use cranes and forklifts and chain hoist. And
how do you get a 32- ft sculpture from Loganport to Broadripple?
Well, I ship them overseas. So, you know, from Loganport to here is actually easy. Uh
you got like mark the side of the semitr like fragile. Like don't don't mess with this thing. It's got a mission to serve.
But yeah, flatbed semi. Um you know, we load it on.
Just imagine that like coming down US 31 just like a giant human like a lot of looks. Yeah, people like what the world.
Now, I do disassemble it down into sections. Uh, so like the feet to the knees are one section, the knees to the hips are another section, and hips to head is so and then I actually stack it up.
There's one thing as you look around the current art landscape of Broadripple, it is very friendly. It's very invited. It's very like duck focused, you know, like the rubber duck, right?
And you talked about uh avanguard, right? like this innovative may not quite edgy but like it's different than like a giant sculpture of a rubber duck which is kind of on brand with a little bit of the art that we have today. Was that a hard process or like a like talk about the I don't want to say negotiations but the discussions had around this new style of piece. That was one of the things Jason and I wondered was broadable ready for contemporary art, steel, backlit, you know, interesting hard edges sculpture that you know will will dominate the skyline of Broadle. And I think really when we did that presentation, it was the it was the divergence understanding which is, you know, the understanding the diversity of Broadle and what Broadville brings together. It was the quality of art, the fact that he's in five museums around the world, and the fact that, you know, everybody knows that art and culture is what has made Broadle the place to be for 50 years.
And if someone thinks it's a little edgy, a little bit off guard, that means they're talking about it. And that's probably a good thing for Broadpole.
Exactly. Like you want people to feel some type of way about something, right? Like I always say that those are my best videos.
There won't be a lot of neutral opinions.
Yeah. Right. And like those are the I always say those are like the best the best videos for me even it's like people either love it or they hate it but at least they're talking about it right and the fun part is that it doesn't stop here. Um I know that this kind of current partnership I believe uh also is is working on a future project. So maybe you guys want to talk about what else we can expect coming down the pipeline.
My family's committed to doing a second project in Bradle. From there, I'm hoping that we prove out the public private partnership which is so strong and prove out some of the impact and I'm hoping that we can bring in much larger foundations that could help do I'd like to see four to six really significant pieces strategically placed around BroadPle. Like in a perfect world, this is we're not holding you to this. This is not like unofficial, but like if you could just like copy or not copy paste, but let's like click and drop some cool art pieces like where would you put art around Broadripple? Oh, I'd probably have one near the old firehouse. I definitely have a couple pieces on the Monon.
Is the firehouse moving? I don't know what's going to happen to the old firehouse when they move it, but like that is like an alltime like if there's a bar developer out there like a firepole and I don't know if that's safe, but I would love that personally. That'd be really cool. Or like a slide at least. Hey Hoosiers, let me tell you about Keller and Keller, a respected Indiana based law firm that's here for all of us from Evansville up to South Bend. They've been serving Hoosiers since 1936, and they really know what it means to fight for the community.
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and hopefully this encourages more. I mean, if there's, you know, the moan on the walking trails, smaller pieces that sort of, you know, build on those elements in the community. I It's
and we have like business leaders that, you know, watch our clips or see the podcast. Like I think that knowing one I think that the statement that you said early on in the show about well look at a case study like show me a place where people are investing in art that economic development doesn't follow like knowing that yes
it's almost hand and glove
and it's not like a maybe it's not necessarily like hey spend like a like a return on spend right it's not like put a thou hundred thousand in get a million out but it's like there's a there is some correlation there like look through it like because you're spending on culture and arts like good things are going to follow. How much good things? Who knows? We can't we don't have an exact.
I mean, you could argue that the Cultural Trail in downtown Indianapolis by the Wick Foundation was the precursor to 6,000 apartments have been built since that cultural trail was put in. And what's that? What's that
ROI? Yeah. Right. So, talking about that, that's the leading. So, I think that if you think of business leaders that are like, ah, like you know what what's the ROI? Why would I invest in art?
