DATE: January 11, 2022
CONTACT: Mary Kramer, Executive Director, mkramer@wabashvalleyartspaces.com

Art Spaces – Wabash Valley Outdoor Sculpture Collection, Inc. to Receive Support for new project from the National Endowment for the Arts


Terre Haute, Indiana—Art Spaces – Wabash Valley Outdoor Sculpture Collection, Inc. has been approved for a $35,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to support Lost Creek – Celebrating the Story of an African American Settlement, a planned sculpture project for Terre Haute’s Cultural Trail. This project will build awareness of this important aspect of Terre Haute’s cultural history and celebrate the diversity that helped shape and continues to animate the city and region. Art Spaces’ project is among 1,248 projects across America totaling $28,840,000 that were selected to receive this first round of fiscal year 2022 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects category.


“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects like this one from Art Spaces that help support the community’s creative economy,” said NEA Acting Chair Ann Eilers. “Art Spaces in Terre Haute, Indiana is among the arts organizations nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being, and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts.”


Art Spaces Executive Director Mary Kramer says “I know I speak for everyone at Art Spaces when I express how excited I am to have such a strong beginning to fundraising for this important project and I am so grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts. They truly value the arts as an avenue to understanding and strong communities. It will be a pleasure to work with the Cultural Trail Committee, whose members include individuals that have collaborated with us previously on sculptures such as Max Ehrmann at the Crossroads by Bill Wolfe, and Dreiser – Shadows of Meaning by Urban Rock Design. It will be exciting also to collaborate with members of The Lost Creek Grove Restoration and Preservation Foundation, Inc. who have worked diligently to preserve this history.”


Dee Reed, Art Spaces Board Member and descendant from the Lost Creek Settlement added, “This a great opportunity to celebrate an African American community that embodied sacrifice, perseverance and success. Through this rich history, we are reminded of the many contributions these descendants made in this community and country.”


The grant will support a new public artwork to celebrate the Lost Creek Settlement, formed in the early 1800’s by a group of free African Americans escaping the mounting dangers for them in the Southeast U.S. They were among the Wabash Valley’s earliest non-indigenous settlers. Working with direct descendants of the original settlers and other community members, Art Spaces will provide an original work of art in a public location to illuminate this unique aspect of Terre Haute’s history and the strong contributions of Lost Creek Settlement members to the city’s establishment, growth, strength and continuity. Lost Creek: Celebrating the Story of an African American Settlement will underscore the remarkable diversity of the Terre Haute community, past and present, through a collaborative process of planning, artist selection, education, and promotion of the project with a diverse team.


For more information about Art Spaces visit https://wabashvalleyartspaces.com For more information on other projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.