David Lindquist

david.lindquist@indystar.com

A plan to pump creativity into the Garfield Park neighborhood will move forward this summer when three community organizations help artists become owners of previously vacant homes.

It's not uncommon for artist colonies to revitalize urban areas mired in hard times. Housing is cheap, and neighborhoods benefit from a buzz generated by visual artists, fashion designers, filmmakers and musicians. The problem is, the resulting buzz can drive housing costs out of reach for the artists.

In one pocket of the Garfield Park neighborhood, Big Car Collaborative, Riley Area Development Corp. and Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership are testing a theory about what a revival would look like if the creative class can afford to stick around.

The Artist & Public Life Residency program aspires to make artists the owners of 10 houses on Cruft Street east of Shelby Street and about two blocks southeast of Garfield Park.

Two rehabbed houses are ready to go for essentially half-price. Big Car, Riley and the housing organization own 51 percent of each artist house, with the artist being responsible for buying 49 percent through a conventional mortgage.

Artist & Public Life Residency program manager Danicia Malone said home-owning artists could combat gentrification's negative stigma if and when the neighborhood bounces back. Forty-two percent of households have incomes of less than $25,000, and 25 percent of residents lack high school diplomas.

“This is an opportunity to invest in your neighborhood and a space you believe in and want to cultivate,” Malone said.

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Applications for the home ownership program are open through April 14.

A public information session is scheduled for Wednesday, April 5, at Tube Factory Artspace, the Big Car headquarters that opened last May on Cruft Street. Nonprofit art organization Big Car was founded in Fountain Square in 2004, and the group maintained the Service Center gathering space in Lafayette Square from 2011 to 2014.

Malone declined to attach a price to any of the Garfield Park houses, but she said affordability is a key tenet of the program.

"It’s definitely not an astronomical amount," said Malone, who graduated from Ball State University with a degree in urban planning.

Despite economic challenges in Garfield Park, Malone said the area benefits from residents who are visible and engaged with their surroundings.

"It’s one of those places you want to keep secret, but you also want to tell people about it because it’s so great," she said.

Artist & Public Life Residency info session

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. April 5.

WHERE: Tube Factory Artspace, 1125 Cruft St.

ADMISSION: Free.

INFO: Visit BigCar.org or call (317) 637-8996.

Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404.Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.