Well, there it is. Look at that. Look at the Winwood case study over the last 15 years. Look at these other locations all across the world. Or maybe like in this point it's like rott kind of already arts and culture but just kind of the resurgence here. The other piece that I think is really interesting that I love about where you come into this whole thing tag.
It just pays to like dream big you know like it helps that obviously you've been a real estate developer for 30 years. you have like the right people to call. But like if all of us just like thought about, okay, there's this thing I want to do like I want more art in Broadripple or I want to put a sculpture here and if you actually start to put some rubber to the road like if there's a CEO out there that like you know I want to do this thing there's like a lot of merit to just going out and figuring out how to make it happen like solving the problems. And I think that is really cool. I don't know if necessarily without the like get it done ability of someone who wants to get a project done in three months like if all of it comes together. I don't know Jason what would you say from the other side?
No, I've seen I've seen the other side of of the non-private aspect of it and it's it's you know uh 20 times slower and it can fade out easily. um administrations change or hierarchy of structure in a community changes and projects fall away and so this is how things happen. This is how it really happens. So this is the way it works.
I mean one thing I would like to add to what Jason's saying is Indianapolis as a city funds art to the tune of about 20% of what a competitive city like Cincinnati is example.
No way.
Yes. you're saying public dollars
20% of like like on the ratio
of the budgets if you look what is allocated for public art and so the only way that we're going to have the amount of public art that we want to have is that it's going to require public private partnerships. I mean Indianapolis is blessed because we have the largest endowment in the world. So that has offset some of that lack of public investment.
For those that don't know that's the Lily endowment. But the the private participation in this space is is absolutely critical. And there's no budget that I can foresee from the state or city where that's going to go move up. It's going to probably go down. And so you're going to need private leadership with public partners to bring public art to public spaces
and and see the value in that that investing in this will pay off whether it's two 10 or 20 years down the road. like that investment is going to pay off in spades because I know a lot of times you have this conversation especially if you have the with a a true just like art purist. It's like we need to invest in art because it's art and you like and being able to come at it from the also the business perspective to make like get buyin from the private sector on like yes because it's pretty and yes because it makes you feel good and yes but like because it also will bring all these other economic development indicators like I think once you can bridge that gap then you're in in really good shape. What would you say to other business leaders out there? What would your pitch to CEOs or people that that may be considering funding these public art projects? How would you convince them to to join into the cause?
Well, I think we all know that um for those who live in Indianapolis, I mean, Broadle is our original and strongest arts and cultural district. Uh I would say that you can't have great suburbs without a great city. He used to say you can't have great city without great suburbs or suburbs are great and we need to reinvest and I do feel that the arts have been underinvested in broader and if you have the ability to give this is a unique opportunity to give back.
Amazing. I love it. Um as we round out the show we have a couple lightning round fun segments to to hit. Uh this is our younger years segment. It's brought to you by our friends at OR Fellowship. They're a great organization here in Indiana helping develop young business leaders across the state. So Jason, we're going to start with you. What advice would you give to your 22-year-old self?
Don't impose self-imposed in uh restrictions. Sky's the limit. Take chances. Dream big. Don't dream small. Dream big and and go big. Chase the goal.
100 foot sculpture in the Netherlands. Big. That's how big we're dream.
From Loganport, Indiana to the Netherlands.
Come on. I love that. taking the berries worldwide. Tag, what would you say to your 22-year-old self?
I had some amazing mentors in my 20s. So, most of my 20s were spent in two places at a law firm where I was billing by the 15minute interval, working about 60 hours a week. And then by the end of my 20s, I had about 30 rentals in Broadle. And so I was up and down the Monan when I wasn't sitting behind the desk, usually on a bike doing a showing, collecting rent, trying to uh meet a mother who wanted to tour with her daughter, trying to deal with the maintenance issue. And so it was about 80our weeks for most of my 20s when I was working. And so my advice to my 20-year-old self is give yourself time to smell the roses as well because youth is fleeting as we all know us Gen X guys. And it's great to dream big, but smell the roses along the way.
