Arts United announces the next steps of its plan to advance the downtown Arts Campus as a regional destination that serves the growing, diverse audiences of northeast Indiana.
“Arts United is uniquely positioned to make strategic investments in response to community demands for more accessible, diverse arts and culture experiences that fuel the momentum of our region’s quality of life. This is an exciting time for Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana. We are putting resources behind the community’s growth,” said Doug Wood, PNC Bank regional president for northern Indiana and chair of the Arts United Board of Directors.
After a nationwide search, Arts United has selected an architectural team to lead the project to create a new look for the Arts Campus, with an initial focus on the renovation of the Arts United Center, a facility designed by internationally important architect Louis Kahn. The plan could add additional space at the Arts United Center and create a more connected, pedestrian-centric zone downtown. The team is includes
• Westlake Reed Leskosky, a National Architecture and Engineering firm • MKM architecture + design, an architecture firm based in Fort Wayne, IN • MKSK, a Landscape and Planning firm based in Columbus, OH and Indianapolis, IN • The North Group, a fundraising and management firm based in New York, NY
“We are thrilled about the level of national attention that Fort Wayne has already received for this project, even during this very preliminary step of selecting architectural and planning firms. Some of the very best architects in the United States and Europe submitted proposals. We are excited to see what our team dreams up,” said project chair Madelane Elston.
Beginning in January 2017, this consultant team will work with leaders and patrons of local arts and culture organizations to create conceptual designs and cost estimates for the project. Arts United anticipates that project concepts will be completed by July 2017.
The full design team includes:
Westlake Reed Leskosky, Cleveland, OH
• Project Lead: Paul E. Westlake, Jr., FAIA
• Project Director: Larry Hennessey, AIA
• Project Architect: Katherine Ritzmann, AIA, LEED Green Associate
• Lead Sustainability Consultant and Mechanical Engineer: Roger Chang, PE, Assoc. AIA • Mechanical Engineer: Megan Blank, PE
• Lead Electrical Engineer: Raymond Heintel, PE
• Senior Structural Engineer: Stephanie Banfield, PE
• Audiovisual Designer and Theatre Technology Specialist: Raymond Kent, EAVA, DMC-D, LEED AP, ECA
• Lighting Designer and Theatre Technical Specialist: Christopher Tilton, LC, LEED AP, Associate IALD • Acoustician: Jonathan Hopkins, LEED GA
MKM architecture + design, Fort Wayne, IN
• Zach Benedict, AIA, LEED AP, RID
• Dodd Kattman, AIA, LEED AP
The North Group, New York, NY
• Halsey M. North
• Alice H. North
MKSK, Columbus, OH and Indianapolis, IN
• Richard Espe, FASLA, LEED AP
• Eric Lucas, PLA, ASLA
AR Engineering Resources, Inc., Fort Wayne, IN (Civil Engineering) • Mark Reinhard, P.E., LEED AP BD+C
PCS, Cleveland, OH (Cost Estimating)
• Brandon Lawlor, LEED AP
“The desire to serve a larger, more diverse, more engaged audience is what all of the organizations and initiatives supported by Arts United have in common,” said Arts United president Susan Mendenhall.
“In order to position a broad range of arts and culture organizations to serve a growing community, we need to make strategic investments in better, more accessible spaces; more visibility and promotion of arts activities; and more sustainable, consistent sources of philanthropic support,” said Mendenhall.
Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne, Inc. is a non-profit united arts fund and local arts agency that serves the communities of northeast Indiana by fueling the momentum of more than 70 arts, culture and quality of life initiatives each year. Arts United’s strategic investments position arts and culture organizations to achieve higher levels of excellence and quality, to improve access to the arts for all community members and to support regional priorities for growth and development.