I I think that's really good perspective. Obviously, Broadripple is very important to both of you individuals. Paint me a weekend or a day in Broadripple. Like, what are you doing? What's like your dream Broadripple weekend? You got no other plans. You're stopping and smelling the Broadripple roses. What does it look like? What are you doing? What do people need to have on their radar? One of my favorite things to do is to ride my bike with my wife down into Broadle and uh we'll start out at half liter. We'll have two or three beers, preferably not on a 95 degree day. Uh then we will ride in to Broadple. We'll have dinner at Petite Shu. Oh, we had uh Martha on the pod and she is just incred what she's built there like is so incredible. Like that's Broadle like Petite. That's Broadripple.
Creative, distinct, unique. Uh, and then we'll go listen to some live music and then we'll ride home.
Heck yeah.
On the Monan.
People that live in Broadripple sometimes don't I don't know if we take uh we we might take the Monon Trail for granted. It is so sick. Uh it's awesome to get everywhere we need to go. Jason, what's your Broadripple bucket list?
You know, but I'd also stop down on the river and uh I would stop down at the uh Indianapolis Arts Center. what they have going on there is really amazing. It's kind of hidden and you know I would definitely take some time to enjoy that
for people. I mean all of us anyone who lives in the area has walked, ran, biked past that spot. What is it? 66th maybe. Is that the cross street in the Monan? Right in that area somewhere right in there like right before you get to the first bridge.
I've never stopped in. Hand up. I haven't. They're probably going to watch this. I'll be there soon because Jason, you're going to sell me that. Like what why do I need to go there?
What's the the reason why people need to stop by there? historic like it was a Graves project, Michael Graves. Um they're currently renovating it, but when you go inside there's about six different galleries that host always host like six different shows. So it it it's like a museum right in the middle of Broadripple. what it is in this area. I mean, it's young artists, it's emerging artists, and it's usually about six shows in six different galleries.
And then you have the sculpture garden outside along the river. It's just a beautiful area. It's
it's nice and quiet and and usually cool with all the the the cover outside and lots of art to see. So,
and Mark Williams has done a great job as the new CEO, and he's raised significant dollars to reinvest in that art park, which is another part of the resurgence in Broader.
Heck yeah. I love that. And that area is kind of cool, too, cuz it's like those almost like Spanish style houses or condos or whatever across the street. Got like Stuckco, right? And I'm like, you got to get into that neighborhood, you're like, I don't know what's going on here, but I like it. It's fun.
Um, okay. So, we talked about I have four questions left for you, gentlemen. We talked about arts and culture being a leading indicator of good times to come, right? These two projects go in, more art projects get funded. Like we have six or seven sculptures. What do you hope this brings to Broadripple?
Like from either restaurant perspective or entertainment like we get the art. What are your dreams, visions, goals, hopes, aspirations that come to Broadripple after the art? re-energizes the area in terms of arts, culture, entrepreneurship, uh, art galleries, restaurants, families, you know, a place that people want to congregate and want to connect to the art and to the nature of Roderpool. It's really what we've had for 50 years. It's just leaning into that. uh like every area uh in the city, you know, around the country, there's es and flows and I think art will bring us back to some of the highest points we've had in Broadle and I think it'll bring back many of those things that kind of uh make things livable.
Yeah. I think if we could like wave a magic wand Yeah. It's like I love Halfleer. Like the outdoor area there is so cool. It's like how could you even find something also to like accent that like a a Wrath Skeller North like hey if they ever listen to this like come on let's let's make that happen a little beer garden outdoor live music uh because the Vogue is great but there are just some nights that you just want to like you know maybe drink a beer outside and listen to whoever the artist is. They do actually 45 does a good job with Rock the Ruins and with they're putting the Broadripple uh park concert series this summer. We just had Jenny from 45 on.
Another area of art and culture revitalization by the way, bringing it back to
Broadle like music and and like getting crazy cool artists. Like we had Jenny on and she talked about how they had Steven Wilson Jr. who's from Seymour, Indiana, and he's like one of the fastest growing country music artists uh in the in the nation. He's from Seymour. He sold out the Vogue in like 15 minutes or something like that. Like maybe less.
I don't know. That might be a like basically they dropped tickets because he booked it early and then like blew up. Joe Rogan started talking about him and all of a sudden like everyone knows who he is and yeah he played uh he played the Vogue and yeah sold out in like I don't know minutes. It's which is so cool to see all that coming back to Broadle. So uh these are the final three questions that I ask everyone who sits in the chair. Uh they're all about the state of Indiana.
Obviously, Jason, you've been around the world. Art, your career has taken you to the Netherlands, to Italy, uh, also around the country, to Miami, and and all these really, really cool places. But what's one thing the world needs to know about Indiana?
Indiana's sort of forgotten in terms of uh or dismissed in terms of how much creativity is going on here. I'm actually part of a regional planning committee um on art and culture and um the more that I've learned about all the elements in all of Indiana from the north to the south uh is like how much sort of resurgence and art building and culture building is really going on right now here. It's on a level that I think most people just actually wouldn't even expect out of a state like Indiana. That That's what I would say. I would say you'd be surprised at how much art, culture, and creativity is in a corn state like Indiana.
Yeah. Like I feel like that's like one of the things that I love putting this out is that like soon one day, whether it's a year or 5 years or 10 years, people won't be like, "Oh yeah, like that's crazy that Indiana does these cool." It's like, no, people are going to know that we're doing all this cool stuff and that like good people live here and creativity happens here and they're not going to be like, "Oh, it's good for Indiana." No, it's it's just good in general. Like, Broadripple isn't like isn't going to be like an al a good arts and culture hub for Indiana. It's just going to be a good arts and culture hub. Period. Full stop. That's I love that part.
Was going on in Broadripple. I would like to see it become a destination for people looking at public art. I mean, it can be a draw from states around, regional draw. It's definitely got that that potential.
Heck yeah. Tag, you spent a lot of time down in Florida. What would you say the world needs to know about Indiana?
Civic engagement. We are a community that works well together, that public private partnerships can work, uh, where volunteerism is still alive, and when you have a unique level of civic engagement, you can pull off things that others can't. I mean, I think I' I've been on the sports court for years and I've watched all these amazing sporting events. We haven't talked about sports at all. Go Pacers tonight.
Yes, sir. Not that we're recording this in the middle of June. This is this is recorded right before the goes live, just so everyone knows.
And so, I think that's that level of civic engagement is one of our our secret weapons. And I for all the creativity and diversity of Miami, I I don't they don't have a fraction of what we have in that space.
Yeah. Come on. All right, two questions left. We'll go through ones these ones pretty quick. This is your chance to highlight something around the state of Indiana that's not getting enough love. So, we'll go tag and then Jason tag. What is a hidden gem in Indiana?
There is a monument uh in Riverside Park to a gentleman named Thomas Tagert, who was my great great-grandfather, and he started the parks in Indianapolis. And for years, we were trying to figure out how to save the monument, but we could never figure out how to raise enough capital. The Historic Landmark Society got involved. A guy named Jim Badley led the charge. The Lily Endowment put $8 million into the Thomas Tagert Memorial and they helped start Shakespeare in the Park. So they are revitalizing the old north side through Shakespeare art and culture and revitalized an old monument that was, you know, probably years a couple years away from falling down. And I've been to those shows and it's amazing.
How does that make you feel? Like this is your great-grandfather,
great great great
great double greatgrandfather. How does that make you feel to go to a show in your home city and see the community rally behind not only restoring a monument but like bringing this new life to a park uh here in in
I mean it's invigorating because it's a part of the city that has had challenges and it's yet another example of where art culture and theater can help revitalize and there's young families there and people are enjoying the shows and it was an area that was completely completely dormant and falling down in disrepair.
Yeah, I'm really excited. So, I run the Monumental Marathon every year and it comes through Riverside and I'm like so excited for that part to get a little more energy cuz you're at like mile 21 and there's no one out there. You ready to go?
Yeah. And you're like there's no one there and you're like dying and it's like the worst miles of a marathon and you're like but there I'm going to be looking for the monument next year when I run you.
Um Jason, what's a hidden gem in Indiana? the hotels downtown in in Indianapolis for a for a place to go see worldclass art and you know not be stepping into a museum or not be stepping into a gallery. The Intercontinental just opened with a big art collection. You have the great rooftop you know just for a
so not just the hotels it's the art within the hotels downtown Indianapolis.
Yeah. Like spectator day. you just go into the hotel, you know, enjoy some lunch and be able to view amazing collections of art. And that's that's something that I think 21c down in Louisville kind of kicked that idea off and hotels have been picking that up. You know, Fountain Blue in Miami kind of wrote on that as well.
Conrad here has always had great art.
I actually have art in there. So,
hey,
stop and see some of mine.
Come on. But no, it's uh it's it's sort of a a nice sort of amenity that you can just go and enjoy.
So, final question for you guys. This is how we source new guests or just learn about Hoosiers that are doing interesting things. We'll start with Jason. Who's a Hoosier that we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things.
Walter Loen Hamilton
album cover collages at collages at Newfields. He had an amazing exhibit at New Fields. Um, but he's definitely gaining a lot of inter, you know, national traction and his work's very powerful. It's very kind of monumental in scale and, you know, I think he's probably one of the most creative artists uh, you know, in central Indiana right now
with the albums, the records. That's so so awesome.
Yeah. Thousands and thousands of albums he makes into all these big installations.
Okay, that's a really good one. Tag, who's a whoer we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things.
Caitlyn Clark.
Yeah.
You look downtown, they're they're actually tearing down an old jail facility to build a practice facility for the WNBA. My uh 83year-old mother came home wearing a baseball cap for the first time in 83 years. And it was a Caitlyn Clark sparkling hat. sold out game, transformed a league. I mean, she will probably end up being bigger for the city than Payton, which is just incredible.
Isn't that Isn't that awesome?
And we just sit at the beginning of her career. I mean, it's going to be hugely impactful.
Not even two years in to like her professional career. She does have a standing invite on the podcast. Her people and my people that might have like got jumbled up a little bit, but I think at some point we'll get her on the show if she listens to this. I know she's an avid listener. Um, gentlemen, thank you so much for coming on the Broadripple art resurgence that's going on. Tag, I appreciate you kind of spearheading this initiative. I'm really excited to see the work that you put together, Jason. I think the the overarching themes of this episode, right? Indianapolis is a place where the public sector and the private sector can work together to get stuff done. Even if it's not in a three-month timeline, it's still I mean, I have
a reasonable time frame.
A reasonable time frame, right? Uh two, Broadripple is the oldest cultural district,
art and cultural district in Indiana.
In Indiana, right? Like this is it's in the history, you know, like said 1970 was when
that's when the art fair started and the Broadle art center moved here in 1979.
Yeah. Like there is so much arts and cultural history. So it's not like we're starting from zero here.
We have a running start.
Yeah. Exactly. And the final piece is that like what Gavin that one this piece this installation on this broader I don't know what the right term is but like it's uh part of a collection
ongoing series.
Yes. A series right this installation is just one of a global series and to have that like node be here in Broadripple I think is spectacular and knowing what this piece means to you how you were inspired to create this and what it's going to mean for our neighborhood. So, I'm really pumped up. I'm excited. Q2, Q3, stay tuned. We'll be dropping right around that time. Um, gentlemen, thank you for your work to really elevate Broadripple and elevate central Indiana as a whole. Um, it's awesome to see Indiana represented on a national or an international scale when it comes to art. And Tag, thank you for all the awesome things you're doing across central Indiana.
Thank the partners. If we want to if we want to find more about your art, Jason, or Gavin in general, where can people find you?
On all social media, Jason Myersart or Jasonart.com website or um yeah, pretty much just Jason Myers Art.
The final I have one final disclaimer of this. The one thing we put out that clip again, shout out me and Hasbro, come on. Uh people were very adamant that they wanted an Indiana artist to create this piece. And as of uh an hour and 19 minutes into this recording, I can say with 100% certainty that Jason is a Hoosier from Loganport that has done incredible things representing our state, not only here in the States, not only down in Miami, but internationally from Italy to the Netherlands and beyond. I'm really pumped to see the work that you put together, guys, and I appreciate you stopping by the studio.
Hey, thank you so much for having us.
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